Yes, Ann Coulter is an awful person, but that’s not news. Most people know that. And yes her rhetoric is ugly and hateful, but most people have come to expect that from her too. I know for me she’s become nothing more than a bad joke. She’s an irrelevant, desperate-for-attention, pathetic human being, hardly worth the energy it takes to yawn let alone get worked up over.
But Ann Coulter handed John Edwards an opportunity and I’m hugely disappointed at what he did with it. Her ugly words actually gave him the chance to prove that he really is the man who will stand up for the less fortunate, the downtrodden, the impoverished, and the discriminated against. And who better to start with than the very group of people who were trampled over and over again by the current administration?
But I guess it’s not yet politically advantageous enough to stand up for the homos – so John Edwards did the next best thing, he used Ann Coulter’s nasty words as an excuse to beg for money.
And before her spittle could evaporate off the mic in which she spewed her ugliness, this email from John Edwards landed in my inbox:
This is just a taste of the filth that the right-wing machine is gearing up to throw at us. And now that it's begun, we have a choice: Do we sit back, or do we fight back?
I say we fight. Help us raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" this week to show every would-be Republican mouthpiece that their bigoted attacks will not intimidate this campaign. I just threw in 100 bucks. Will you join me? Just click here.
I am so disappointed. I expected so much more from John Edwards. He has made it his platform to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, but he couldn’t take the chance of hurting himself politically by standing up for the group who’s had the bulls eye on their back for the past 6 years.
Well John Edwards is a huge disappointment to this mother of a gay son. I expect wretched behavior from Ann Coulter, but I have very high expectations of anyone who thinks they have what it takes to be president of this country. And if a person doesn’t have the backbone to stand up for all Americans, then that person isn’t going to get my vote or my money.
Ann Coulter did something much worse than call John Edwards a “f*ggot” the other night, she made him show his hand.
And I don’t like what I saw.
2 comments:
With all due respect, I am not quite sure I understand your argument against John Edwards. On one hand, he is not an impressive figure, but on the other, I'm not quite sure I see how he blew it. Maybe this is indicative of my total and complete lack of faith for Edwards, but I think it's better he kept his mouth shut and let Coulter destroy herself. If he had responded, he would attract as much attention and ire from the media, take away from Coulter's pitiful self-destruction and probably spew some empty political rhetoric that actually detracts from the power of the moment.
Furthermore, I think the gay community has actually been impressed with Edwards over this. He did not loose his temper, he did not politically grandstand and he did not give Coulter the feedback she is craving. Coulter wants everyone to get enraged and make a big deal about it. This is what energizes her base. John Edwards turned around and simply said, oh, she said it, it was innappropriate, let's turn this into something I can grow stronger from - much to the further dismay of Coulter who wanted Edwards' retaliation - and let it go so that she doesn't galavanize her base. And indeed, he let it go, networks dropped her and she's losing her ability to even provoke hate from her base. Edwards handled it deftly, with class and without giving Coulter the product she craved.
You are right, John Edwards did not give Ann Coulter what she wanted, but there was just something about the timing of his email asking me for money that hit me wrong.
This momma doesn't claim to be the calm voice of reason when it comes to her children. I took Ann Coulter's remark very personally. And I suppose, I am looking for a candidate who also takes that kind of hateful rhetoric personally.
And again, I don't claim to be rational, thoughtful, or reasonable when it comes to people lashing out at a whole segment of our society, which happens to include one of my children, which is why I look to my readers for a reality check. And I thank you for that.
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