In defense of Ann Coulter
Not a fan. Don’t read her stuff. Think she’s generally a twit. Her comment was out of line and inappropriate for the venue. But it was pretty fucking funny. If we saw it on South Park or The Daily Show, we’d have a good chuckle. But since she’s a political hack, most people don’t.
Update: And, to be clear, I don’t think her calling Edwards a faggot was funny. I think her bit about going to therapy was. To my knowledge, the 1983 seventh grade class at Jefferson County Middle School isn’t in therapy. And we said faggot a lot. Well, some of them are but not for calling people names. Her calling him a faggot was hateful and vile. And it also makes conservatives look like a bunch of homophobic twits.
Update 2: And, seriously, Edwards gay? No self-respecting gay person I know has had feathered hair since 1981.
March 3rd, 2007 at 8:52 pm
If South Park had done an episode on the issue, it wouldn’t have used it as an opportunity to call some random Presidential candidate a “faggot”…the difference between Parker/Stone or Penn & Teller, and that of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, is that the former actually examines issues, and while they may make crude jokes, they do it more to get an actual point across rather than to get a cheap laugh.
For instance, in South Park, in order to make fun of racial stereotypes, the put in a character named “Token” who genetically knows how to play the bass. When Rush Limbaugh makes fun of racial stereotypes, he tells a caller to take “the bone out of [his] nose”.
Indeed, it was ridiculous that Isaiah Washington went to rehab for using that word, but Ann Coulter wasn’t making a comment on the absurdity of the situation, so much as using that situation as cover to drop the “f” bomb in regards to Breck. Stay tuned to your local radio dial for winger talk show hosts the country over to use this as an opportunity to “examine” the issue, and ask, “Why can gay people use the term ‘faggot’, but we can’t?”
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:06 pm
“Why can gay people use the term ‘faggot’, but we can’t?”
I doubt it’ll happen. Most people on the right thus far have condemned her. What she said was stupid and didn’t make any real sense. Edwards isn’t gay, everyone knows it, he just uses expensive shampoo.
As for the word faggot; it’s a stupid word. Seriously. Say it out loud and think about how it sounds, aside from what it means. It just doesn’t sound right. It’s one of those words that I just hate the sound of, aside from what it means. And as an insult, it’s profoundly uncreative. Even for Coulter. And that says a lot, because she’s been on self-destruct for a while now.
Edwards is a trial-lawyer show-pony moron and a hypocrite. He’s also got about as much chance at the nomination as Al Sharpton, so it further surprises me Coulter is wasting her breath on him.
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Isn’t Bill Maher a really classy guy. He’s single, maybe someone should fix him up on a blind date with Ann. That would be a fun loving couple. Oh the things they would say…
March 3rd, 2007 at 9:33 pm
#9, its funny you mention him, as he and Coulter are (or at least they were) really good friends. Bill Maher is tasteless, and his humor has taken a serious downward spiral since ABC canceled “Politically Incorrect”. The difference though, is that mainstream Democrats don’t invite him to speak at our events. Sure, they may go on his show, but that is an entirely different thing than having him as a guest speaker at an event with some of the most powerful Republicans in the country.
Adam, perhaps some of the editorial publications are condemning her, but I will be interested to see what the likes of Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh say or do on their radio programs come Monday.
March 4th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Actually faggot is a bundle of sticks, usually for kindling. No idea how it became the perforative it is today. Fags also used to be slang for cigarettes. I can sort of see how that may have come about.
March 4th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Something about “flaming,” perhaps?
March 4th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Or the tendency to suck on something short. There were a lot of Freudian viewpoints on cigarettes and cigars over the years. I believe it’s related to the old term for the old women cliche carrying a faggot of wood.
The whole things seems stupid to me. We wouldn’t go nuts if some left-wing nut called Cheney a “old bastard” (otherwise we’d never have time for anything else), even though Cheney’s aware of his parentage. I don’t see accusations of homosexuality, even when intended to be cruel, as being somehow particularly harmful — it’s not like calling him Mormon or something else unelectable.
Unless faggot is some doubleplusungood word, I really don’t see why we’re giving her this much attention.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
[…] SayUncle: I don’t think her calling Edwards a faggot was funny. I think her bit about going to therapy was. To my knowledge, the 1983 seventh grade class at Jefferson County Middle School isn’t in therapy. And we said faggot a lot. Well, some of them are but not for calling people names. Her calling him a faggot was hateful and vile. And it also makes conservatives look like a bunch of homophobic twits. […]
March 5th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
The best part was when she “clarified” her remarks by saying comparing gays to John Edwards was insulting to gays.