“Ann Coulter’s use of an anti-gay slur yesterday was un-American and indefensible,” Edwards said in a posting on his Web site, http://www.johnedwards.com.
“In America, we strive for equality and embrace diversity. The kind of hateful language she used has no place in political debate or our society at large.
“I believe it is our moral responsibility to speak out against that kind of bigotry and prejudice every time we encounter it.”source
I’ll have to take a cue from ALa, in regards to the whole free-speech thing….
Hate speech, such as Coulter’s example, is protected by the 1st Amendment. Her calling Edwards a “faggot” is well within her right, and in all honesty, utilising the rights granted in the Bill of Rights is perfectly American. If she were advocating that someone go beat the crap out of him, or harm him or his family as a result, then we’d be getting into different issues. Now, where does this go….Well, this is going back to a tanget that ALa spoke about, in regards to people who champion the whole free-speech ideal, as long as it is speech that doesn’t offend them. Once that speech is deemed offensive, they’re all about silencing said speech. Granted, I don’t believe I’ve heard Edwards championing free-speech, but the minute he does I’ll be firing off a letter to him about it…..oh wait, he utilised that right when he decided to ask Cheney about his lesbian daughter….. With that said, I think he needs to grow a fucking spine and learn what inciteful speech is all about. Hell, the guy’s a bloody lawyer, and a defense attorney at that, you’d figure he knows how to sling shit well enough, unless he’s just that bad of a lawyer (no, I haven’t looked up his record to know that info).
With that said, I wonder what he has to say about all the cartoons and various commentaries that came out of the last election, about him being all buddy-buddy with John Kerry? Or would he be grouping all of that insinuation that he was gay, with Coulter’s actual labelling him as such?
And the best line of the article: But the New York Times reported that she responded, in an e-mail, “C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.” Go Anne, now that’s commentary I like to hear.
Freakchylde's 
lol, once again you get an “amen” from me!
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Heh, unfortunately, she shoved her foot in her mouth later. But hey, that’s what makes the rhetoric debate amusing. 😀
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This is the thing about Liberals and Conservatives alike that really pisses me off. They are all about “free speech” until someone says something they don’t like. Personally, I like hate speech. When I hear it coming from someone’s mouth I know I am at least hearing their honest opinion about someone or a group of someones. Everyone else just mumbles their bigotry under their breath and hope no one hears.
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Yeah, annoys me as well. And thanks for recognizing the rhetoric discussion.
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Where conservative commentators are concerned, I tend to prefer people like William Safire, who uses reason, logic, and fact to support his positions. I disagree with him frequently, but I do have to respect him for taking the time to present well-reasoned arguments for his positions. Buckley was the same way.
Unfortunately, both for public discourse and the conservative movement, logical argument seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur and been replaced by shock-jock schlock of Coulter’s ilk.
Yep, under the First Amendment she has the right to say whatever she pleases, just as I have the right to call her a hack who panders to the lowest common denominator and deals in little more than endless ad hominem. I’ve read quite a bit of her writing, and I find it utterly pathetic and devoid of any real analytical value. Her latest screed is but more of the same and isn’t even worthy of my contempt.
What I don’t get is how intelligent, thoughtful conservatives can like her.
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Well, I won’t be speaking to the content of what she says, because usually I disagree with her. However, for me, the source of amusement was Edwards’ reaction to what she said, especially given his previous job as a lawyer – however dubious his position as an ambulance chaser might have been. Needless to say, he should have known better than to have opened his mouth with those lines.
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agreed on the 1st amendment stuff; i can say any damn thing i please in this country, however i found coulter’s comments to be humkorless and more of a cheap shot designed to produce laffs from a very limited audience.
ok, so it was a joke, i’ll give her that, but it was a bad one and in poor taste and in effect casts conservatives in a bad light and gives the left one more round to chamber in the political fight to come.
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Eh, I don’t see her in the light of anything conservative, much less casting them in a bad light. However, the rhetorics are what amused me, which is why I was pointing them out.
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