Reader Comment on Ann Coulter’s ‘Joke’

A reader writes:

I just wanted to tell you that there is a little background to that John Edwards ”joke” that people from other countries might not understand. She seemed to be trying to weave together elements of several recent media incidents here, if not very successfully. First there was a recent incident where one TV star here from a TV show called “Grey’s Anatomy”, insulted someone, I think a co-star, by calling him a “faggot” and then after the outcry, said he was going into rehab (rehabilitation treatment) for his drinking problem, which he claimed was the reason he used that word. Then everyone made fun of the idea that it is popular now to try and fix insults and social blunders by going into “rehab”, whether or not drinking has anything to do with it.

Then the joke has a another element of the situation where John Edwards hired some liberal political bloggers to help him out with his campaign, and two of them insulted Catholics (I believe Ann is a Catholic) and religious people in general in their blog, and John Edwards refused to disavow what they said for a time because he said they should have their “freedom of expression”, even if it meant insulting people. Finally, there was a “joke” going around that John Edwards was gay because there had been a video of him fussing with his hair for a very long amount of time.

So that joke tried to combine all of these elements into one, and the joke has maybe a little context other than Ann just insulting someone, which of course, she does all the time anyway. However, of course I still think Ann botched the supposed joke John Kerry style, and it was highly inappropriate and offensive, and just plain old stupid to say in an event that was supposed to represent Conservatives. The event organisers should have known better than invite her to speak, as that’s what Ann always does—controversy. We are almost used to it now, sadly.

Thanks for the reminder. I have read about the fuss relating to Isaiah Washington’s anti-gay slur, but I didn’t think about the connection when I heard about Ann Coulter’s joke at the CPAC.

I’m torn when it come to Coulter. She is a bit like the leftist Michael Moore in that they both mix superficial analyses, offensive remarks, and splendid humour. Coulter’s apology is an example of this mix:

C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.