Ann Coulter and John Edwards and the "faggot" comment

Yesterday on my Political Pistachio Radio Show, a caller asked me about Ann Coulter's comment that I am sure you all know about by now. If not, check it out here. Immediately, without being fully aware of exactly what was said, and how the whole thing transpired, I agreed that Ann Coulter was in the wrong, and set back the Conservative agenda.

Now that I have a little better perspective on what transpired, I take back what I said, and offer the following commentary instead.

When I first heard about this "faggot" comment by Ann Coulter, I was upset because she has proven before that she is a controversy hound, loves to stick it to the left no matter how tasteless, and often finds it difficult to come to logical conclusions regarding the issues without tossing around a little name calling. I am one that tries to take the high road, carefully explaining every point. My wife, sometimes, tells me to just get to the point, rather than qualifying everything I say.

Ann Coulter gets to the point, and she uses the same offensive language we use in our everyday dealings with people in the real world. One reason people are so upset about Ann Coulter's remark that basically called John Edwards a "faggot" is because we expect people in the public eye to have some kind of higher standard, and we seem to always be quick to call them on it when they fail to meet that standard. Personally, I think tendencies such as that is just an off-shoot of political correctness, and we should be ashamed of ourselves for having such a knee-jerk reaction. I, myself, as a conservative, am not going to lower myself to the same level of the liberals and bend over backward to appease the gay crowd, much less the liberal/Marxist movement in America.

Is what Ann said tasteless? Perhaps. You know, I work in the construction industry, and when a girly-boy shows up on a job site, we elbow each other, laugh hysterically, and say to each other, "Damn, what a faggot." Do we mean that the person is a homosexual? No, not necessarily. Does the fact that such conversation occurs make in right? Not really. But, to get to the point, "faggot" has become a slang-word for "girly-boy".

It is not really a verbal practice that I am proud of, using the word "faggot", or other words that I would not use in normal, mixed conversation. Speaking in such a way with my friends is perhaps a weakness of us men who don't accept the existence of men who have strong feminine tendencies. But why should I really care in the long run? Who am I trying to appease? Who is really offended here? The gays? Or a bunch of people looking for a reason to lynch a right-winger like Ann Coulter?

And since when does the conservative right really care what the gays are thinking? Most of us on the right believe that gays practice a perverted behavior "by choice" and have no business parading their perversion in front of the rest of us. Society has spent so many years cramming down our throats (no pun intended) that homosexuality should be accepted, condoned, and even promoted, that even those of us that have a problem with this sinful attitude are beginning to jump to defend them.

It comes down to this. If a liberal says something offensive, it was a bad joke, or misunderstood (Kerry is a good case in point). If a conservative utters something deemed offensive by someone on God's green earth, rather than receiving a free pass like a liberal would get, the offending conservative needs therapy, or needs to be dragged out into town square so that everyone can berate them for their unpardonable sin. This is left-wing hypocrisy at its best.

He who is without sin, throw the first stone.

Yes, it was irresponsible for Ann to give the left fuel for yet another attack against the Right. She should have kept her tongue on a leash, not necessarily because it was so wrong to say what she said, but to protect the Right from the flaming arrows being launched by the left.

But here's the other thing that I found fascinating. Left-wingers are always quick to point out how conservatives have made this thing called politics such a Right vs. Left battle. They cry out for bi-partisanship. "Can't we all just get along?" But the moment a right-winger steps out of line, the battle lines are drawn, the lefty battalions group together, and they all participate in that Right vs.Left war they were criticizing before. The left will do anything for votes. Ann should have been careful what she said, but not because it was so wrong. She should have been careful about what she said because the backlash from the left could be damaging, and enable the left to gain just a little more sympathy from those voters out there that are not sure which camp they belong to.