John Edwards, Ann Coulter, and Civil Discourse

The 2007 Conservative Political Action Conference had record attendance with some incredible speeches from every Republican running for President, except Senator John McCain. Ann Coulter gave an hilarious speech, but some bloggers aren't happy with how she ended her speech by calling John Edwards a "faggot."

The Directors at Red State opined, "Ann Coulter doesn't speak for us. And we hope and expect that this is the last time a candidate for public office willingly accepts her endorsement or appears on the same stage with her."

Townhall.com's Dean Barnett is proud to report of the reaction by CPAC attendees: "When Ann made her offending comment on Friday, it wasn’t greeted by boisterous laughter as many of you have suggested in your emails and comments. It was greeted by uncomfortable silence. That spoke well of the attendees. The audience at CPAC knew that Ann had transgressed."

Kristen Powers notes the hypocrisy of the liberal bloggers who have defend vulgarity that is infinitely more vulgar than Coulter's comment: "Conservative bloggers should get credit for roundly denouncing "Just Ann's" statement, unlike the majority of liberal bloggers who refused to denounce the anti-Christian comments of the Edwards' bloggers. The current demands from liberal bloggers for condemnation of Ann seem sort of silly compared to the way they dug in their heels to defend the offensive and disgusting comments about Christianity made by Amanda Marcotte." Right Wing News' John Hawkins agrees: "How hypocritical is it for the left side of the blogosphere, which is filled with bloggers who can barely go 3 or 4 sentences without dropping a F-bomb, to be complaining about Ann Coulter using an offensive word?"

Captain's Quarters' Ed Morrissey, in an open letter to CPAC organizers, gives credit to Coulter for being a fearless defender of conservatism, but is disappointed in her use of inappropriate language: "such offensive language--and the cavalier attitude that lies behind it--is intolerable to us. It may be tolerated on liberal websites but not at the nation's premier conservative gathering."

Newsbusters' Warner Todd Huston opines, "Of course, I am sympathetic to her core message of conservative values, but in my opinion she is no longer an effective conservative columnist having long ago diluted her message by a career that has advanced to the stage of "personality" instead of pundit. She is the H.L. Mencken of our times... minus the intellect."

Save the GOP's Alexander does't want Ann Coulter to be invited back to CPAC next year.

Robert Bluey opines, this is why Ann Coulter is "the real winner at the end of the day. Her popularity soars after every CPAC — because bloggers, commentators and politicians denounce her. That’s just who she is and what she does. Get used to it. She’s not going away."

PoliPundit's Michael Illions is annoyed that so many conservative bloggers were so quick to condemn Coulter: "This isn’t about protecting the “movement” or preserving the long and distinguished history of CPAC as much as it is about the protection of their own careers and future financial revenue. For some, having a blog has become a business, and a profitable one at that."

Battle Born Politics' Mark Noonan notes that Edwards is already using Coulter's comments to raise money. Regardless if Edwards is a faggot or not, Noonan reminds us Edwards has a history of hiring bigots and accepting illegal campaign contributions.

And on the lighter side of things, here is a completely unrelated video that is resurfacing in the blogosphere of John Edwards getting ready for a public appearance:



Bill Maher Argues VP Cheney Should be Assassinated

While the lefty blogosphere is furious at Ann Coulter's comments, you won't see much outrage from those same bloggers about these comments from Bill Maher (Transcript from Newsbusters):

Ridley: It's one thing to say you hate Dick Cheney, which applies to his politics. It's another thing to say, "I'm sorry he didn't die in an explosion." And I think, you know...


Maher: But you should be able to say it. And by the way...

Frank: Excuse me, Bill, but can I ask you a question? Do you decide what the topics are for this show?

Maher: Yeah, I decide the topics, they don't go there.

Frank: But you exercise control over the show the way that she does over her blog.

Maher: But I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn't be dying needlessly tomorrow. (applause)

Scarborough: If someone on this panel said that they wished that Dick Cheney had been blown up, and you didn't say...

Frank: I think he did.

Scarborough: Okay. Did you say...

Maher: No, no. I quoted that.

Frank: You don't believe that?

Maher: I'm just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That's a fact.

Wizbang's Kim Prestap wonders if Maher is getting his information from Al Qaeda.

Newsbusters' Noel Sheppard adds, "As of 1:30 PM EST, there are 504 articles at Google News concerning Ann Coulter's comments yesterday at CPAC about John Edwards. Regardless of your opinion of those comments, how can they be close to as offensive as someone voicing regrets over a failed assassination attempt on a sitting Vice President?"

CPAC Straw Poll Results

Mitt Romney won the 2007 CPAC straw poll. Here are the results:

Mitt Romney 21 percent
Rudy Giuliani 17 percent
Sam Brownback 15 percent
Newt Gingrich 14 percent
John McCain 12 percent

Power Line's Paul Mirengoff opines, "I'm not sure how much these results mean, since there are reports that Romney and Brownback recruited activists to attend and vote for them. I suspect that Romney is popular enough with this conservative audience, but the perception that Giuliani can win in November 2008 is a powerful trump card. Under the circumstances, Rudy must be reasonably pleased with the results, especially since 34 percent had him as their first or second choice, the best of any candidate."

Michelle Malkin believes this straw poll is rather meaningless.

Human Events' John Gizzi explains that many activists at CPAC are not happy with the top-tier candidates, and why this is an excellent opening for Newt Gingrich to jump in the race.