The F-word.

I’m probably now just one of a bagillion people who have commented on this story, but in case you are not apprised, I’m commenting.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Ann Coulter said the following:
“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot,’ so I—so I’m kind of at an impasse, and can’t really talk about Edwards.”

Hoe lee kah rap.
Rehab? I don’t really get why that’s funny, or how it makes sense. If by “rehab” you mean advertisers will pull their ads from your Web site and newspapers will drop your column, then I get it. And you are a big fan of making up your own definitions for words anyway:

“I didn’t use an insulting word. I used a schoolyard word, about a married man with children—for the eight billionth time, and the audience knew that. I mean the joke wouldn’t have worked if I had inserted the name of a gay Democrat. Any other Democrat, the name could have been inserted. It could have been Howard Dean or Hillary Clinton because it’s a schoolyard taunt meaning wuss, meaning nerd, meaning weenie, meaning lame.” (says the lady on Fox News)

So, Ms. Coulter, let me get this straight: it’s not an insulting word, but you wouldn’t use it for a gay Democrat? Why not? Aren’t some gay people “nerds” too? So, following this logic, you could call Hillary Clinton the N-word, but not Barack Obama? I mean, calling someone an N-word is really just calling him or her a dummyhead, right? Well, as long as they are not black.

The editor of The Lancaster, PA, newspaper New Era, who dropped Ann’s column after her statements, put it best:

“Lancaster County residents of whatever political view—conservative, moderate, or liberal—deserve intelligent discussion of issues. Ann Coulter no longer provides that.”

I don’t know, nor do I want to know or even think about, why she chose to use the word. I’m just glad people recognize how horrible it is.

And Ann, just for future reference, the Webster’s definition for “faggot” is: “usually disparaging: a male homosexual.”

Funny, I don’t see “weenie” in there at all.