Ann Coulter calls John Edwards a "faggot"

[R!ck]

Controversial columnist draws fire for gay slur Sun Mar 4, 3:28 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outspoken U.S. conservative columnist Ann Coulter is drawing fire from Republicans and Democrats alike after publicly using a derogatory gay slur in reference to Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards.

"Ann Coulter not only once again went out of her way to use a nasty epithet, she pushed her offensiveness up a notch," Amy Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research, said on Sunday.

Coulter made the comments on Friday during a speech at the influential American Conservative Union's Political Action Conference, calling Edwards a "faggot."

"We conservatives have enough trouble overcoming the false things that are said about us without paying for a platform upon which we shoot ourselves annually in the foot," Ridenour, whose group helped sponsor the conference, said in a statement on the center's Web site.

Coulter said the comment was a joke and on her Web site she carried the speech with the comment, "I'm so ashamed, I can't stop laughing." She then said Edwards' campaign chairman's main job was "fronting for Arab terrorists."

Edwards, a 2008 presidential contender and the party's 2004 vice presidential candidate, said Coulter's comments were "un-American and indefensible."

"The kind of hateful language she used has no place in political debate or our society at large," he wrote in comments posted to his Web site on Saturday.

"I believe it is our moral responsibility to speak out against that kind of bigotry and prejudice every time we encounter it," Edwards added.

The candidate also posted a video of Coulter's comments, asking supporters to raise $100,000 in so-called "Coulter Cash" for his campaign to "fight back against the politics of bigotry."

Coulter's Friday speech raised objections from Republican presidential hopefuls Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as well as Democrats.

In a statement on Sunday, Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said, "It was an offensive remark. Political discourse ought to be more substantive and thoughtful." McCain, the only contender who did not attend the event, and Giuliani called Coulter's words inappropriate, according to the New York Times.

"Ann Coulter's words of hate have no place in the public sphere much less our political discourse," Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) of Massachusetts said in a statement released on Saturday.

Several conservatives were also quick to denounce Coulter's comments in a variety of online columns.

Coulter is no stranger to controversy.

At the same conference last year, she used the word "raghead" -- a slur against Muslims -- in referring to U.S. homeland security policies. In a column published in the National Review after the September 11 attacks she urged an invasion of Muslim countries and forced conversion to Christianity.

[Brandeis]

Ann Coulter is a clown, a court jester.

[alwaysAMC]

She deserves to die.

Ok well maybe not die, but that was just vile and disgusting. I saw the video clip of her saying it, and she was just so smirky and full of herself when she said it. I can't stand her.

[Brandeis]

Please let's not martyr this nutcase. At best she's a GADFLY, she's never been a serious politico. Whoever invited her to speak needs a good solid reprimand. McCain and Romny have already distanced themselves from her. Sometimes I wonder if she's a Democrat "agent provocateur" to make the republicans look bad.

[juppiter]

Not that the Republicans needed help looking bad, but I've often wondered the same. She's such a walking contradiction... for example she says that "women should be armed, but should not vote" but votes herself. She also seems to think that sex should wait for marriage, so are we supposed to believe she's a 40 year old virgin?

I think that most conservatives hate her just as much as most liberals, since most of the things she says are twisted and she rarely has her facts straight. Amazingly though, she does have some groupies....

[Brandeis]

Apparently cannot vote legally to save her own dumb !@#$%^&*] ASS that she is.

Unfortunately many consrevatives believe the crap she spews. She doesn't know he meaning of the word "Fact", and neither do her followers.

[Drew]

also known as ... "I've been out of the news for a couple months, [!@#$%^&*] Anna and Britney, and now I need to get another 15 minutes"

[Bree]

She is the last thing the Republican party needs. Unfortunately, they're stuck with her because she's a pathetic media whore who relies on controversy. Otherwise, she would be another nobody in the big world of politics.

[darraholic]

Has she been on The View since Rosie came on? I'd love to see a Rosie vs Ann smackdown.

[bellcurve]

Sadly, I would root for Ann.

[Brandeis]

I don't think she's ever been no The View, but I'd love to see her try now.

I know I shouldn't ask, but why?

[Scotty]

I can not stand this woman. She is crazy, a b*tch and a moron.

[DevotedToAMC]

I am hoping one day this b1tch crawls under a rock never to be heard from again...and I have much worse names to call her than she does for Edwards. She would get her ass kicked out here in California

[Marilyn_M]

Here is Ann "The Man" doing what she does best, talking out of her ass . B*tch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9Bi3C4rs8

[Scotty]

You should have heard the twit yappin' it up with Shawn Hannity on FNC after the Oscars. They were talking about how Al Gore was a hyprocrite and how global warming was a scam and all that idotic crap.

No wonder it's so cold across a lot of the country right now. All the hot air is trapped inside the FNC studios.