Ann Coulter's Spine

Ann Coulter is tough.

She has the spine of a... something with a really strong spine.

Coulter isn't buckling under pressure to apologize for a joke she made during a speech on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington D.C.

I really can't believe that this is such a major story.

This is shaping up to be a feud on the scale of the Donald Trump - Rosie O'Donnell bout.

Coulter's remarks weren't unusual for her. They were classic Coulter -- pushing the limits, creating controversy for controversy's sake. That's her calling card. That's what she does.

On Monday night, Coulter got the chance to explain herself.

From FOX News:

Ann Coulter fired back at critics who demanded the conservative columnist apologize for comments she made during a speech in which she referred to Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards as a "faggot."

"'Faggot isn't offensive to gays; it has nothing to do with gays," Coulter said on "Hannity and Colmes" Monday night. "It's a schoolyard taunt meaning 'wuss,' and unless you're telling me that John Edwards is gay, it was not applied to a gay person."

...Coulter called the whole controversy another example of the mainstream media's "speech totalitarianism" and says she sees no reason to apologize for a joking comment that was taken out of context.

"What I was saying right there was for conservatives to not let the mainstream media describe us as anti gay and oppose Mitt Romney's policies for being pro-gay," Coulter said.

Nope, no apology there. No backing down.

Actually, she's helping Edwards. I think the last thing he would have wanted would be for her to beg for his forgiveness.

Rather than refusing to dignify the gay slur, Edwards is using it to raise cash. Obviously, his sleazy money grubbing lawyer instincts kicked in.

Coulter has Edwards' campaign manager David Bonior's solicitation e-mail on her website.

Dear [Supporter],

Did you hear about Anne Coulter's speech this afternoon attacking John? A friend just forwarded me the video and it's one of the worst moments in American politics I've seen.

I can't bring myself to even repeat her comments. Her shameless display of bigotry is so outrageous you actually have to see for yourself:
This is just a taste of the filth that the right-wing machine is gearing up to throw at us. And now that it's begun, we have a choice: Do we sit back, or do we fight back?

I say we fight. Help us raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" this week to show every would-be Republican mouthpiece that their bigoted attacks will not intimidate this campaign. I just threw in 100 bucks. Will you join me? Just click here.:

Coulter's attack was no accident. It happened on national television at one of the year's biggest conservative conferences. Dick Cheney and most of the Republican candidates were in the audience. She was even introduced by Mitt Romney.

John was singled out for a personal attack because the Republican establishment knows he poses the greatest threat to their power. Since they have nothing real to use against him, Coulter's resorting to the classic right-wing strategy of riling up hate to smear a progressive champion. And the Republican attack dogs will keep playing this despicable trick as long as they think it works.

But this time, you and I can change the game.

If we can raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" this week, we can show that bigotry will only backfire on those who use it. John is not the first progressive leader to face this kind of slime, but together, we can make sure he is one of the last.

Tonight, I've put in 100 bucks of "Coulter Cash" to get us started. Can you match me, or chip in whatever you can afford? Just click here:

http://johnedwards.com/r/6665/22570:

Thanks,

David Bonior Campaign Manager John Edwards for President

What a load!

"Slime." "Bigotry." "Filth that the right-wing machine is gearing up to throw at us."

How dramatic!

"Coulter Cash"?

Let's be honest. Edwards wasn't offended by the joke. He's licking his chops.

The feigned outrage in Bonior's message is priceless.

I think a message that Coulter has posted on her site is funny, too.

AMBULANCE CHASER GETS REAR-ENDED BY ANN COULTER -
I'm so ashamed, I can't stop laughing!

Coulter is definitely offering no remorse; but that's actually making everybody happy.

Edwards is getting what he wants (a fund-raising opportunity) and Coulter is getting what she wants (attention).

CNN has weighed in on another aspect of this pretend scandal.

At least three major companies want their ads pulled from Ann Coulter's Web site, following customer complaints about the right-wing commentator referring to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards as a "faggot."

Verizon, Sallie Mae and Georgia-based NetBank each said they didn't know their ads were on AnnCoulter.com until they received the complaints.

A diarist at the liberal blog DailyKos.com posted contact information for dozens of companies with ads on Coulter's site after the commentator made her remarks about Edwards at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Friday.

"One of the best ways to communicate one's distaste for Coulter's repeated incidents of hate speech is to respectfully but firmly let her advertisers know you are deeply troubled by their indirect support of bigotry through their advertising on Coulter's Web site," the blogger VolvoDrivingLiberal wrote on DailyKos.com on Sunday.

Read the fringe Left's Coulter attack plan.

Verizon, Sallie Mae and NetBank said the ads were put on a variety of sites by a third party company. In many cases, advertisers do not know which sites feature their ads.

"Per our policy, the networked Web site ad purchases are supposed to be stripped of certain kinds of Web sites," said a Verizon spokesperson. "This one could be considered an extreme political Web site, should be off the list, and now it is off the list."

A Sallie Mae spokesperson said the company was only testing an online advertising agency, and that their ads were not meant to show up on Coulter's site. The company said they planned to pull ads from other political and religious Web sites as well.

A spokesperson for NetBank said Coulter's page "is not the kind of site we want to be on."

I'm guessing, but I doubt that the bulk of Coulter's income comes from her website.

I don't think that companies pulling their ads will mean much to her.

The uproar works to her benefit in the long run. It really serves to help her cultivate her image as the queen of controversy. I bet her speaking fees are rising ever higher.

I wonder. Does Verizon advertise on The View? How about MSNBC? Or CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS?

Think of the trash Rosie O'Donnell spews out every morning on The View.

Think of the garbage that comes out of the mouths of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

Are advertisers fleeing because of their extremism and hateful statements?

Once again, the double standard rears its ugly liberal head.

Bigotry, shmigotry.

These libs are hypocrites. They practice in selective outrage and moral relativism.

They're frauds.

Coulter, like her or not, isn't a fraud. She is what she is.