Nobody Asked, But Still

A search of my archives doesn't show a single reference at PostWatch to Ann Coulter. I certainly don't remember making any. I expect that practice will continue.

Dean Barnett explains the rules of adult life this morning, and Michelle Malkin adds another angle or two:

Her "faggot" joke was not just a distraction from all the good that was highlighted and represented at the conference. It was the equivalent of a rhetorical fragging--an intentionally-tossed verbal grenade that exploded in her own fellow ideological soldiers' tent.

There are countless conservatives who bring their children to CPAC. It's a family-friendly event. I brought mine last year and the year before. I met several parents with their kids there this year. We expect CPAC to be a place where conservative role models speak with clarity, passion, and integrity. There are enough spewers of mindless filth, vulgarity, and hatred on TV, at the movies, and in the public schools. We don't expect our children to be exposed to that garbage at the nation's preeminent conservative gathering.

I was in the back of the ballroom and did not see any children in the audience during Coulter's speech. But what if there had been?...

With a single word, Coulter sullied the hard work of hundreds of CPAC participants and exhibitors and tarred the collective reputation of thousands of CPAC attendees. At a reception for college students held by the Young America's Foundation, I lambasted the substitution of stupid slurs for persuasion-- be it "faggot" from a conservative or "gook" from a liberal--and urged the young people there to conduct themselves at all times with dignity in their ideological battles on and off campus.

I made something else explicitly clear: Not all of us treat the communication of conservative ideals and ideas as 24/7 performance art. You can and should use humor to convey your message. You can enlighten and entertain--without becoming a tired old schtick. You can joke without becoming the joke.

Writers of all stripes have at least a few molecules of narcissism, with the belief that anyone might be interested in what they're saying. That includes me. But with Coulter, it's all about Coulter. I hope CPAC won't allow itself to be used again.

Comments

[Minor Ripper]

More proof that Ann really isn't the sharpest knife in the shed...(see video)
http://minor-ripper.blogspot.com/2006/12/ann-coulter-gets-owned.html