Ann Coulter just finished her stand-up routine. I missed the first part of it, so I’m not sure what the dumbest thing she said was.
She needs to update her material, though, since she’s making Phil Donohue jokes. Hint: No one under 40 has any clue who he is. (The joke, in the form of an SAT question, was that Hillary Clinton is comparing herself to Margaret Thatcher. Coulter thinks the analogy would be Margaret Thatcher : Ronald Reagan as Hillary Clinton : Phil Donohue. No, it wasn’t any funnier in person.)
She closed, with no apparent transition, saying that since you now have to enter rehab for uttering the word “faggot,” she wouldn’t be talking about John Edwards. (No, I don’t get it, either.)
I skipped the Q&A, figuring I had the gist of the speech by that point.
UPDATE: I would note that, an hour after the speech, people are still lined up around the block for autographed copies of her book. Granted, most of them are young kids of college age. Some of them are older than I am.
Somehow, I can’t imagine Ronald Reagan being pleased.
UPDATE: Sean Hackbarth has the audio.
UPDATE: The remarks are being widely condemned by the conservative bloggers who covered CPAC. In addition to Hackbarth, who observed that “Ann Coulter almost made it through her CPAC speech without looking like a complete buffoon,” we have:
- Michelle Malkin dubs it “a cheap one-liner.”
- Ed Morrissey: “Yeah, that’s just what CPAC needs — an association with homophobia. Nice work, Ann.”
- Nathan Nelson (who wasn’t on Bloggers’ Row but is from Red State, which was) calls for all conservatives to “shun” Coulter.
- Patrick Ishmael calls the comment “way out of line.”
- Kevin McCullough: “Today at CPAC Ann needlessly painted a target not on herself, but on the Conservative movement as a whole.”
- Bryan Preston: “I’m no fan of John Edwards, but that’s just a stupid joke. It’s over the line. The laughter it generated across the room was more than a little annoying.” He’s got the video.
Then again, there’s SeeJaneMom:
That joke about John Edwards being a “faggot” without saying the word “faggot” is not helpful. True maybe. But not helpful.
The line snaking through Blogger’s Row would suggest that no one cares.
UPDATE: After two hundred folks bought her book for 27.95, she bolts on a line that has waited two hours. I should have bought the book before I went through my AMAZON portal. Rats.
Hmmm. Well, she did say the word “faggot.” Nor is there any reason to think Edwards, who is married with children, is homosexual. But, yes, ducking out on the line of autograph seekers was her major transgression of the afternoon.
Emperor Misha (who wasn’t, so far as I know, in attendance) manages to deliver Coulter’s barb in a way that’s actually funny: “There was absolutely NO reason to insult homosexuals like that, Ann. I know and have known quite a few gays in my life, and I have yet to meet one as effeminate as My Little Pony Edwards. Heck, I’ve yet to meet any women as effeminate as The Breck Girl.” (I’ve never found Edwards to be particularly “effeminate,” but it’s at least a funny joke.)
UPDATE: Joe Gandelman rounds up more reactions.
