FLASHREPORT

I don't have a problem with what Ann Coulter has to say.  That's her right.  Her "side show" is all about making herself a pile of money, selling books, and getting obscene speaking fees.  But I do have a problem with her doing what she does at the expense of the credibility of the conservative movement.  Conservatives and conservative organizations need to rethink continuing to empower her by paying her speaking fees and providing credible fora for her self-serving antics.  

Ann of course is known as the journalist who at the national Conservative Political Action Conference last March sullied the reputation of former Senator John Edwards by calling him out as a "faggot."  Now she is at it again against Edwards.  "So I've learned my lesson," she said on a recent ABC program. "If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

When Coulter appeared Tuesday on MSNBC's "Hardball," Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of the former Senator, called in to ask Coulter to stop making personal attacks on her husband. According to reports, the exchange deteriorated, with Coulter shouting over Mrs. Edwards and demanding that the campaign stop using her name to raise money if they want her to stop personal attacks. 

All Coulter is doing is making herself wealthy, and helping Edwards raise a ton of money for his campaign at the same time.  Edwards apparently made $300,000 in unexpected donations the week after Coulter made the "faggot" remark.  Now, after the debate with Edward's own wife, Edwards and Coulter will further benefit.  But not the conservative movement.  We gain nothing in the exchange except the right for the MSM to dismiss us as biggots and ignorants.

I am a member of the Board of Directors of the American Conservative Union and a former National Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom.  I believe it was wrong, and selfish, for Coulter to call Edwards a "faggot" at CPAC in March.  I was there.  And now, I think it is even more wrong for Coulter to be calling for Edwards to be a victim of a terrorist assasination - the only Federal crime punishable by the death penalty, and for her to argue with Edwards wife about it on national TV.  The media says she is a conservative.  But she doesn't represent me.  And she certainly isn't getting an invitation to speak at Western CPAC.

Don't get me wrong -- again, Coulter has a right to say whatever she wants to get attention and make a buck.  But at the same time, I have a right to say she is a disgrace to the conservative movement.  I despise Adriana Huffington, but on one point I agree with her: conservatives need to stop empowering Ann Coulter.  Cut her loose.  She is about as relevant and helpful to us now as a bearded lady in freak show.