Gay slur against Edwards
2007-03-05 09:37
Washington - Outspoken US 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.
Coulter made the comments on Friday during a speech at the
influential American Conservative Union's Political Action
Conference, calling Edwards a "faggot".
"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 Centre for Public Policy
Research, said on Sunday.
"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 centre's website.
Coulter said the comment was a joke and on her website she
carried the speech with the comment, "I'm so ashamed, I can't stop laughing".
She then said Edwards' campaign chairperson's main job was "fronting for Arab terrorists".
Bigotry and prejudice
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 website 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 is no stranger to controversy.
At the same conference last year, she used the word
"raghead" - a slur against Muslims - in referring to US
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.