Disheartening Smear Tactics So Early

You would think that with the presidential election still 20 months away, any campaigning at this point would be civil, polite, and issues-oriented. And, generally speaking, it has been (except for that brouhaha raised by David Geffen's less than complementary remarks concerning the Clintons...which seems to have died away since both Senators Obama and Clinton appeared to behave cordially to each other in their joint appearance yesterday in Selma, Alabama).

But you must never discount Ann Coulter's appetite for slash and burn commentary in her quest for coverage, book sales, and...oh, yes, the conservative cause. She's like the Republican Party's personal pet pit bull. Watch out for her bite! It's hard to dismiss the notion that they let her and others somewhat like her (because, really, no one is QUITE like Ann Coulter) do the dirty work for them. Who needs negative attack ads when she's prancing from show to show, traveling city to city, slandering/slaughtering any Democratic candidate they may deem most dangerous? (John Edwards is beginning to look better and better to me since they obviously fear him.)

After Coulter referred to Edwards as a "faggot" in a new low at the recent CPAC meeting, you would think she'd had her fill because she's certainly been slammed right and left for her behavior. But, no. According to Editor and Publisher, she's now laying into his campaign manager:

"Coulter: Edwards' Campaign Manager 'Fronting for Arab Terrorists' By E&P Staff Published: March 05, 2007 11:00 AM ET

"NEW YORK Ann Coulter, fresh from implying that John Edwards is a "faggot," now has a statement on her Web site saying Edwards campaign manager David Bonior "is fronting for Arab terrorists."Coulter made the homophobic slur about Edwards, a Democratic presidential candidate, during a Friday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.Soon after, Bonior announced he was sending out a fund-raising letter seeking "Coulter Cash" to "show every would-be Republican mouthpiece that their bigoted attacks will not intimidate this campaign."A copy of Bonior's letter was posted on Coulter's Web site, with this note underneath: "It's always good to divert Bonior from his principal pastime which is fronting for Arab terrorists." Bonior was elected to Congress 13 times in Michigan, and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1968 to 1972. Universal Press Syndicate distributes Coulter's weekly newspaper column. A spokesperson there told E&P today that Universal would not comment about something Coulter said outside her column. The syndicate also declined to comment on what steps it might be taking if Coulter had used the "N" word instead of the "F" word.Coulter's Friday remark went as follows: "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I -- so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards."Audience members at the conservative gathering initially appeared startled, but then many of them laughed and applauded Coulter's slur."

At least, Edwards had the sense and decency not to descend to her level and simply ignored her. But I must say I am disheartened that such smearing has begun so early. I am even more disheartened to realize there is actually a public out there who applauds what she says and the way she says it.