Controversial Columnist Draws Fire for Anti-Gay Slur

March 5, 2007 — -- Conservative bomb thrower Ann Coulter's lashing of 2008 Democratic presidential hopeful former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina over the weekend has created a firestorm with Democrats and Republicans alike rejecting her remarks.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of grass-roots conservative activists, Coulter, a best-selling author, referred to him using a disparaging word for a male homosexual.

"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," Coulter said Friday at the gathering in Washington, D.C.

Later in the day, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, wasted no time in pouncing on Coulter's remarks and calling for the Republican presidential field -- many of whom were on hand to address the conference -- to denounce Coulter's words.

Dean said, "There is no place in political discourse for this kind of hate-filled and bigoted comments. While Democrats and Republicans may disagree on the issues, we should all be able to agree that this kind of vile rhetoric is out of bounds. The American people want a serious, thoughtful debate of the issues. Republicans -- including the Republican presidential candidates who shared the podium with Ann Coulter today -- should denounce her hateful remarks."

The 2008 Republican presidential front-runner, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York, who spoke to the conference just hours before Coulter, told ABC News over the weekend that Coulter's comments "were completely inappropriate and there should be no place for such name-calling in political debate."

In an interview with ABC News' Sonya Crawford, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore brushed off Coulter. "You know, she's an author," he said.

A spokesman for Sen. John McCain who was absent from the conference called Coulter's comments "offensive," adding that "political discourse ought to be more substantive."

A spokesman for former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who preceded Coulter at the conference Friday and said that he was happy to hear that the conference would hear from her, called Coulter's words "offensive."

"Gov. Romney believes all people should be treated with dignity and respect," Romney's communications director Kevin Madden said.

Edwards, the target of Coulter's confab, wrote on his Web site that "the kind of hateful language she used has no place in political debate or our society at large."