Following is my own commentary on An Open Letter To The ACU And CPAC Sponsors as re-printed on Captain’s Quarters and several other blogs this morning.

I’d expect slurs and curses and the frequent F-Bomb from left-wing commentators and pundits (Daily Kos and Democratic Underground being veritable mine fields of profane invective toward “the Evil Right”). The nasty brouhaha generated by Amanda Marcotte’s diatribes on Pandagon had me scratching my head as to where a single person could contain so much hate.

But the Right isn’t without sin either. Take Ann Coulter’s jab at Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards, which is now making the rounds in the blogosphere: she effectively called him a “faggot”. Now, this doesn’t bother me so much for the fact that she doesn’t like Mr. Edwards, but now her floppy attempt to pass this remark off as humour - while undoubtedly sinking the CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) down to the level of the blowhard “political stalkers” like Mike Stark of CallingAllWingnuts.com is hardly humourous indeed.

It was like feeding gasoline onto a fire, as certain folks (including Max Blumenthal of the Nation, h/t to Dan Riehl) have more than eagerly jumped on that display of utter tactlessness to paint conservatives as nothing more than racists and homophobes. And apparently Ms. Coulter (or perhaps “Mr.”, if there is any truth to the rumours circulating about her supposedly anamolous bodily features) has done this more than once at the CPAC, referring to Iranians as “ragheads”.

Calling them Persians? Yes.

Calling particular Iranian clerics “Islamists” or “terrorists” who call for the destruction of America? I’m hip to that.

But “ragheads”…? That is in poor taste at best, and patently offensive at worst.

…

Come now, Ms. Coulter. You have the appearance of being a smart lady. Please try to act - and speak - like such an intelligent lady. The “Amanda Marcotte” mode you’ve been digging on for the past few years is does not suit you. Unless of course, you only care about the few minutes of fame (or rather infamy) you can glean from the camera.

Don’t be the “Brittany Spears” of the Conservative movement, playing the camera for attention or to sell your books. (Hint: it might not work the way you’ve planned)!

I call upon you to apologize to Mr. Edwards, and repent of your immature bouts of name calling: there is more than enough material for our adversaries on the left and our external enemies to sling and toss at our efforts to build a stronger America without us stooping to thier level.