John and Elizabeth Edwards continue to amaze me. For the past few years Democrats like myself have been talking with our friends, railing against right wingers like Coulter, Savage, Limbaugh, et al and just praying that a candidate will stand up and tell them off. Regardless of how you feel about John and Elizabeth Edwards, they have stepped up and done it. This is not the first time this campaign that they have stepped "outside the box" of Presidential campaigns either. John Edwards submitted a question to the Republican Presidential debate in New Hampshire. He sent a letter to the FCC in defense of net neutrality. John Edwards is a prime example of a candidate who was muzzled, neutralized and consulted to death in a previous election who is now running with the gloves off. Kudos to him and Elizabeth. He is from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

MATTHEWS: Well, what do you make of the role of trash talk in politics generally, this willingness on the part of partisans to enrage the other side by going over the top? I mean is that a smart tactic? Does it work, does it debase the politics?

No, Chris, this is not a neutral issue. It's not "politics generally", it's right-wing media. Your home. Remember this cozy exchange between Chris Matthews and Tom Delay.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ann Coulter. Hmm. Several thoughts come to mind: the political version of Paris Hilton, a wannabe Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart, failed political analyst who must rely on clever and mean-spirited quips and catchphrases (which give even me a perverse chuckle now and then, I confess) and flatulence-filled inflatable doll. What’s missing, of course-- something I and so many others know while Coulter does not-- is what is called _substance_. Being clever with words is no substitute for really having something to say, and poor Annie has none of it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

i love to see them do their thing in public. they are the perfect representatives of the right wing, the inverse of anything good.

let us not be afraid or shy from the evil ones. voters will not be able to forget them and the Repuglican party they represent.

church-goers rejoice at the evil ones and their dirty deeds!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

JFK always had a graceful response that on second thought actually slapped the snot out of those (Republicans) who launched cheap shots at him. The only successful Democratic Presidential candidate in the last 18 years clearly said that whenever “they” (Republicans) slapped him around, he always answered back. That was Bill Clinton after Al Gore unsuccessfully accelerated the “we-don’t-sink-to-their-level” strategy in the final weeks of the 2000 election campaign. It should work well with sophisticated, experienced, emotionally mature voters. It should work if the voters have strong reasoning skills. But apparently not with the voter pool in today’s America. I believe not answering back in a timely fashion is what cost Al Gore Tennessee in 2000. I was here in Nashville – and waited in vain for effective responses to the earliest, most outlandish and last minute charges. What little response he generated was woefully ill timed and otherwise ineffective - I am so very sorry to report. I have been his devoted fan since he first entered congress. Winning Tennessee would have delivered the 2000 election to him.

If the Democrats want to field a winner in 2008 they must be prepared to support a candidate who is:
1. Willing and effective at raising obscene amounts of money;
2. Willing and effective (if gracefully) at answering vicious, brutal cheap-shot artists (like AC and the numerous other stealth journalists on the right);
3. Constantly slandered and charged with untrue legal & moral offenses.

John Edwards is – so far, the only candidate who seems to understand where he is, who he is and what the conditions are: he has no delusions about the sophistications of the voter pool he must win over and appears to accept that. Meanwhile, Al Gore says he is unwilling to do the things he now believes a candidate must do to win national elections (“The Assault On Reason,” Al Gore, 2007). Perhaps it would have been better if he realized that before the nominations in 2000? John Edwards seems to tell us “I didn’t make the rules and I can’t change them. But what they are is quite clear. The stakes for our country are very high. Therefore I will participate – but I will not do it the Al Gore way or the John Kerry way: I am in it to win.”

This exchange with Coultergeist is a very promising moment in this campaign for Democrats. Is it a “Watershed moment?” I suspect it is. I certainly hope so.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The best thing you can do about Ann Coulter is to ignore them. Don't you see that you are giving her free publicity? Just stop attacking her. You are just making people want to watch the controversy. John's message is not getting out and everyone is focusing on the wrong issues. Worse is that people see John is making money on this -- it sends a wrong message to ordinary folks like you and me.
Trust me. Just ignore her. It's the only right way to deal with the problem and get John's message out.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

NO MATTER HOW MUCH EDUCATION PEOPLE LIKE COULTER GETS, THEY CAN NEVER MEASURE UP TO WHAT IS HONORABLE, GOOD AND RIGHT. THEY DESPISE SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE AND KNOW THEY WILL NEVER MEASURE UP SO THEIR ONLY AVENUE OF PROFIT IS TO ATTACKS WITH THEIR INTELLECTUAL PORNO-ASSAULTS. COULTER IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF A LOSER. ANYONE WHO WASTES THEIR TIME READING COULTER'S TRASH IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS LOSERS. YUK!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ah yes, Ann Coulter. Paris Hilton without the glamour and the intellect.

I like the concept, unfortunately, ignoring people like Coulter is like ignoring cockroaches in the kitchen or mosquitos on the patio. You end up with a filthy, disgusting pantry or at the very least an irritating itch and maybe even malaria.

Nah, the best thing to do is smack 'em wherever they show up. Sure you'll never get rid of them all, but you can at least keep their damage to a minimum. Better to be temporarily irritated than run the risk of contracting a terminal illness or a permanently debilitating disease.

Quite honestly, I can't understand why Coulter isn't an abused wife in a trailer court somewhere in Alabama. I suppose no self-respecting spouse abuser would take her in. Personally, I've never hit a woman, but if I had those tendencies, I think I'd prefer someone who could take a punch. Coulter is such a pathetic physical specimen, one good backhand might get you a homicide rap. And I can't imagine her being able to keep a double-wide clean or even heat up a TV dinner without completely ruining it. Or how about sex? You gotta be kidding. It'd probably be like f#%king a step van with a broom handle. (and it wouldn't be a problem of the handle being too small)

Coulter is about 6 months past the use by date and needs to be fed to the hogs before even they turn up their noses.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

C'mon. Seriously. Ann Coulter's skin draped skeleton only takes half the blame for this shennanigans. It's obvious the Edwards' are playing this one for the bank. Would Elizabeth Edwards call Ann Coulter on national television if she were simply trying to get Ann Coulter to stop attacking?

No.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Chris is someone who leftist individuals accuse of having republican sympathies, and rightist individuals accuse of having democratic sympathies. In this, he is like Tim Russert and this tells me that he is in fact quite a good journalist.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I hope you post your feelings about Matthews on MSNBC. Someone will read it. I agree with you about his kissing up to Colter but in the past Matthews has said good things about Edwards' run for President.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's easy to play the bitch as she does!
Any third rate cabaret drag queen does it to amuse the crowds every night of the week, batting one eyelash only, not the whole lazy eye, as Coulter does...Makes me think; it's probably where she inadequately learned the trade. Coulter is a cur who wherever she goes soils the air and ground. What could be important political discourse becomes covered with excrements she's rechewed and regurgitated to avid media. She makes Joan Rivers and Tammy Fay Baker look like prom queens. Her career will reach its zenith when Karl Rove buys a spread for her in a Larry Flint rag. Ignore her! She's as relevant as Col. Sanders and similar assorted Coca Cola generals. If I were a Democrat, I would rejoice she supports Republicans. If I were a Republican, I would ask her to support Democrats.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Please don't fret about a misspelled name.
I'll never write her a cheque!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...a John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich presidency. Both are clearly dedicated to people values and family values in that they are tryiong to turn the ship 'America' in far more human directions. Give families wages and they will spend them in their own best interests, to the benefit of raising their children and the country toward people values unlike the rethugs and their enablers, the right wing religious phonies, the corporate criminals and the Republican party of war-kill-death for profit and world domination.
It continues to amaze me that the right wing religions cannot see that people values, family values, childrens and womens values and quiet respectful diplomacy devoid of hate, intolerance and corporate theft of other peoples are the right way to go.
Maybe someday the pope will wake up and remember wghat that liberal jewish guy who lived some 2000yrs ago taught.
As a catholic I completely reject the awful things perpetrated by institutional catholicism. Amen

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

listening to Matthews-Coulter is like the smell when your fat, republican uncle opens the bathroom door..

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]