Ann Coulter - Hatemonger

Excerpts from an article in today's New York Times:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards pleaded Tuesday with Ann Coulter to ''stop the personal attacks,'' a day after the conservative commentator said she wished Edwards' husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, had been killed by terrorists.
''The things she has said over the years, not just about John but about other candidates, lowers the political dialogue at precisely the time we need to raise it,'' Edwards said by phone on MSNBC's ''Hardball'' program, where Coulter was a guest. .....
Coulter responded with a laugh and charged that Edwards was calling on her to stop speaking altogether. ''I don't think I need to be told to stop writing by Elizabeth Edwards, thank you,'' Coulter said. ....
On ABC's ''Good Morning America'' on Monday, Coulter was asked about a March speech in which she used a gay slur to refer to Edwards. ''If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot,'' Coulter said, picking up on remarks made by HBO's Bill Maher. Maher suggested in March that ''people wouldn't be dying needlessly'' if Vice President Dick Cheney had been killed in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan.
(end of excerpts)
There are two points worth making. First, Maher is a comedian, which I suppose cuts him some slack. Second, and more importantly, he was referring to something that had actually happened (the insurgent attack) while Cheney was visiting Afghanistan. Coulter's wish, on the other hand, was for something that has not occurred, but was merely a figment of her imagination. This is inciting and hateful. She does not deserve a seat at the media table any more then Pat Buchanan does. (See my earlier post.)

My favorite story about comedians making threats concerns Groucho Marx. When Nixon was President, and Groucho was in his 80's, he evidently said that the only alternative left was assassination. The Secret Service considered whether to bring charges against him (Arrest Groucho Marx?), but finally decided to treat his remark as a joke.