Cutting Coulter from conference sparks tsunami

Ann Coulter

The decision to cut columnist Ann Coulter from a scheduled speaking engagement at WorldNetDaily's "Taking America Back" conference next month because of her controversial decision to address a homosexual convention has created a tsunami of reaction.

What WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah described as a "gut-wrenching" decision based on "a matter of principle" was described by Coulter as a "publicity" stunt.

"[F]arah is doing this for PUBLICITY and publicity alone," said Coulter, the Daily Caller reported.

WND's report included an exchange between Farah and Coulter where he asked her, "Do you not understand you are legitimizing a group that is fighting for same-sex marriage and open homosexuality in the military – not to mention the idea that sodomy is just an alternate lifestyle?"

"[T]his was an e-mail exchange [between] friends and even though I didn't expressly say 'OFF THE RECORD' and I believe everything I said, he's a swine for using my private e-mails politely answering him," Coulter told the Daily Caller. "[W]hy would he do such a despicable thing? … for PUBLICITY."

The WND story fanned across the Internet, making New York Magazine and CBS.com, among others. But the "publicity" value proved debatable. Like GOProud's HOMOCON event she's slated to address, much of the coverage paired Coulter with some strange bedfellows, as several leftist sites lauded the homosexual organization and cast Coulter as the lesser of two evils compared to WND.

"The conspiracist conservative site WorldNetDaily has dropped provocateur Ann Coulter from its Taking America Back National Conference, it says, because of her plans to speak at the gay conservative group GOProud's Homocon," wrote Politico's Ben Smith.

Queerty.com (whose motto is "Free of an agenda. Except that gay one.") penned the headline: "Ann Coulter, Not Conservative or Hateful Enough for World Net Daily."

"Because she's headlining GOProud's first annual Homocon event, Ann Coulter has been branded as too liberal for World Net Daily, the propaganda website that just dropped the foul mouthed busker from its Taking Back America Conference," reported the site.

GOProud found a defender in Slate.com's Dave Weigel, MSNBC contributor who worked for a George Soros-funded website and the Washington Post before his violent and demeaning remarks about Matt Drudge and tea party members cost him that job.

"As was the case at CPAC," wrote Weigel, "there's a gap between the positive media coverage of GOPround and the anger the group generates with grassroots conservatives who don't otherwise bring these issues up."

At EdgeBoston.com, Kilian Melloy asked, "A few months ago, right wing firebrand Ann Coulter reacted to words of advice from a Canadian University official with stringent claims that she was being silenced and was the victim of a 'hate crime.' But how will Coulter respond now that her own fellow conservatives have dumped her from a 'Taking Back America' conference for agreeing to speak her piece at a gay conservative group’s event?"

For some commentators, Coulter's decision to address GOProud proves most politically pragmatic. Farah, meanwhile, maintained that "GOProud is about infiltration of the conservative movement and dividing it from within with twisted and dangerous ideas way out of the mainstream of American public opinion. Ann Coulter is, I'm afraid, validating this effort for money."

Certainly, Coulter's decision to address GOProud prompted former critics to soften their stance toward her.

"If she can help other conservatives turn the corner on equality for gays and lesbian Americans … then more power to her," said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans.

"This is not a 'Gay' issue," wrote the YidWithLid blog. "It's about saving the country. If we are for taking away the power of the Federal Government as it tries to control our lives and freedoms, then we must join hands with groups that agree with that position. GOProud is such an organization Thankfully most conservatives are more tolerant than WND."

Doug Mataconis of Outside the Beltway attacked Farah and WND for failing to follow the trend that, "like the relative quiet on the right about the Proposition 8 ruling, and the fact that Grover Norquist recently joined the GOProud," amount to "a sign … that the anti-gay rhetoric that was associated with the right in the past just isn’t going to work anymore."

Farah recently challenged Glenn Beck on this very issue when the Fox News star dismissed the "harm" of safe-sex marriage. That stance showed that Beck "doesn't care about one of the most blatant and despicable examples of judicial tyranny in the history of our country," said Farah.

At The American Spectator, Robert Stacy McCain lamented the scuffle between Farah and Coulter but paid homage to the former's convictions.

"As Lincoln said when critics demanded he relieve Grant from command, 'I can't spare this man – he fights,'" McCain wrote. "Joseph Farah is also a fighter, and I regret that his disagreement with Ann Coulter over the so-called 'Homocon' conference has led to this apparent falling out between them. What Farah describes as a 'drift' by conservatives toward 'materialistic libertarianism' is, I believe, a misperception, yet another consequence of Republican 'brand damage' in the post-Bush era."

The Hill reported that WND's conference lineup remains strong enough to draw attendees even without Coulter attending.

"Even without Coulter, the Miami, Fla., WND conference will still feature plenty of conservative stars, including Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Minn.). Bachman will be joined by Ambassador Alan Keyes, Colorado GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo, former Sen. and retired Admiral Jeremiah Denton, and talk-show host Rusty Humphries."