Coulter's fallout--Newspapers are dropping Coulter's syndicated column

It has been an interesting week when looking at the fallout conservative columnist Ann Coulter has been receiving after her "faggot" comment against Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Since the commnet, seven newspapers have dropped Coulter's column. These papers are the The Lancaster New Era, The Oakland Press of Michigan, The Mountain Press of Sevierville, Tenn., The Times of Shreveport, La., The American Press in Lake Charles, La., The Sanford (N.C.) Herald, and The DeKalb Daily Chronicle in Illinois. Instead of a deluge of papers dropping Coulter's column in the wake of this controversial remark, we've been seeing the steady drip-drip of papers pulling out like that of a Chinese water torture. Executive editor of The Times of Shreveport, Louisiana, Alan English, wrote this statement regarding why his paper was dropping Coulter:

Today we move past the rhetoric and unproductive dialogue offered by Ann Coulter. The Times is dropping her column effective immediately.

It is her recent “joke” about John Edwards being considered a “faggot” that is the back-breaking straw for a decision we've openly discussed for some time. We had a dialogue with readers last year regarding whether Coulter was a responsible commentator and journalist.

Her repeated use of hyperbole in the call for the death of some journalists and politicians was beyond the pale. And while we all believe she was “just kidding,” her "shock-jock'' writing style is no different from Howard Stern's practical jokes and bathroom humor that aims to draw a school-yard snicker but falls well short of reasonable, thought-provoking journalism. Unlike the work of a Thomas Sowell or a Kathleen Parker, two thoughtful conservatives, does a Coulter column raise the level of discourse?

The answer: rarely.

No doubt some conservatives will lament the loss of their beloved Coulter, someone who made the joke they are too polite to make. Objections are expected, but please do not miss the continuation of outstanding conservative commentary by Cal Thomas and Jonah Goldberg that continues on our pages. Sure Michelle Malkin sometimes approaches a Coulter-style rant, but we don't recall any homicidal zingers.

We are committed to providing a balance in commentary, so Coulter will be replaced by another conservative voice. Our many local conservative voices from the community also will continual to be welcome on our pages. With Coulter's departure, we're not demanding commentary all dressed up in delicate finery. Forceful, direct, even bare-knuckled writers are welcome as long as they are tackling ideas or stances rather than making profane personal attacks.

Coulter's "shock-jock'' writing style is no different from Howard Stern's practical jokes and bathroom humor that aims to draw a school-yard snicker but falls well short of reasonable, thought-provoking journalism. I'll admit that there is a place for Coulter's "shock-jock" writing style, just as there is a place for Howard Stern's bathroom humor. But you don't see Howard Stern's bathroom humor being published on the editorial pages of the nation's newspapers. Ann Coulter's columns are. If Ann Coulter wants to continue calling John Edwards a faggot, endorse assassinating President Bill Clinton and Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, accuse President Clinton of raping women, claim that 2006 Connecticut Democratic challenger, for the U.S. Senate, Ned Lamont supporters were "anti-American," accusing New York Senator Hillary Clinton of being gay, calling Vice President Al Gore a "total fag," President Clinton a "latent homosexual," and I can just go on adding more of Coulter's smears, baseless claims, distortions, and lies. If she wants to continue writing this crap, then fine--she can spout her trash in published books, or on a website, or perhaps even on the Republican Propaganda Channel, Faux News. But this type of sewage doesn't belong on the nation's editorial pages, any more than Howard Stern's crude bathroom jokes could be published in The New York Times, or aired on CNN. I'm not demanding legalized censorship against Coulter here--if a newspaper wants to publish her trash, then that is fine. But I'm not going to shed any tears if papers continue dropping her column because of these outrageous statements.