Despite the laughter and applause from the conservatives when Ann Coulter called presidential candidate John Edwards a “Faggot” – several GOP presidential candidates are now trying to distance themselves from her.
A bit late; they should have done that from the podium during the event, while the applause was going on. Now it just looks like what it is – spinning because they realized the public reaction was bad.
Edwards initial reaction wasn’t to decry the homophobia or recognize how dangerous to the gay community it is (given the beating death of a 72 year-old man, a man beaten in New Jersey, and a woman in Boulder, Colorado and an apparent hate crime death here in Kokomo, Indiana) – they used the opportunity to ask for money. There was some reaction to that on blogs, and now Edward’s wife has issued a statement specifically denouncing the homophobia.
I’m glad that people are finally getting that there’s a problem – but the fact that people aren’t getting it right first time and having to make course corrections indicates they people still think this is an issue of being “politically correct” – when the issue is about the safety and security of LGBT people in America.