It’s the closing days of second quarter fundraising, and that means pulling out all the stops… if that means dialing in to Chris Matthews to confront Ann Coulter over something she said six months ago recently, in order to score points with the confrontation-addicted netroots, you do it…
UPDATE: I am told that Edwards’ complaint wasn’t over Coulter’s CPAC remark, but about this comment:
COULTER: Oh yeah, I wouldn’t insult gays by comparing them to John Edwards. That would be mean, but about the same time — you know — Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished [Vice President] Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I’ve learned my lesson. If I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he has been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.
Here’s what Maher said. He doesn’t quite “wish” it, but he talks about Cheney’s assassination as having an upside, and arguably is insinuating that it would be morally justified…
MAHER: No, I’m just saying that if he did die—
SCARBOROUGH: [laughter] Okay, but if – oh, let’s just say—
MAHER: [overlapping]—other people – more people would live. That’s a fact.
As much as Ann Coulter can grate on me, I think she’s making a valid point about the double standard, that loose talk floats around wishing for Cheney to die, and there’s little outrage, compared to her tasteless comments about Edwards.