Coulter’s slur

Washington, D.C.

A one-liner by bombastic conservative author Ann Coulter turned into a fund-raising opportunity for the target of her barb. Speaking at the annual conservative Political Action Conference, Coulter said she wouldn’t talk about Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, because “it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘faggot.’” GOP hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rudolph Giuliani, and John McCain quickly denounced the comment, though Romney, who also spoke at the conference, was photographed embracing Coulter, and she later endorsed his candidacy. Edwards quickly parlayed the attention into a fund-raising appeal. “Can you help us raise $100,000 in ‘Coulter Cash’ this week,” he wrote in an e-mail to supporters, “to fight back against the politics of bigotry?”

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