Gay-baiting Coulter gets caught up in 'homoconflict'

Update: Coulter calls editor who dropped her as keynote speaker at its 'Taking Back America' conference 'swine and publicity whore'

WorldNetDaily Editor Joseph "Farah is doing this for PUBLICITY and publicity alone,” Coulter wrote in an email to The Daily Caller.

“[T]his was an email 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 emails politely answering him.” Coulter wrote in the email to TheDC. “[W]hy would he do such a despicable thing? … for PUBLICITY.”

The conservative pundit said that WND is well known for making decisions just to get attention, citing the conspiracist site’s regular articles about President Obama’s birth certificate.

“I will say that [Farah] could give less than two sh-ts about the conservative movement — as demonstrated by his promotion of the birther nonsense (long ago disproved by my newspaper, human events, also sweetness & light, american spectator and national review etc, etc etc). He’s the only allegedly serious conservative pushing the birther thing. for ONE reason: to get hits on his website.”

Coulter added, "also, FYI; my fellow evangelicals — and I know lots and lots of ‘em — – all think it’s great that I’m doing this. (of course, they know I’m not changing my mind on gay marriage even though I like gays.)"

At World Net Daily, "Farah responded to Coulter's remarks, saying, 'Ann is angry. I hope she calms down and there can be some restoration, repentance and forgiveness. She said some mean things about me, but I can sleep at night knowing I did the right thing in God's economy.'"

David Kupelian, WND's long-time managing editor, added, "Ann Coulter's a hero to many, but her angry accusation that we were motivated by publicity couldn't be more off-base. This wasn't Farah's sole decision; our executive team, including me, discussed this at length in a serious and thoughtful manner, and in the end, we went with what we considered to be the principled decision."

Original article follows:

In the spring of 2007, the Associated Press and other media outlets controversial conservative pundit Ann Coulter might get "blacklisted" after calling Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards a "faggot."

"Following her use of a gay slur about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards this month during remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference, some on TV are wondering whether her shelf life is expiring," AP Television Writer David Bauder wrote in a column titled "Has Ann Coulter reached her tipping point?"

Jump ahead three years later and rather than being banned, Coulter is now being hailed as the "Judy Garland of the right" by a gay Republican group, and getting crucified by some of the same folks who once lionized her for calling liberals "godless."

But some suspect the whole thing is a publicity stunt, and not an actual conservative civil war.

Mediaite's Tommy Christopher reports, "Conservative website World Net Daily has scored another meta-exclusive, announcing that World Net Daily has 'dumped' lightning rod Ann Coulter over a 'Homoconflict.' CEO Joseph Farah told his own website that it would be dropping Coulter as keynote speaker at its 'Taking Back America' conference because she has agreed to headline GOProud’s Homocon 2010."

Lest you think that Coulter has defiantly pitched a rainbow flag, however, she will continue as a WND columnist, and in remarks to WND, doesn’t exactly lock arms with GOProud.

According to The Daily Caller, though, some think that Coulter has changed her stripes:

“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. About Coulter’s comments three years ago: “People are allowed to evolve.”

From The World Net Daily article with no byline called "WND dumps Ann Coulter from Miami due to Homoconflict":

Conservative superstar Ann Coulter today was dropped as a keynote speaker for WND's "Taking America Back National Conference" next month because of her plan to address an event titled "HOMOCON" sponsored by the homosexual Republican group GOProud that promotes same-sex marriage and military service for open homosexuals.

Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, said the decision was a gut-wrenching one for his team because of their fondness for Coulter as both a person and writer-speaker.

"Ultimately, as a matter of principle, it would not make sense for us to have Ann speak to a conference about 'taking America back' when she clearly does not recognize that the ideals to be espoused there simply do not include the radical and very 'unconservative' agenda represented by GOProud," said Farah. "The drift of the conservative movement to a brand of materialistic libertarianism is one of the main reasons we planned this conference from the beginning."

Asked by Farah why she was speaking to GOProud, Coulter said: "They hired me to give a speech, so I'm giving a speech. I do it all the time."

Conservative Rick Moran blogging at his Right Wing Nut House blog slams WND owner Farah.

Radical right wingers like Farah are in the business of reducing the size of the Republican party until it is a distillation of pure right wing wackery. These folks are beyond “epistemic closure” and are in a full blown epistemological meltdown. The don’t create a reality as much as it oozes up from the muck and detritus of their broken and wildly inconsistent worldview – the result of unreasoning hatred for those who are in any way “different” and an illogical ideology that cannot brook any opposition lest it collapse in a disordered heap.

A conservative blogger recently "written off after accusing colleagues of racism" at Little Green Footballs is pulling out his popcorn to enjoy the show:

Joseph Farah of World Net Daily is excommunicating Ann Coulter from the Church of Bad Craziness, because she’s speaking at a conference sponsored by Republican gay organization GOProud. Watch out! It’s a right wing theocratic homophobic slapfight!

Politico's Ben Smith blogs, "Coulter, who's billed as the "right-wing Judy Garland" for the event, will keep her WND column, and the publicity is, I suspect, good for everyone."

Coulter's gay-baiting past

"I was going to have a few comments about John Edwards but you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,'" Coulter said at C-PAC, as Adam Dupont .

This wouldn't mark the first time that Coulter has "gay-baited" a Democrat. Coulter used the "other f-word" in a joking reference to Gore in a television interview in June of 2006, and on various occasions has claimed that Bill Clinton could be a "latent homosexual."

"I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality," Coulter said of Clinton on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC. (Crooks and Liars has video of the CNBC comments.)

During a Hardball interview with Chris Matthews, Coulter also said of Clinton, "I don’t know if he’s gay. But Al Gore — total fag."

A month before CPAC in 2007, RAW STORY reported that, while discussing politicians and celebrities who "run to rehab in times of crisis" on Fox News Channel, Coulter mocked the idea that someone should have to be "rehabilitated" for using a word that is considerd a slur against gays ().

"You use the word 'faggot' and you're going into rehab?" Coulter asked incredulously on Fox's Live Desk A-List.

The best selling Godless author was referring to Grey's Anatomy star, Isaiah Washington, who used the word twice in reference to co-star T.R. Knight. Knight later publicly came out when word broke out about the on-set scuffle the two actors had.

Washington faced a lot of criticism from gay activists, the press, and even his fellow castmembers, and he checked into a treatment center to address his "issues." He later claimed the incident cost him his role on the show.

Coulter, like many single women in the public eye from Elena Kagan to Lady GaGa, has been the victim of much gaybaiting herself. Articles on the much hated pundit that have nothing to do with sexuality posted in the past at RAW STORY and throughout the web are often besieged with vicious cracks speculating on her sexuality and even true gender.

Some liberals who leave what could be considered "hateful" comments often defend them by claiming they are satiric responses to a woman famous for saying controversial things to begin with.