MRC issued a press release and I'd like to respond.

Brent Bozell should look close to home when he defends the vile Ann Coulter, who as we all know, speaks for Republicans. When it comes to ugliness and hatefulness, there is nothing that matches Coulter and he knows this all too well. The conservative magazine---the NRO had to fire Ann because of her repulsive columns:

Two weeks after penning a column calling for the United States to respond to terrorists by "invad[ing] their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity," the conservative commentator has been fired by National Review Online.

Apparently, that is appropriate political discourse for the MRC. Rush Limbaugh was the first recipient of the Annual William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence and I guess they forgot how he made fun of Michael J. Fox's illness (I broke the story on C&L) which angered many families that were touched by Parkinson's and helped propel Claire McCaskill to an upset victory in the Senate---so why am I not surprised that they find Coulter's hate-filled character assasinations to their liking? (here's a list of other great Limbaugh moments.)

Brent writes that it's all a great liberal plot to silence conservative voices, but that is not the case. Elizabeth just asked Ann to tone down the rhetoric, but the MRC tries to spin it into a debate about the Fairness Doctrine, which was a government regulation by the FCC. It was discovered in 2004 that Brent Bozell's group called the PTC filed 99.8% of all complaints to the FCC. Read Jeff Jarvis': "The shocking truth about the FCC: Censorship by the tyranny of the few." Jarvis also lists a litany of frivious complaints filed by the PTC.

The Republicans can't compete in a creative environment so they try to stop free expression, and then accuse us of what they're always doing. It's laughable that Bozell would be so worried about regulation of free speech and government control when he has used it at every turn.

And if he was being honest, he would admit that Elizabeth Edwards merely called in and asked Coulter to stop using personal attacks which lowers the bar of political debate in this country.  Is he trying to say that Republicans think it's acceptable to wish death by terrorist attack on a presidential candidate?

Edwards: If she wants to debate on issues...on positions---we certainly disagree with nearly everything she said on your show today, but it's quite another matter for these personal attacks...the things she's said over the years---not just about John---about other candidates----it lowers our political dialogue pricely at the time when we need to raise it. So I want to use the opportunity which I don't get much...Ann and I don't hang out with the same people...to ask her politely....stop the personal attacks.

Coulter made fun of the death of Elizabeth Edwards' son in a vicious column and all she did was ask her to stop. I guess in Bozell's mind that's tantamount to an attack. Brent Bozell's attack on John's wife is just another example of conservative whining that has no basis in facts. I challenge Bozell to watch or listen to the exchange again and tell me where Edwards attacked Coulter? I doubt he will respond. <snark>