Ann Coulter Gets a Phone Request

Ann Coulter is often booked on one TV show or another and allowed to spout her bullshit unchallenged. So it was refreshing to see Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, call in to "Hardball" and politely request that Ann stop her hate-mongering personal attacks on people, particularly her husband.

In the most compelling moment of their conversation, Elizabeth Edwards said the following:

"You wrote a column a couple years ago which made fun of the moment of Charlie Dean's death, and suggested that my husband had a bumper sticker on the back of his car that said 'Ask Me About My Dead Son'. This is not legitimate political dialogue...It debases political dialogue. It drives people away from the process. We can't have a debate about issues if you're using this kind of language...I'm making this call as a mother. I'm the mother of that boy who died. My children participate -- these young people behind you are the age of my children. You're asking them to participate in a dialogue that's based on hatefulness and ugliness instead of on the issues and I don't think that's serving them or this country very well."

Of course, asking Coulter to stop her nasty personal attacks is like asking Dick Cheney to stop keeping everything secret. It's probably not going to happen. But it's good to know that some people are ready and willing to fight back.