Okay, the Ann Coulter thing.

As you may have heard, the not-at-all-insane Republican bootlicking extremist and cynical opportunist Ann Coulter recently thought that it would be great fun to throw around the word "faggot."

I admit, I wasn't particuarly stunned or outraged because, y'know, it's Ann Coulter. She's a not-at-all-insane Republican bootlicking extremist and cynical opportunist and I don't expect anything more from her.

Especially considering I know she's also the kind of hypocrite who has many gay friends in her personal circle, as recorded in David Brock's book. Yet speaks against the rights of gays and uses distasteful words for them in public.

What does stun me is that her use of the word actually seems to be having an impact, and that impact seems to be falling on her. To date since, four papers have dropped Coulter's syndicated column, and all have cited her comments on Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards as a factor.

Lord knows there are lots of other ways to criticize John Edwards. She could have, oh I don't know, called him a jackass. But instead, she chose to use a word that is denounced by true conservatives and liberal loyalists alike.

True conservatives think you just don't use that kind of language about a presidential candidate, no matter what party they're from. And we liberal loyalists, well, we just don't like the use of the word in most contexts.

None of the papers that dropped her are in parts of the country usually thought of as bastions for gay-rights advocates or liberalism in general. They include Lancaster Pa, Shreveport, Louisiana, Michigan, and (I'm as shocked as you are) Sevierville, Tenn.

So go figure. It seems to be becoming clear that some words are just not acceptable in our public discourse and "faggot" is one of them.

This is called evolution.