Incensed, swept away by a wave of spontaneous outrage, Elizabeth Edwards picked up the phone and called Ann Coulter on ‘Hardball’ to give her a piece of her mind for smearing John (The News and Observer, 7-1-07).

Now, I can think of a lot of things my wife might like say to the woman who called me a “faggot,” but accusing her of “debasing the political debate,” which is how Mrs. Edwards chastised Ms. Coulter, isn’t one of them. By a long shot.

More to the point the words were barely out of Mrs. Edwards’s mouth before an email flew out of the Edwards Campaign – from her – asking for donors’ money to help battle Coulter’s smear.

Before the email Edwards campaign announced it was $500,000 short of raising its $9 million goal this quarter; after, it announced it had exceeded its goal.

Do the math. Liberals hate Coulter. Edwards confronts Coulter. Liberals give money. So, maybe, this isn’t all quite spontaneous.

Maybe, Mrs. Edwards turned a vicious smear into a $500,000 windfall which, in a way, is poetic justice.

And don’t weep for Ann Coulter either.

“This is a win, win, win for all the parties involved,” says political scientist Andrew Taylor of North Carolina State University, “It helps Ann Coulter seem important, which will help her sell books and it works nicely for the Edwards campaign because he shows his bona fides as a liberal…”

As for ‘debasing the political debate’ no one was left with clean hands. Ms. Coulter crossed the line. By a mile. Then Mrs. Edwards – knowing being smeared by Ann Coulter only helped John in the Democratic primary – told liberals the campaign needed money to fend off this vicious smear.

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