What was intended to be a "joke" about Hollywood celebrities being forced into rehab for using offensive language is now water-cooler talk around the country, and Ann Coulter is the latest perpetrator.

In her first official interview since her controversial speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, Coulter, the right-wing political commentator, is defending her comment in which she referred to presidential candidate John Edwards as a "faggot."

"This is the same thing we go through every six months. I say something, the same people become hysterical, and that's the end of it. The lesson young right-wingers ought to draw from this, it's really not that scary to attack liberals," said Coulter. 

According to the same interview, which aired on the FOX News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" show, Coulter also may be at risk of losing her conservative supporters. An e-mail read over the program said, "I am a conservative, used to be a fan of hers. You are an embarrassment to conservative beliefs, to the Republican Party, to anyone with a shred of self-respect. Do us a favor, shun her."

CNN recently reported the possibility of Coulter losing significant financial backing. Since her inflammatory comment, at least three major companies have requested their ads be pulled from her web site, AnnCoulter.com. After receiving an outpouring of customer complaints, companies including Verizon, Sallie Mae and the Georgia-based NetBank said they were not aware their ads were posted on her web site until after they received the complaints. The companies have since removed their ads. Verizon is No. 1 on The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list.

Coulter is a controversy veteran. Newsweek reporter Michael Isikoff's book Uncovering Clinton: A Reporter's Story unmasked Coulter as the one who leaked word of Clinton's "distinguishing characteristic"—his reportedly bent penis that Paula Jones said she could recognize and describe—to the news media. Her hope was to foster distrust between the Clinton and Jones camps and forestall a settlement. Coulter told Isikoff, "We were terrified that Jones would settle. It was contrary to our purpose of bringing down the President."

What do our readers think of Ann Coulter? This is what some DiversityInc readers had to say:

Thank you for publishing the latest in Ann Coulter's trash talk. I think it's important to realize that she will say anything disparaging about anyone as long as it will keep her in the news and sell whatever her latest ware is. It's not about her false proclamations of Christian faith, it's about her trying to make herself interesting as a pundit. She really isn't since she never discusses issues, just insults. I'm sure she will next take on kittens or puppies.

—Arthur Korant

If groups have to choose hate-filled people such as Coulter as a speaker at their conservative events, they are obviously scraping the very bottom of the barrel. The place where Coulter spoke is the same "Christian" church that espouses the conversion of gays to straights. That's like changing a pickle back into a cucumber. Impossible. They also invited Phyllis Schlafly to speak this past weekend. These women are both hate-mongers of the first order. Pathetic, indeed. Knee-jerk hatred is easy to spread. The dumbest people espouse hateful views. What takes some brains and discernment are the acceptance and tolerance of those whose lifestyles differ from our own.

—Pamela Fisk

You should understand that Ann Coulter is a professional performer ... one-trick pony who entertains at conservative events by making deliberately obnoxious statements. The more space you give her, the more you validate her act. The best response to her is silence.

—George Duncan

Ann Coulter is an American, guaranteed freedom of speech by our Constitution. Don't be a good Democrat or a good Republican, be a good American and support our Constitution. That way you can continue to expose your ideas to total strangers and good friends. We're Americans, and we need to stand together behind the principles of freedom for everyone.

—Gale Harold

I watched the entire event and you are way off the mark on this. I did not get the feeling she was using a slur against anyone; she was simply referring to the Grey's Anatomy fiasco. The news must really be slow if this is front-page worthy.

—Greg Alexander

Ann Coulter is a "gad-fly" who makes her living sucking blood from anyone who will give her press. She has no positive commentary and is a "denigration blood-sucker"; she is a "not" person. I listen to her and read her comments because I know that America is better, much, much better than she is. Apparently, though, she does not know that. I listen to Coulter because she, along with Rush Limbaugh, provides me with the best possible means to try to figure out where the country is "not" going.  She is a "fringe" who apparently was in hibernation when the election occurred last November and has had amnesia ever since. It is ironic to me that ... she routinely insults the American people on a regular basis without caring. (I am sure that some of those conservatives in her audience were also gay!) Ann, America is better than you.

—O. Williams

People with common sense should make a collective pact not to acknowledge her until it's time to write or read her obituary. Let's get the ball rolling with this message.

—Dawn Anderson

Ann Coulter is an attention seeker who has become famous for making cheap nasty idiotic comments. What more is there to say?

—Christine Mathieu

Jesus Christ did not die for Ann, he died so that we would not become Ann. 

—Miriam Gonzalez

That broad is nuts! She's about as Christian as Hitler.

—Sharon Jefferson

Ann Coulter doesn't deserve to have a show or speak in public. There should be a court order to muzzle her. I normally encourage to hear peoples' views, but she only speaks of ignorance. Go away, Ann.

—Jeanette Pudas

Coulter's disparaging use of the negative term to describe a gay man, and the subsequent cheering of the crowd, speaks volumes on how the Republican Party is the party of hatred and bigotry. Her speech was vile; her ease of use of the term would lead me to believe that the use of the N-word cannot be far behind. I view this as nothing less than a confirmation of a belief that I have ... that the Republican Party is the futuristic version of the Nazi party and will ultimately lead to the same conclusion as that party experienced in World War II. The KKK couldn't have introduced hatred better than what has been spewed from Coulter's mouth.

—Phillip S. Roberts

What offends me most is when people use religion as a cover-up for their prejudices. It is not going to help America or any society at all when people cannot engage in civil discussion and debate issues based on their merit. I just hope that some people in the Republican Party will rebuke her for creating such a poisonous environment for discussion ... Indeed, when she identifies herself as Christian, one wonders what Christianity has become in America today.

—Samuel Zalanga

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