The American Spectator

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Money quote (as he'd say):

Again this is not the use of the word "faggot" by a straight person in a public speech to demean and emasculate a straight guy. I simply say it's not prima facie bigotry, but it might be if one inquired further. It's specifically about using the word "gay" to mean "dumb" or "lame" in a context where homosexuality is completely absent. That's not at all what Coulter was doing, as I elaborated yesterday. She's not gay; and she used the term "faggot" in its classically homophobic form, as she explained subsequently, to mean "sissy". I'm also not particularly exercized even about this when used by schoolkids. I'm a longtime opponent of hate crime laws, and support maximal free speech. The issue with Coulter is not whether she has a right to say what she said (I'd go to war to defend that) but what she meant (she meant it in its "sissy" form) and where she said it (at CPAC to cheers and laughter).

I'd agree about the importance of the "where she said it" part -- that's the key to what was so offensive about what Coulter said. But I read Andrew's post yesterday as a blanket condemnation of the use of that word, in that sense, no matter what the context. That seemed a bit much to me, but if that's not what he meant, fine.

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