Appalachian Trail

The Wizard family and friends have been hiking the Appalachian Trail this past week, mostly free from cell phones, Internet connections and most relatively modern annoyance's. As we reveled in the midst of nature's supreme magnificence only a few conversations or thoughts turned to current events, the Internet or politics.

Still a couple of current events did break through into our sanctuary. Perhaps the most interesting and potentially the most important was "twittering," but I'll have much more on that later.

Of course we became aware of the potential terrorist activities in Great Britain. As we were hiking only miles from Washington, D.C., we were more than a little angry that such madness could even exist in such a beautiful and perfect world.

Two very small items are worthy of very brief note tonight, our first night in range of Internet connectivity.

First I note that President Bush continues.....

......to act timidly and without conviction. He most assuredly deserves the meager 30 something percentage approval rating he receives in the polls. President Bush manages to constantly infuriate the left and disappoint the right with his every move.

His latest poorly reasoned act was to commute the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. A bold President, acting on principle, would have pardoned Libby. Bush certainly should have done that! Libby's conviction was a gross miscarriage of justice.

But Bush, with a limp wristed stroke of his pen has failed to do the right thing. In one single act he has given the left more ammunition to condemn his administration and disappointed the right (and every reasonably fair minded American, left or right).

God save us from any future "special prosecutors."

Second, I want to defend Ann Coulter and Bill Maher.....

..... and roundly condemn both Chris Matthews and, especially, Elizabeth Edwards. The ambush attack on Coulter last week must have made for great television. And, the press reports, it electrified the Edward's campaign and brought in huge donations.

It is just tragic that Coulter has the power to simply terrify the left.

If only I could just get my fellow liberals (and the so called "progressives") to take on real issues and real decision makers. But, alas, no. Coulter is the target of choice.

But, even more tragic, Coulter was right again, as usual.

Coulter had not attacked John Edwards earlier in the week on Good Morning America as Elizabeth contended in fully orchestrated ambush phone call during the Matthew's show.

Instead, Coulter's target on GMA was never Edwards, but Bill Maher. Coulter was being criticized for her coments about Edwards as a convention several months ago. Those comments, by the way, were also widely misquoted. Here is exactly what Coulter said on GMA:

"But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack — so I've learned my lesson: If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot."

Well, dammit, that is the sad truth, Maher can say, with full intent, that it is a shame the Vice President wasn't killed in a terrorist attack and nobody blinks an eye! Maher isn't mentioned by the media and he isn't censored by his network and he isn't ambushed by Mrs. Cheney when he appears on HARDBALL with Chris Matthews.

But Coulter, who has worked her way all the way up to Public Enemy Number One, gets lambasted for a joke parodying Maher's very real comments.

I certainly believe that both Chris Matthews and Elizabeth Edwards knew full well they were misquoting Coulter and wrongly accusing her.

By the way, the Edwards campaign continues to use a doctored and truncated version of Coulter's GMA appearance to perpetuate the myth of Coulter's comments.

Everyone on the left knows for a fact that Coulter did nothing more or less than Bill Maher. Anyone who has said one word or written one sentence condemning Coulter without issuing an equal and exact condemnation of Maher is a hypocrite or damned liar.
I don't want or expect Maher to change a thing. His humor is great and his comment were valid.

But those of us on the left need to do one of two things: either ignore Ann Coulter or start to actually listen to what she says and quote her correctly.

Here is one of my earlier essays again defending both Maher and Coulter.

TECHNORATI TAGS: FREE SPEECH ANN COULTER BILL MAHER LEWIS LIBBY SCOOTER LIBBY PRESIDENT BUSH ELIZABETH EDWARDS

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