Ann Coulter, that contemptuous example of "compassionate conservatism," infamous for bashing the 911 widows who "marinate in their exquisite personal agony...I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much" while promoting her misinformed and skewed diatribe "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" struck out twice at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

First, she simultaneously smeared gays and John Edwards with this despicable comment:

"COULTER: Oh, and I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards. But it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word "faggot," so I'm -- so I'm kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards. So I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions."

In her own homophobic, duplicitous irrationality, she later added: "Well, you know, screw you, I'm not anti-gay. We're against gay marriage. I don't want gays to be discriminated against. I mean, I think we have, in addition to blacks, I don't know why all gays aren't Republicans. I think we have the pro-gay position, which is anti-crime and for tax cuts. Gays make a lot of money, and they're victims of crime.

Apparently the goddess of crass, Ms. Coulter, doesn't recognize that hate speech is discriminatory, let alone the economic inequity built into the tax code. Her tawdriness is particularly ironic given her declaration: "Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the First Amendment."

As if to prove that point, her bodyguards roughed up one of her critics, Dan Borchers, a lifelong Republican conservative Christian military veteran, cutting his hand and wrestling him out of CPAC. As a journalist at the CPAC, he apparently had erred by asking the wrong questions about Coulter.

Borchers, who runs the website Coulter Watch, has tracked Coulter's writings and exposed what he cites as instances of plagarism.

Lydia Cornell, of the progressive talk radio show Basham & Cornell describes Borchers as "the most mild-mannered, humble Christian. He is critical of the way Ann Coulter has 'mainstreamed extremism'...(his) only crime is being morally offended by the way conservatism has been ruined by people like Coulter who indulge in hate speak. He believes it is his moral obligation to bring attention to this, and that "evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

Mr. Borcher knows something about history, as we've seen fascism before, and Ms. Coulter's hate speech is a perfect example of the third characteristic of fascism:

"3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The
people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to
eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or
religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists,
etc."

Ms. Coulter is proof that being well-educated doesn't necessarily mean having a well-developed sense of humaneness or humor, as her email response to a NY Times inquiry revealed: "C'mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean."

Whether desperate for media attention to pump up her flagging career as a creditable, insightful, quotable pundit, too dumb to know when to cut her losses, (as Republican front runners frantically distance themselves from her), or just too vitriolic to exhibit decent self-control, Ms. Coulter has exposed her pathetic, pitiable, shameless inner self for the all the world to see.

Looks as though she made herself into a joke.