Sorry, Ann. It's still not funny.

Ann Coulter has reared her Republican head once again. Not satisfied with using an ugly slur specifically meant to demean John Edwards, and also clearly intended to play off of her audience's homophobia, she has now attempted to justify her use of the slur by saying that it was clearly a joke because John Edwards isn't gay.

There are several problems here.

First and most obvious to those of us in the thinking community, gay doesn't mean bad. It means gay. To use the term as a slur — and she did, no matter how much she tries to backpedal — is insulting. It's offensive. It's demeaning to the people she refers to and to anyone hoping to participate in reasoned debate. This has all been covered, and covered well, by many sources.

Second, it is unacceptable to use such slurs, even if you are not referring to the people traditionally targeted by the slur. There have been attempts to reclaim certain slurs by their various targeted communities. These are well intentioned attempts but come to a grinding halt when faced with the voice of hatred, using hateful words in a hateful context. I am a Jew. The very word "Jew" has been used as a pejorative. And there is another word that is used for my people: kike. It's an ugly word. It's a hateful and hurtful word. Does Ann Coulter truly believe that it would be acceptable to use this term to refer to someone, perhaps, say, Hillary Clinton, because she clearly isn't Jewish? Not only would Ann Coulter be attempting to paint someone with a negative stereotype, but she would be using a word that encourages the negative stereotyping of my people.

Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable.

The fact that even the Hannity and Colmes Comedy Hour is distancing itself from her shows just how far out of bounds her comments were. Sadly, there will still be those that will engage her to speak. There will still be those that will defend not her right to say what she said, but the words she used. Finally, there will still be those that hear what she says, applaud, and believe.