The Colby Echo

Issue date: 3/9/07 Section: Opinions

Last week, conservatives from across that nation gathered for the 34th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The crowd included 72 members of the Maine College Republicans, all on hand to hear various right-wing academics and activists, along with several Republican president candidates.

While members of the Maine College Democrats attended a similar event last month in the form of the Democratic National Committee Winter Meetings, CPAC took a decidedly different tone.

After being introduced by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, conservative activist Ann Coulter called out former United States Senator, anti-poverty activist, and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, saying "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, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions."

To this, the crowd responded with raucous applause.

After the event, in response to questions from the New York Times, Coulter said "...it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean."

Meanwhile, last week the Bowdoin College Republicans welcomed Dinesh D'Souza to speak to the Bowdoin community. D'Souza has been traveling the country promoting his new book which blames Hillary Clinton and tolerance towards gays and lesbians for 9/11. According to D'Souza, tolerance apparently causes attacks on America; therefore, we should just stop being tolerant.

This brings to mind Jesse Lee Peterson, who was invited by the College Republicans to Colby last year and said that blacks who died in Hurricane Katrina were "immoral and welfare pampered".

Yes, Ms. Coulter, Mr. D'Souza, and Mr. Peterson were exercising their constitutionally protected right of free speech, but there is no law saying the crowd must accept their remarks or that they must continue to receive invitations to speak to mainstream audiences, especially on a college campus or at an ostensibly mainstream event like CPAC.

Many Republican presidential candidates, including Governor Romney, have condemned Coulter's comments; however, this is not enough. If conservatives are committed to having an honest debate about how to successfully resolve the many challenges that are facing this country in the wake of the Bush Presidency, they must, once and for all, commit to not inviting this kind of inflammatory and intolerant language into the political arena.

These comments had nothing to with policy positions or legitimate arguments. They were only intended to hurt and demean a group of people. I am not entirely sure how that helps anyone or anything besides Ms. Coulter's, Mr. D'Souza's, or Mr. Peterson's book sales.

Joshua Handelman is the Communications Director of the Maine College Democrats

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