ELIZABETH EDWARDS’ ATTACK ON ANN COULTER FOR ‘HATE SPEECH’ IS PART OF LIBERALS’ PLAN TO SQUASH CONSERVATIVE SPEECH

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 27, 2007

CONTACT: TIM SCHEIDERER OR COLLEEN O’BOYLE AT 703.683.5004

ALEXANDRIA, VA --- Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, arranged a call-in Tuesday to MSNBC’s Hardball, hosted by Chris Matthews, and criticized conservative author Ann Coulter for peddling “hatefulness and ugliness” and repeatedly asked Coulter “to stop the personal attacks.” Today, on her husband’s blog, Mrs. Edwards calls on people to help stop Coulter’s “hate words,” the “words of bigotry and division,” to help “drum out the hate-mongers from amongst us.”

In response to Mrs. Edwards’ comments, MRC President Brent Bozell issued the following statement:

“Elizabeth Edwards should look close to home when it comes to ‘hatefulness and ugliness’ for it was her husband’s Democratic presidential campaign that hired two official bloggers who attacked ‘Christofascists’ and insulted Christians and their faith in the most repulsive words imaginable, which I won’t repeat here. Go Google Amanda Marcotte and Holy Spirit.

“As for Ann Coulter, don’t be fooled by the smoke and mirrors orchestrated by the liberal Democrat Elizabeth Edwards and her advisers in the Democratic Party. This attack on Ann Coulter, a conservative writer, is part of the liberals’ plan to squash free speech by conservatives. They want to silence Coulter, as well as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin, and many others. Hugo Chavez does this type of censoring in Venezuela—but in America, we don’t.

“Nonetheless, Senators Kerry and Durbin this week called for restoring the Fairness Doctrine—government-enforced equal time for liberals on talk radio—and John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton, released a hatchet-job report last week calling for regulations to fix the supposed imbalance in political talk radio.

“The liberals cannot sell their product—liberal talk radio—in the marketplace, so they are planning to use the power of government to stop conservatives from selling their product, conservative talk radio. Liberals don’t believe in free exchange, tolerance, or the marketplace of ideas. They believe in the iron boot of liberalism stamping out any view that upsets the liberal apple cart. Mrs. Edwards’ attack on Coulter is just another volley in the liberals’ attack on conservative writers and conservative talk radio.”

To schedule an interview with MRC President Bozell or an MRC spokesperson, please contact Tim Scheiderer (x. 126) or Colleen O’Boyle (x. 122) at 703.683.5004.