As many of you may have noticed (I’m pretending people actually read my blog) I have signed the petition against Ann Coulter. You may also notice that I have reserved the right to withdraw my signature. I am not yet certain as to the proper course of action in response to Coulter’s comments.

The most obvious reaction is one of defensiveness. Conservatives are constantly tagged as intolerant and bigoted. Coulter’s use of slurs in her past two CPAC appearances tends to lend credence to this assumption. The natural reaction is one of condemnation, no one benefits from reinforcing the myths about conservative viewpoints.

By using these slurs Coulter has put her conservative allies in a very difficult position. Coulter has been very loyal to the conservative cause she has been the source of very good press and much joy for the movement. But using slurs bring negative attention to the movement that cannot be easily dismissed by claiming liberal bias in the mainstream media. The good points that Coulter made in her speech are lost eradicated by a mainstream press all too eager to paint us all as homophobic bigots.

All is it not lost however, pundits such as Tammy Bruce come to her defense. According to Bruce, Coulter was referencing an incident where a person went into a re-education camp, sorry I mean, rehab center, after using the slur. Coulter may not have been demeaning Edwards as much as some liberals would like to believe.

It’s hard to take a position on this matter, on the one hand we conservatives have enough problems without one of our key figures using slurs, on the other hand Coulter has been a loyal conservative for years now and few people are better at ticking off the left that her. Is it right for us to throw Coulter under the bus because of two isolated incidents?

The best action for conservatives now may be to wait this out. Coulter needs a chance to explain herself, she owes no explanation to the liberals who have demeaned her from day one, but she does owe an explanation to those who support her. I’m waiting, we’re all waiting.