Ann Coulter recently raised a firestorm of protests when she used the six-letter f-word, a gay slur, while talking about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

Some of Coulter’s defenders — why they exist, I don’t know — point out that she didn’t come right out and call Edwards gay. Here’s what she actually said:

“I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go to rehab if you use the word, ‘f—–.’”

I think there can be no doubt about the implication.

But I don’t get the furor over Coulter. As I commented over at Carly’s “Ellipsis…Suddenly Carly:”

“She’s sort of the Anna Nichole Smith of political commentators, a person who’ll say anything, the more outlandish the better, so that she can then enjoy all the attention.”Do I cringe when I hear what she has said next? Not so much. Whenever the name is mentioned, I know something outrageous is coming next.

“I don’t know why people listen to her, or what they get out of it. Then again, I haven’t figured out the appeal of Jerry Springer, either.”

But as I look elsewhere in the blogosphere, and read what so many people are saying, a few more points come to mind.

If you’re a fan of Coulter, you lie in wait for jewels like this, because it will only get you that much more fired up against your political opponents. (Not that you really need any help.)

If you don’t like Coulter, or don’t agree with her politics — too often these days, not agreeing with one’s politics almost is the same thing as not liking them — then you should already know that anything she says is going to be unfair, unkind and inappropriate enough piss you off. Why listen?

People like Coulter, Limbaugh, Franken, Moore and their colleagues don’t mind one bit in distorting or manipulating things to make their side seem like the only reasonable, rational choice. And of course, if that were so true, they wouldn’t have to spend so much time convincing everyone that they’re right: if it were that clear, we’d all already know and that “other” side would have gone out of existence centuries ago!

I also don’t get the furor over “outrageous statements” made by politicos, particularly the widespread belief that it happens only on one side. It happens on both sides. (You all do realize that, right?)

For every Republican like Coulter, there’s a Democrat like Rep. Pete Stark, who said to a Republican colleague, “You thin you are big enough to make me, you little wimp? Come on. Come over here and make me, I dare you. You little fruitcake.”

For every Republican senator like George Allen, who uses a word like “macaca” to describe someone who looks different than his lily-white audience, there’s a Democratic senator like Robert Byrd, who pointed out, “There are white n—–s. I’ve seen a lot of white n—–s in my time. I’m going to use that word.” And if you want to compare Allen the presidential candidate rather than Allen the senator, then there are Democratic presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson who referred to Jews in New York as “hymies.”

For every entertainment personality like Rush Limbaugh, about whom liberal bloggers can’t seem to write new Oxycontin jokes quickly enough, there are folks like Bill Maher, who express regret that a recent assassination attempt against Vice President Dick Cheney failed.

And lest we forget those religious leaders, who certainly should understand the concept of “loving thy neighbor!” While there are the Pat Robertsons out there who call for the assassination of political leaders, there’s Fred Phelps, the preacher who often uses the same slur Coulter used (and more often, it’s three-letter alternate) and has taken to protesting the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq, claiming that their deaths were their just desserts because America is supporting (or failing to destroy) the “homosexual agenda.” Phelps is a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Kansas.

Politics should be about avoiding and ending hate, not propagating it at every turn. There are many reasons why, for all our talk, we seem to get so little accomplished. Examples like this are no doubt some of them.

So where do we go from here?