It wouldn’t be a hectic political season if it weren’t for the incessant windbags who come out of the woodwork to stir up trouble.
Ahh, Ann Coulter.
Like many people, she took to Twitter after the presidential debate finished to shoot out a tweet that documented exactly how she felt.
While some declared President Obama “won” the debate, Coulter felt a little differently. Her tweet reads: “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.”
She still hasn’t deleted that message or apologized for it, by the way, which a normal public figure might do. We shouldn’t be surprised when Coulter is insensitive about a subject or topic, but here we are. It doesn’t mean that everyone is OK with it.
John Franklin Stephens, an athlete and spokesman for the Special Olympics, wrote her an open letter.
“I’m a 30-year-old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow,” Stephens wrote. “I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact, it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.”
The letter continues: “I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low-grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift. Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are — and much, much more.”
Her representation team should scramble. It’s like she can’t stop insulting people. She hasn’t contacted Stephens, according to his interview with ABC News, but he invited her to the next Special Olympics in his letter.
He all but dared her to “walk away with your heart unchanged.”
Don’t get your hopes up, Stephens. Coulter replied to a request from Politicker, at 3 a.m. Wednesday no less, for a comment or response to critics of her offensive tweet.
“The only people who will be offended are too retarded to understand it,” she wrote.
That word doesn’t mean what she thinks it means.
Let’s define “understand,” shall we? It is to “perceive the intended meaning of (words, a language or speaker)” or to “perceive the significance, explanation or cause of (something).”
The entire world understood your intended meaning, Coulter. But maybe we don’t understand the cause of it.
There is no need to continue to insult anyone with the use of names or hateful words. What we don’t understand is why you feed the impulse to keep placing your foot in your mouth.
Apologize, and stop doing hateful things. It’s really not that difficult.
Kudos to Stephens for being the much better person in this scenario.
“Using that word is like using a disgusting curse word,” he said to ABC News. “People should reconsider what they say, what hurts and what doesn’t. Everybody is different.”
