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Well the emails are already starting to roll in from the folks who think I was being unfair to Elizabeth Edwards in characterizing yesterday’s Hardball estrogen-laced verbal arm wrestling match with Ann Coulter as a stunt.

Here’s my favorite from 3:56 this morning:

How dare you question Elizabeth’s reasons for calling the Hardball program yesterday?  Any mother in a similar circumstance would have done the same thing.  You occasionally refer to your own child when you write.  How would you like it if she died and someone made fun of that?

My initial thoughts:

1. I wouldn’t have waited three years to voice my displeasure at something Coulter said about my dead child.  I would have called her immediately (privately) and said that it was below the belt.  If she chose to continue to publicize the issue after that, I would have attacked her publicly.
2. Instead Mrs. Edwards (but much more likely the Edwards campaign staff) decided to wait until now (three years later) to bring it up, and decided to use the very public forum of an Ann Coulter interview on Hardball (probably the most watched daily political program on air) to do so.
3. The recent issue of Coulter’s “FAG” comment about John Edwards was also discussed, but you didn’t hear Mrs. Edwards complaining much about that because Coulter was quick to point out that the campaign is using it as a method for raising funds on its website.
4. Where was Mr. Edwards in all of this?  It was he who Coulter attacked - he should at least have the balls to speak up and defend himself.  Again this goes to show that this was a calculated move on the part of the Edwards’ campaign.  Who wouldn’t have sympathy for an ever-grieving mother over her child’s death?
5. I’ve said before that I had a great deal of respect for Mrs. Edwards (check it out here and here).  But now this latest stunt leads me to believe that she may be even more coldy calculating from a political perspective than a former First Lady who is now seeking the Oval Office on her own accord.  Hillary may make decisions based on how they are perceived, but she doesn’t use cases of her own personal tragedies to elicit sympathy from voters.
6. Finally, I pray that no one would ever have to endure the struggles that the Edwards family has.  I respect everyone’s right to grieve in their own manner, but using it for one’s own gain is certainly distasteful.

As an added note, I just saw Chris Matthews on the Today Show discussing the interview.  It is obvious that this was a ploy on the part of Matthews and msNBC to create some buzz.  Matthews portrayed the exchange like any liberal would (BTW I’m paraphrasing here) - 

“poor Ann Edwards (which is actually how he twice referred to Mrs. Edwards during this morning’s broadcast) called in to ask Coulter to stop saying these things.  Ann Coulter is a big girl and she is an ‘agent provocateur’ who should be prepared for these kinds of questions.”

I agree with Matthews that Coulter deserves and should be prepared for these kind of questions.  I just don’t believe that “journalists” should be in business of ambushing people.   I think that it’s Matthews’ fault as much as anyone else’s for using his show as a forum for tasteless political stunts.