Semantic tap-dancing

From Weatherwoof's site The Barometer:

From the Hannity and Colmes Show transcript:


COULTER: The word I used has nothing to do with sexual preference. It is a schoolyard taunt, and unless you're going to announce here on national TV that John Edwards, married father of many children, is gay, it clearly had nothing to do with that. It's a schoolyard taunt.
COLMES: Ann, you are tap-dancing around my question. I asked you a very simple question...
COULTER: No, I'm not.
COLMES: I didn't ask about the N word. I simply said, you write this off and say, oh, it was only a joke...
COULTER: And I just said why I wouldn't.
COLMES: But you used a word that's very offensive to gays. Would you use a word offensive to another group of people and say, oh, it was only a joke? Where do you draw the line?
COULTER: It isn't offensive to gays. It has nothing to do with gays. It's a schoolyard taunt, meaning wuss. And unless you're telling me that John Edwards is gay, it was not applied to a gay person.

Why all the fuss about this in the blogosphere? I have people at work who have no idea this is going on. People out there in the burbs need to know that Nurse Nan is not harmless.

The work faggot was used by Ann as derisive, not descriptive (as she points out). And she is hoping this will all blow over and she will offer up this non-sensical drivel in the meantime. Faggot is not just a schoolyard taunt. It is just plain hateful. Mean and hateful.