See? See?

B. Jay Cooper, "former deputy press secretary to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and served as communications director of the Republican National Committee under four chairmen," had an OpEd in the Houston Chronicle a few days ago. It was titled Don't paint all of us with Ann Coulter's tainted brush:

I'M a Republican. Ann Coulter does not speak for me. But a lot of people think she does.

The loudest, noisiest, most sensational and now, most repugnant, voices on the Republican side of the political spectrum are defining Republicans. I could blame cable television, but it is tough to blame cable for preferring long-legged blond female Republicans to balding middle-age guys like me. They sure make for better-looking TV.

To me, Ann Coulter's exercise of her right to free speech is the political equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater. She crosses the line of decency. To me, individuals who engage in name-calling and hate speech to get attention, sell books, increase speaking fees and feather their own nests, are speaking for themselves, not any political party.

My problem is the popular presumption that she represents the Republican Party. We all get painted with her tainted brush. As a result, the popular perception holds Republicans are against almost everything from abortion to homosexuals. And nasty about it to boot. I feel safe in saying that the vast majority — I would guess all but one — of Republicans is not against grieving widows created by the worst crime ever committed against America.

There you go -- more evidence that the polite company Republicans want to throw Coulter under the bus.

It's as if the the whole Republican juggernaut existed in a Road Runner cartoon, and Wile E. Coyote's Acme Political Domination Machine had a slot marked "to immobilize, insert monkey wrench here," only the monosyllabic bird was to friggin' stupid to read it.

Perhaps we should rename the Democrats the Learned Helplessness Party.