This is from an email that Elizabeth Edwards sent out to campaign supporters. I think the exchange between the two of them demonstrates precisely why we’re not just correct on the issues, we’re better than much of the right wing as human beings:

Last night I had an important talk with Ann Coulter and I want to tell you what happened.

On Monday, Ann announced that instead of using more homophobic slurs to attack John, she will just wish that John had been “killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”

Where I am from, when someone does something that displeases you, you politely ask them to stop. So when I heard Ann was going to be on “Hardball” last night, I decided to call in and ask her to engage on the issues and stop the personal attacks. I told her these kinds of personal attacks lower our political dialogue at precisely the time when we need to raise it, and set a bad example for our children.

How did she respond? Sadly, perhaps predictably, with more personal attacks.

John’s campaign is about the issues—but pundits like Ann Coulter are trying to shout him down. If they will not stop, it is up to us cut through the noise. Help us fight back—please give what you can today.

www.johnedwards.com/rightwing

You can read more about the exchange in this article at CBS News.

Elizabeth Edwards will speak at the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club breakfast at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco. This is the first time that a presidential candidate or their spouse has spoken at an SF pride event. Read more about it at the Chronicle.

In an interesting editorial at Truthout, former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega points out why we’re unlikely to see Scooter Libby serve as the basis for any kind of case against the Vice President. He’s make a terrible witness precisely because of his recent conviction and defense strategy:

Equally unlikely is the idea that Fitzgerald would want Scooter Libby to cooperate. Not only is Scooter Libby a convicted felon – a fact that juries are entitled to take into account when assessing a witness’s testimony – he is a felon who was convicted of perjury and making false statements. For a prosecutor, trying to make a case based on the testimony of a convicted perjuror is akin to a would-be suitor showing up on a first date wearing a wedding ring: it creates serious credibility hurdles. As if that weren’t enough of a problem, Libby would be testifying as a cooperating witness regarding the very matters about which a jury has already found that he lied. As to those, Libby has made extensive prior statements chock-full of inconsistencies, fodder for days of devastating cross-examination. And then, to top it all off, there would be the pesky fact that Libby’s entire defense at trial was based on an attempt to prove that the man has a terrible memory. A convicted perjuror with a memory problem may be a great premise for a bad joke, but it is a terrible premise for a criminal case against the vice president of the United States.

Read the whole editorial here.

I have been letting my John Edwards news site and archive sit idle for the last couple of months. I’m back on top of it now and have posted a handful of recent articles. As always, if you’re interested in hearing about what’s going on in the Edwards campaign or how it’s being covered by the media, check it out. I plan to add another category to it where I’ll also be archiving the various email communications that come to supporters and potential supporters. I should start rolling that out in the next week.

This article is an almost perfect follow up to my last post about the GOP debate in New Hampshire last week. Romney has used those strong performances in the debates as a means of pulling head in Iowa and New Hampshire among Republicans. His previously strong fundraising looks to continue and may even be bolstered by his new status in the polls. He’s using his bankroll to start TV advertising in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. I’m still skeptical of his ability to attract southern Baptist support, but if he can somehow create an aura of inevitability by kicking ass in Iowa and New Hampshire, he may pull in the nomination. i’m a long, long, long way from predicting that at this point. Even if he wins the nomination, it’s a whole other thing to get those southern Baptists to actually walk neighborhoods and turn out to vote for him. The semi-famous county by county electoral map from 2004 shows that the south is a lot closer than most people think. If the nuts stay home, the Democrats win a couple more states in the south, maybe the majority of it. On the other hand, I think Romney would appeal to a lot of moderate suburban voters in the region who were skeptical of Bush and may be skeptical of McCain or Thompson.

This morning, I watched the CNN/Sojourners forum on faith and politics featuring John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. That kind of thing is not my cup of tea, but it was interesting. I think, a little to my surprise, that Hillary Clinton did really well in this venue. John Edwards was as at home in this kind of environment as Bill Clinton would have been. Talking about faith and its role in his life comes easy to him. Barack Obama came off as stiff and too cerebral. I don’t mean too thoughtful. Clinton and Edwards were both thoughtful in their responses. Obama had moments where it was easy for him to talk about that, but a lot of the time it seemed as if he didn’t really know what he thought about things and was trying to come up with the right answer.

I also watched the Republican debate from New Hampshire tonight. John McCain gave his best performance to date. I think he had the elusive quality of seeming presidential for the first time in this campaign. Some of that comes from the fact that he doesn’t seem to be pandering as hard to the primary voters. Mitt Romney continues to be the most impressive candidate on their side. I don’t agree with him on anything that I can think of, but he really comes off as smart and well polished. I need to find some polling data on how he’s doing in the south. I’m having a hard time believing he’ll do well in South Carolina, but if he does well enough in Iowa and New Hampshire, it won’t matter. The primary calendar is so accelerated this time that one slip in South Carolina may not hurt him. Mike Huckabee also continues to do damn well in the debate format.  If presidential candidates came into the race without already having been handicapped by the media, Huckabee would be a top tier candidate and Rudy Giuliani wouldn’t be.

I’ve been wondering for a couple of years why we aren’t seeing diesel hybrids. America is definitely more of a gasoline economy than a diesel one, so I understood why we saw gas hybrids first. With the popularity among the green set of biodiesel, it seemed to me like there might be a stronger than expected demand for hybrid diesels that could be converted or built from scratch to run biodiesel. Diesel is already more fuel efficient than gasoline engines. Combine that with a hybrid, with the new, cleaner diesel or biodiesel, and you’ve got a green star in the auto market. It looks like they may not be too far off, at least in Europe. GM is introducing a 60mpg concept hybrid diesel version of its Opel Astra sedan. A version of the current production Astra is headed to the US later this year as a Saturn. DaimlerCerebrus is working on hybrid diesels both for its Mercedes car and Dodge Ram truck lines.