Just Be Consistent

I saw Ann Coulter's comments asking for the poisoning of a Supreme Court judge over the weekend, and I understand that in her mind, that's a joke. Fai enough. Taste is in the eye of the beholder, but I tell jokes all the time, many of them sick and wrong.

(Incidentally, if you want to see me tell a bunch of jokes, in a row, live, come to my show this Saturday!)

But jokes like this historically get the joke-tellers in a lot of trouble. I know someone who did the old "Good thing I didn't tell them about the bomb in my bag" joke at the airport, and this was well before September 11, and he was detained by airport security for hours. You have to be consistent and at the very least check this stuff out. I don't think Ann Coulter would take steps to put rat poison in John Paul Stevens' creme brulee. But I don't think my meek, unassuming friend has a bomb in his bag, and that didn't stop airport security. Justice Stevens' security detail would be derelict in their duty if they didn't check it out.

I'd prefer to just ignore Coulter, who gives out deaths threats like she's a Muslim cleric. But you have to check this stuff out; where public officials are concerned, you don't get to pick and choose what threats are serious and what are witless rantings.

UPDATE: The Arkansas Attorney General (she was speaking in Arkansas at the time) appears to endorse an effort to get the County prosecutor to file charges. What exactly would those charges be? Being a wanker?