Questions for NBC Chief Jeff Zucker About Ann Coulter

Last week, over at my blog, The Horse's Mouth, I wrote that I'd asked the publicist for NBC Today whether Ann Coulter would be welcome on the show after having opined that 9/11 widows were "enjoying their husbands' deaths." The publicist wrote back that Coulter would indeed be welcome again.

Well, now Coulter has been quoted saying that she believes that John Murtha -- that would be the U.S. Congressman and Marine veteran who opposes the Iraq war -- is a worthy target for "fragging." (To my knowledge she hasn't denied saying this.)

Do you know what "fragging" is? It's Vietnam War-speak for murdering troops on your own side. Coulter's remark has angered even some conservative blogs, such as RedState.com, which denounced her as a "detestable harpy."

Well, now that Coulter's gone way, way, way out there, angering conservatives and liberals alike, it's time to go higher up the food chain at NBC, where Coulter has been offered repeated platforms to promote her book. Let's go all the way to the top.

I've sent a list of questions to NBC president Jeff Zucker and top NBC publicist Rebecca Marks. Here they are:

• Given that Ann Coulter has now apparently identified a veteran and U.S. Congressman as a worthy murder target, will NBC continue to welcome her on its shows?

• If NBC isn't prepared to rule out future appearances by her, is there anything at all that Coulter could say that would induce NBC to stop giving her a platform? Who does Coulter have to disparage, and how ugly does her language have to be, before NBC will draw a line and say she's no longer an acceptable guest?

• If NBC isn't prepared to rule out future appearances by her, should NBC's viewers conclude that the network cares more about whatever benefits, financial or otherwise, that her appearances bring for NBC than it cares about respecting the right of 9/11 widows not to be viciously denigrated before a national audience or the right of a veteran U.S Congressman not to be indentified as a worthy target for "fragging"?

• If NBC isn't prepared to rule out future appearances by her, should the many, many viewers appalled and dismayed by NBC's decision to give Coulter a platform conclude that NBC cares more about whatever benefits that her appearances bring than it does about the revulsion that these many, many viewers feel at NBC's willingness to keep hosting her? Should viewers conclude from NBC's willingness to keep hosting her that the limited criticism NBC hosts have directed at Coulter is ultimately hollow and meaningless?

• If NBC isn't prepared to rule out future appearances by her, would it be wrong for NBC's viewers to conclude that the network has woefully low standards of discourse, taste or decency for its guests? Would it be wrong for NBC's viewers to conclude that there's virtually no level to which NBC's guests can sink that would make them unwelcome on the network's shows?

So there you have it. Stay tuned for their answer. If they answer.

Look, this is much bigger than just a bunch of stupid nasty one-liners from Ann Coulter. As Peter Daou points out, the battle to rein in Coulter is about the future of network news, the power of the liberal blogosphere, and how the tensions between the big news orgs and the liberal blogs will be resolved. It's going to be a long, bitter fight. And one clue to its outcome will be the fate of Coulter.

This one isn't over yet. I hope, anyway.