As to Ann Coulter, I'm not sure whether her use of the word "faggot" in reference to John Edwards was even the most offensive thing she said. CNN's story mentions that she also said the following:

I don't know why all gays aren't Republican. I think we have the pro-gay positions, which is anti-crime and for tax cuts. Gays make a lot of money and they're victims of crime. No, they are! They should be with us.

Slurs vs. stereotypes.  I honestly don't know which is worse.

Of course, either way, she's a horrible human being and is some of the best evidence we have for a more European approach to speech (see France and Germany re: Nazism and anti-Semitism, for instance). Coulter's right that gay people are victims of crime. The question is how many more hate crimes we need to see before people like Coulter start being put in their place. She's not only unfunny and offensive, I'd go so far as to say that she's dangerous. As long as someone like her (apparently a smart person - cum laude graduate of Cornell, Order of the Coif at Michigan Law) keeps thinking it's ok to use this kind of language and to make these kinds of generalizations, others will think it's ok to beat people to death and leave them tied to fenceposts in the middle of nowhere.