While Ann Coulter's weekly syndicated column isn't likely the content of choice for the average Campus Progress patron, her latest installment is worth a look for a significant dose of deja vu.

As the notes from our Conventioneer and Conventionette will attest, Coulter pretty much phoned in her column this week- or rather, she might as well have faxed a copy of the remarks she delivered last weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to her editor and had them reprinted as the bulk of her column.

The full transcript of Coulter's remarks at CPAC can be read here, including the questions from the audience, which we'll get to in a moment. If you compare the two columns, you might have noticed that Coulter did make a slight change to the reprinted remarks:

If you don't want to get shot by the police, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then don't point a toy gun at them. Or, as I believe our motto should be after 9/11: Jihad monkey talks tough; jihad monkey takes the consequences. Sorry, I realize that's offensive. How about "camel jockey"? What? Now what'd I say? Boy, you tent merchants sure are touchy. Grow up, would you?

Her "takes the consequences" line is almost identical to the one delivered in her remarks at CPAC, with one exception: she didn't say "jihad monkey." She said "raghead."

And, no, it's not a call from any editors- Coulter's change was hers. A while back, Coulter had a slight tiff with some of the editors publishing her column after they were, amazingly, upset with her calling White House Press Correspondent Helen Thomas an "old Arab." Coulter left the original unedited column on her site, where her columns are printed sans any syndicate interference... and the FrontPage story is identical, slur-changing and all. In other words, it seems to appear that the sudden change in what was otherwise some copying and pasting from her CPAC remarks wasn't done by any editor, but by Coulter herself.

So out of all the elements of her remarks, why did Coulter edit her racial slur? We think it might have to do with her being called on it already... not by any, as Ann would say, "girly-man" liberals, but one of the very attendees at CPAC:

Student: Thank you for coming today. We have a booth here; it's called Muslims for America . I apologize on behalf of the Muslim terrorists, but you have to understand there's 1.5 billion with a 'B' and there are .0000005 that did the terrorism, when you call people ragheads - and I met the president, I mean, he asked me to come work for him, I met the vice president--I mean it kind of turns a lot of Muslim Americans off, and it's kind of hard to recruit them to support our cause… (Unintelligible because of applause) please, please, please, please, don't say raghead.

Coulter: You know, ok. I make a few jokes at Muslims, and they killed 3000 Americans--I think we're even.

And then later in the Q&A:

Student: Thanks for coming down and regaling us with your wit. What I wanted to know was when are you planning on expanding your little routine to cover blacks, Jews and Asians.

Coulter: What do you mean?

Student: Well, you know, they're kind of the in people to make fun of nowadays.

Coulter: Oh, ok--maybe when they fly planes into our skyscrapers and kill 3000 Americans (inaudible due to applause). Maybe then I'll make jokes at their expense. Bring back the Muslim. At least the Muslim's a good Republican.

Coulter's racism is defined by an action like this: it's not that she minds saying something racist; if she did, she'd remove the comments about Arabs altogether (and for that matter, apologize to "the Muslim" who called her on it rather than mock him to his face.) She just wants to be racist but just racist enough so that no one will raise enough of an outrage about it.

But more defined here is her cowardice. In a column that reprints a racist, spiteful, venomous diatribe that was assailed by her own audience mere minutes after delivering it, Coulter made but one significant edit: a toning-down of a racist slur against Arabs, which she included in a paragraph bragging about how she doesn't care what people think of her remarks.

Apparently, Coulter does care, but is too much of a hypocrite to reflect on the quality of her contributions. Here's some advice for Ann: when your words bomb at a major gathering of conservatives, maybe they're not fit for national publication.