The Breck Girl decided to come out from underneath his wife’s petticoats and actually defend himself for once.

And of course, ABC News gleefully went along with the game plan (emphasis mine):

Edwards, D-N.C., was railing against the right-wing media — including Fox News and Rush Limbaugh — when he reminded a crowd in Burlington, Iowa, that his wife stood up to Coulter in a public spat earlier this summer.

“We know these people. We know their game plan. They’re going to attack us personally,” Edwards said. “They attacked Elizabeth personally, because she stood up to that she-devil Ann Coulter. … I should not have name-called. But the truth is — forget the names — people like Ann Coulter, they engage in hateful language.”
In June, Coulter went on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and said she had learned her lesson after being blasted for suggesting in a joke before the Conservative Political Action Conference that Edwards was a “faggot.” “If I’m gonna say anything about John Edwards in the future, I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot,” Coulter said.

That prompted Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, to call in to MSNBC’s “Hardball” and challenge Coulter directly. “I want to use the opportunity … to ask her politely to stop the personal attacks,” Mrs. Edwards said.

The call left Coulter uncharacteristically flustered — and was quickly turned into a fund-raising appeal by the Edwards campaign.

First of all, John, buddy, you need to learn the first rule of name-calling.

You don’t call someone a name and then apologize for it ten seconds later!! If you’re going to try and insult someone, especially a tough cookie like Ann Coulter, you need to be brash. Unapologetic. Go for it! She won’t cry for days afterwards like you do whenever someone insults your hair, so don’t worry!

And seriously — She-Devil?! That’s the best insult you got?? I’m sure Ann is reading that somewhere and laughing. No wonder your wife fights all your fights for you.

And of course, ABC News takes Ann’s remark out of context, unsurprisingly. She was referring to Bill Maher’s comment that he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack, something he got a free pass for. She makes a sarcastic comment about it, and suddenly she’s a SHE-DEVIL!! And flustered? Ann was not flustered, Elizabeth wouldn’t shut her damn mouth and let her get a word in edgewise. I think frustrated is the right word there.

But anyways, now we all know why it is that the Breck Girl lets his wife do all the fighting for him. Clearly, he just doesn’t quite know how to do it. Seriously… you don’t throw out a lame-ass insult and then apologize for immediately afterwards. No wonder you’re afraid of Ann.

Previous:
The Breck Girl goes paranoid
The John Edwards Poverty Tour!
Elizabeth Edwards: Doing the work that John won’t do
MRC President John Bozell takes on Elizabeth Edwards
The Pot: Meet Kettle Segment Continues: Meet Elizabeth Edwards
Edwards just doesn’t know when to quit