Coulter's Comment As The Winning Message.
Yep, that's right. Digby explains that the reason why Anne Coulter's slur against John Edwards initially didn't get much media attention (compare with how they covered Whoopi Goldberg's comment against Bush during the Kerry campaign) is because, however crude it is, it fits right with the right-wing meme against Democrats and liberals that have been totally internalized by the media. In fact, the media only started reporting it when a few conservatives started complaining about it.
The main reason why Republicans have been so relevant and have won so many elections since the sixties is the way they've portrayed Democrats as wimpy and impotent - in other words, homosexuals. And since they are homosexuals, they are deviants and perverts, just like we know all homosexuals to be. The simple fact that seems to escape the media commentators is that this is not the first time she has accused prominent Democrats of being gay. She called Al Gore a "fag", said that Hillary Clinton a lesbian, and accused Bill Clinton of having "latent homozexuality". Arnold Schwartzenegger became governor because he's a hard-bodied beefcake while Governor Gray Davis was an effete little chicken (this was made clear when Taco Bell did that campaign where you get to vote for Schwartzenegger by buying a hard crunchy beef taco, while a vote for Davis came in the form of a limp chicken soft taco.) It's a tactic that has been inculcated into the minds of the voting public: Republicans are strong, Democrats are weak. Republicans are the "daddy party", Dems the "mommy party".
Anyways, Digby has done more research than me and has made the case already, so as they say, go read Digby.