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The ride is starting to get rough for possible plagiarist Ann Coulter. Apart from the allegations of plagiarism, the 45-year-old has just suffered the indignity of having her column dropped by the Cedar Rapids Gazette, where she's being replaced by Rush Limbaugh's less pill-happy (we're guessing) brother; other papers are also considering severing ties. Even Adam Carolla, who is so desperate for ratings that he'd light his own farts on fire were they able to make a sound, recently hung up on her. And while her book still seems to be moving copies [cough]bulk sales[cough], we're sensing a growing desperation from the professional javelin imitator. Her most recent column contains this gem about NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller:

[W]e can't even get President Bush to stop building up the liberal media by appearing on their low-rated TV shows — in the process, dissing TV hosts who support him and command much larger TV audiences. American consumers keep driving CNN's ratings down, and then Bush drives them back up again. So I wouldn't count on any treason charges emanating from this administration.

This is how Bush "intimidates" the press? The level of intimidation I had in mind is more along the lines of how President Dwight D. Eisenhower "intimidated" Julius and Ethel Rosenberg at 8 in the morning, June 19, 1953.

And this right after she notes that she'd "prefer a firing squad" for Keller, presumably because a gas chamber is too humane.

Do you sense the desperation? The growing feeling that there's nothing she can say that's outrageous enough anymore? Time was when being a known widow-hater would keep you buzzing for months; now it's just a quick week of infamy before people move on to something else. The clock's ticking on Ann; we're just wondering how long until she finally writes the column that calls for Michael Moore to be ass-raped by Frank Rich and Bob Herbert in front of a paying NASCAR audience.

We give it two weeks. But you know it's gonna happen.

Cedar Rapids Newspaper Drops Ann Coulter's Column [E&P]
N.Y. Times: Better Dead Than Read