A planned deception

From The American Spectator:

Despite the mythology that the John Edwards campaign is putting forward, Elizabeth Edwards did not "impulsively" call into MSNBC's Hardball show hosted by former Democrat political operative Chris Matthews, to attack right-wing queen Ann Coulter.

After booking Coulter, MSNBC producers reached out to the Edwards campaign. "It was an easy decision," says an MSNBC associate producer. "It was the idea of Coulter's publisher to do it."

The call was made to the Edwards campaign by an NBC -- not MSNBC -- producer, says a source familiar with the arrangement. "Mrs. Edwards was told what time we'd be calling, and what the questions would be leading into her call. Coulter may not have known that the deal was done, but we thought her publisher had told her about what was happening," says the MSNBC source. "This was not Mrs. Edwards idea; it was a something hatched between her, the campaign and the publisher to promote her and Coulter's book, nothing more."

It would seem that the sandbagging of Coulter was a group effort with Ann being the only one not in on the joke.

It is interesting that Elizabeth Edwards had to be called by MSNBC and coached on what was going on, since she seems to be like all but 20 or 30 other Americans and never watches MSNBC on her own.

I wonder if Ann will have some choice words for her publisher's publicity people.