annals of attention markets

Back when I was in college, I remember the campus newspaper ran this cartoon whose caption was "Madonna: 20 Years Later." The drawing was of some scary-hagly-looking-woman with the hint that she was doing something sexually outlandish (like something you'd hear about in a particularly adept telling of "The Aristocrats" joke) and there was a giant thought bubble coming out of her head that just said "LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME." While twenty years have not yet passed since this cartoon, and it's not like Madonna hasn't had her share of artistic and psychological failures, she hasn't done that badly at maintaining her dignity as she has aged. The same cannot be said for Ann Coulter.

Presumably at some point Coulter is going to say something that causes everyone on the conservative carpet--who knows about the conservative fringe--to dissociate themselves from her for real this time and when this happens, I can see conservative males murmuring to each other, "Plus she's long past being hot anyway."