By E&P Staff
Published: July 26, 2006 12:15 PM ET
NEW YORK Following on the heels of daily papers in Augusta, Ga., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a weekly in Greensboro, N.C., has decided to drop Ann Coulter's regular column, distributed by Universal.
"Yes! Weekly", which has carried the conservative firebrand since last August, announced the move after polling its readers, among other considerations. She will be replaced by another conservative, William F. Buckley.
This follows the pattern at the other papers that had dropped Coulter, where she was replaced by conservatives Michelle Malkin in one case, David Limbaugh in the other.
A fourth paper, the Shreveport (La.) Times, has said it is strongly considering dropping Coulter.
An editorial in the current issue of "Yes! Weekly" explains: "Ann Coulter is gone from these pages… gone like the leaves in December, like the fringes of the polar ice caps, like the last vestiges of Tom Cruise's rational mind.
"We began running her column last August in an effort to widen the playing field, so to speak, in the discussion on our Voices page. She certainly did that, but in the last few months Ann Coulter has been a very naughty girl indeed.
"We will be replacing her with William F. Buckley, one of the foremost voices for the conservative and libertarian movements and a very smart man who has worked as a CIA spook, run for mayor of New York City, reportedly been a member of Skull and Bones while at Yale, founded a magazine (National Review) and a TV show ("Firing Line") and authored the quote, 'One must bear in mind that the expansion of federal activity is a form of eating for politicians.'
"That's good stuff."
The editorial said that letters and website poll "show that our readers approve cutting her column at a ratio of two to one. And numbers don't lie (unless, some would say, they're being wielded by Ann Coulter)."
