I'm no fan of Ann Coulter. I think she's a bomb-thrower and while I may agree with her on most policy issues, the words and analogies she uses to support her positions too often do more harm than good.

So, I'm not going defend Coulter's description of some partisan democrats whose husbands were killed in the 9/11 attacks. I agree with Coulter that these women have used their loss as a shield to substantive criticism of their views (much like Cindy Sheehan and the "absolute moral authority" conferred upon her by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd).

What I am going to point out is that Coulter isn't the first person to throw stones at some of the victims of the 9/11 attacks -- and she isn't even the worst.

Ted Rall's infamous "Terror Widows" cartoon makes Coulter's comments pale in comparison.

While conservative bloggers ripped into Rall for his disgusting cartoon, the mainstream media paid little attention to the controversy.

Coulter is held up to ridicule by the media. Rall is not.

The only reasonable explanation for the different treatments is that Coulter is on the right, Rall on the left.

Apparently it makes all the difference in the world.