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When I saw that unabashed liberal Ted Rall sent a letter to Media Matters and the Human Rights Campaign defending Ann Coulter, I took a moment and thought, okay, what the hell. He is not kind about her in the least (who on the left is. I can’t stand her) but he did make some thought-provoking points about her right to say what she wants to say. He says many things, but he also adds this and I had to think about it.

Right-wing extremist groups used similar sleazy tactics against me between 2001 and 2005, asking conservatives to impersonate angry subscribers to my client publications. While most editors saw through the deception, some didn’t. In the ideologically charged atmosphere of the time, even papers with sterling, left-of-center reputations were cowed into submission. During the Clinton years, I was one of The New York Times’ most frequently reprinted editorial cartoonists, and a contributor to the Op-Ed Page. Under Bush my work appeared a few times before disappearing.

Now that the political winds have changed in our favor, progressives whose views were marginalized, insulted as acts of treason and subsequently vindicated by events are understandably tempted to get even with caustic personalities like Coulter for their vitriol and intolerance. More than ever, however, we must resist the urge to lower ourselves to their level. How can we complain about right-wing hatred if we match it with our own? How can we bemoan right-wing censorship campaigns if we do the same thing?

Now let me say this. I don’t like Coulter. AT ALL. But Rall, who has been the victim of her vile “joking” attacks, is saying some interesting things about freedom of speech.

Read the whole thing over at Editor and Publisher. It’s food for thought. I just wish no one had picked up her crappy column in the first place, put her on a pedestal and then acted shocked when she consistently showed her true colors time and time again in the first place.

Damn you, Rall, for making me think about this.