I suppose Ann Coulter has succeeded, at least as measured by the vehement response on this list, in her provocation. Perhaps the Mark Twain Forum should demand that she withdraw her comparison to Mark Twain. "We know Mark Twain, and you are no Mark Twain." Truly, as people have pointed out, she lacks the compassion that earmarked all of Twain's wit, even when most sardonic. And her offense -- vulgar castigation of 9/11 widows because they had the temerity to call for an investigation which the Bush team would have been happier to avoid -- is far worse than any of Twain's gaffs, including the Whittier Birthday Speech (which, today, seems not at all offensive). Of course, attacking widows and other crude tactics help promote her in the media and propels her book on the best-seller list. Such creepiness, however, needs to be so repudiated that no one even wants to buy her books. This time even conservatives should be saying, "Enough is enough." In any case, is anybody up to telling the media that, in fact, she is no Mark Twain? Hilton Obenzinger Stanford University