I don't pay much attention to people like Coulter and Limbaugh on the one hand, or Al Franken and Al Sharpton on the other.
It's interesting that you lumped an elected official with entertainers, who have a reason to exaggerate and make statements that are (to some) entertaining. Maybe that's where Democrats are headed. Howard Dean and Al Gore does what Ann Coulter is being accused of (by another EvC person).