Dear NBC News: Grow a Backbone.

Up till now, I've avoided writing about this week's Ann Coulter-Today Show "controversy" because, let's face it, Ann Coulter is not a real person. But this is just too much.

A quick recap: Coulter was supposed to be on Today yesterday to promote her new book but was bumped for other news. Coulter, with the aid of friendly intermediaries like Matt Drudge and Sean Hannity, accused NBC News of buckling to pressure from Media Matters, or of indulging its own liberal bias, or something like that. Manipulation accomplished, NBC promptly extended a fresh invitation to have Coulter on the show this morning, and she accepted.

Now watch Matt Lauer's craven, pathetic interview:

Hey Matt: If you think Ann Coulter cynically played you and your show and stoked the already considerable right-wing hatred of NBC News just to sell books -- which she clearly did -- then why are you sitting there like a schmuck trying to persuade her of your good intentions? If she's shown bad faith towards you, why have her on the show at all? It's not like she's an actual newsmaker. She's a circus act. The National Review won't have anything to do with her, for God's sake, but NBC News is only too happy to let her conduct a smear campaign against it and lecture its anchors on the air about their shortcomings. And in exchange for what -- the right to be the second morning show to interview noted thinker Ann frigging Coulter about her book?

Show a little backbone.