Good news, sigmund5: If you're not one of the "Barack Obama supporters who can't understand why anyone has any doubts about their candidate (besides Hillary-shills and stone-cold racists)," then I wasn't writing about you. I limited my point to the small but vocal minority of Obama backers who do, indeed, insist that anyone who questions Obama's appeal falls into one of those two categories. It's also a little disheartening looking at the nasty things being said about John Edwards -- and "Liz" -- in this thread.

Oh, and virtue001? I'm sure you also meant to provide the link to Christopher Hitchens' scathing column on Obama, his grandmother and the race speech from last week. It was interesting.

Rowyna, I would never say, "Agree with me or don't read this Web site," but I do feel free to say, "If you think it's cool to call female leaders 'fucking whores,' there must be a better fit for you somewhere else." Put it another way: If my opposition to calling female leaders "fucking whores" is disturbing, please feel free to go away. I thought about it a lot. Is that really saying "Agree with me or go away?" There are a lot of people in letters I correspond with regularly (publicly and privately) who disagree with me, strongly. I don't want them to go away. But there's a really misogynist strand of commentary out and about lately that I just don't feel a responsibility to welcome. I wouldn't block them, ban them or try to drive them away, but...I also wouldn't be sad to see them on another site. Maybe I'm thinking about it the wrong way, but I don't think so. Thanks for your letter.

weeping for brunhilde, I don't think I've yet answered you directly, and I'm sorry for that, because even though you often disagree with me, I think your posts are terrific. Your contributions to the Clinton/Obama debate make me happy about the race.

Yes, I'm talking about public discourse. That's all I'm really able to discuss here. We can have a conversation about private discourse, which may well feature more overtly racist commentary and observations. Not sure. But I'm talking about the public realm, where many folks feel free to share their hatred of Hillary for reminding them of their (annoying, nagging, horrible) mother, teacher, ex-wife, wife, sister, girlfriend, Nurse Ratched, nut-cracker or "The Bitch," in a way they simply don't feel OK publicly sharing their awful associations about Barack Obama. I'm sure such associations operate on some unconscious level for some people, but I feel like there are enough public-level offensive comments about Hillary Clinton that we ought to be able to talk about them. Without stipulating that she is a "fucking whore."

Thanks for your contributions to all of our thinking about this historic primary season. I really do admire your writing.

Welcome, Sky Bluesky, what an awesome letter. I'm sure you know you're not who I'm talking about, but I'm happy to clear that up. Thanks for all your support all these years.

And sorry for the missing N, weeping for brunnhilde.

Oh, and manos99, I never believe it when people claim that some of our Obama-supporting letter writers are in fact Hillary-supporting provocateurs (or vice versa; people complain in both directions), but you have more than once made me think I'm naive about that sort of thing. Your letter is really an excellent example of the way to bring folks in for Barack Obama! I am sure he'd be really proud of this last one, and so many others you've written. Thanks, though, for reading Salon!

weeping for brunnhilde, I was born in Brooklyn, raised on Long Island. I do have a foul mouth, but..."fucking whore" simply doesn't roll off my tongue. And I doubt it rolls off yours. But yes, we pretty much agree on the larger point.

Bobswire, it's only 9:15 in San Francisco. Do you really think I'm as old as manos99 thinks I am? Really, I'm just getting started!

Sky Bluesky, I believe in the First Amendment. Really I do. If you choose to read my post the way you're choosing to, it's a gloriously free country, and I can't stop you. But I liked a whole lot of what I thought your post was about! Maybe I was just wrong...it happens.

Hi, Arvin Hill, I've actually answered your question, I'm sorry if you didn't see my answer. Xrandadu Hutman has actually reprinted it many, many times. Maybe he will again.

Wow, BryanS and davidsugarman, don't worry...I had a coworker signed into my computer yesterday to test a new Salon application (coming soon!) Somehow, I had stayed logged into our system as him. Making it even more confusing, his name is Christopher Walsh (no relation.) When I saw what happened, I just deleted the post, because that was the simplest answer. I was in fact asking Uncle Fester to clarify his question to me, and also to tell me who he thinks I serve? I actually haven't deleted a single post in this thread today, just in case you're wondering.

Nice work, davidsugarman! "Postmenopausals!" I love the way so many of you make my points for me. I really appreciate it, it's a busy day here at Salon.