The reason is, she's become so addicted to the drug of celebrity that she is leaving government to become a well-paid celebrity. So she can haunt the airwaves as much as she wants. Each time she speaks, I will think: "This is another day her finger is not on the nuclear button." Glad her career in government imploded, probably permanently; America is safe, at least for now.

“After reading reams of analysis as to "why liberals hate Palin", I have carefully examined my conscience and come to the conclusion that it is very simple: we just finished eight horrendous years of a president that was in no way qualified to hold the office. He trashed the country, and it will take years to correct the course he set us on. And George W. Bush is a freakin' genius compared to Sarah Palin. You have to be delusional or just plain stupid to think that Palin has the background, intellect or temperament to lead this country, to hold the most powerful position in the world!”

And this is a conclusion of your letter:

“But stay away from governing. She is simply not qualified. Period.”

I hope you wouldn’t mind to answer a few questions that I have accumulated after reading this thread.

1) How do you make a determination whether a person is or isn’t qualified to be President.

2) Out of the following list, who do you think was/is qualified to occupy this position and why?

A. Carter

B. Reagan

C. Bush I

D. Clinton

E. Bush II

F. Obama

I have to mention that I did select your letter almost randomly, because it seemed to be a very typical one for this thread.

MJ

It's very sad to see children grief stricken, knowing they will be the center of a custody battle. I wish MJ would have sought help if drug issues did indeed shorten his life.

Palin

@EGarcia "Nobody has mentioned that the visceral and ongoing negative reaction to Palin may be explained by the simple human tendency to not like, in a very deep way, people who are snarky, unkind, petty and seem to be enjoying being that way. Exhibit One: her debut speech at the Republican Convention. I am not the only person whose breath was taken away by the sheer nastiness of her verbal attacks..... So, now, why should I be told, by feminists or any other spokespeople for any other group, that I am 'politically incorrect' for just outright disliking Palin? She earned my dislike because of her personal qualities."

Hear, hear and Palin did even more to bring about such intense criticism. She attracted the intense reactions with her odd actions and invited her own implosion. Attacks on her family are unacceptable, even though she put them at center stage.

@austinboy "For some reason Palin qualifies as a dangerous nut job but McCain, an idiot from a long line of unemployable idiots, gets nothing but respect!"

Check my letters- McCain and Palin were well matched in many ways. I often wondered if people took the time to research McCain. The McCain/Palin ticket was a scary thing.

@pclaytonnj-"she showed the country and the world just how ditsy and thin-skinned a woman can be and that perhaps biology really is a drawback for women who have political aspirations. It's an embarrassment further aggravated by the fact that she just won't fade away into the oblivion she came from to count her blessings for the 15 minutes of fame she received."

Sorry, I disagree with the premise this one woman could do this much damage to women in politics. There are all levels of ethics/skills in politics in both males and females, so I am not embarrassed by Palin. But had she made it to the VP office, I would have been embarrassed that the people of America were that clueless, hence my name here. No, Palin isn't going away anytime soon, celebrity status and making money dishing up more rhetoric is way too much for her to resist.

How does Gary Kamiya get to write columns for an esteemed publication such as Salon? It just isn't rational to compare Michael Jackson with Sarah Palin, unless to point out that pedophilia is "in" and small town Christian mentality is "out." The column purported to decry celebritocracy, but melted down in saying it was ok and harmless in the case of MJ. What about the French film maker who did the documentary on the worlds' most remarkable women (this was BEFORE the election), and chose Sarah Palin as one of his examples? I guess that was harmful, because we never heard another word about it. So the point of Gary's column is, what? Publicity for only the celebrities who pose no harm to his personal belief system? Childish.