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Wednesday, October 8, 2008 12:00 AM

Nobody's dummy

Liberals underestimate Sarah Palin's vitality and -- yes -- smarts at their own peril. Plus: Obama's presidential air, Biden's condescending mugging, feminism's lost sisters.

The letters thread is now closed.

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Thursday, October 9, 2008 07:18 AM

To Cody 1229

I do watch Fox news a bit, about the same amount that I read Salon. They're pretty much mirror images, from what I can see. Salon = Democrats good, Republicans bad. Fox = Republicans good, Democrats bad. That's about it. Not much interest in a real discussion of the issues. Just singing to the choirs, so that their "devotees" come back every day for their daily "feel good" fix and to support their "team." That's the only business model that pays the bills for much of the MSM nowadays, I guess.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 06:40 AM

Liberal media!?

Paglia chastises the "liberal media" for heaping a "Mt. Everest" sized steaming pile of abuse on Palin.

...what "liberal media" is that Ms Paglia? Rupert Murdoch's Fox News? Or maybe MSNBC? (you know, the network that spent millions to have a giant staff of attorneys force Kucinich out of the Democratic debates last January?). Or the NY Times? Who after using "journalist" Judith Miller to shill us into Bush's invasion of Iraq, had the gall to make up for it by bringing Bill Kristol on board its op-ed staff!?

Aside from low-budget websites like this one, there is NO LIBERAL MEDIA. Least of all on TV or radio.

Murdoch even own's the Wall St Journal now! But maybe Ms. Paglia thinks Murdoch is a liberal--just like she thinks Palin is a feminist :-D

...I'm beginning to understand the editors of this website. Have writers say outlandish, provocative--even stupid things--just to piss off it's left-leaning readers and get them to write. Reading Paglia is so awful, it has to be deliberately bad.

I'm having more fun reading what other folks post than reading Paglia's nonsense that started it all! :-D

Thursday, October 9, 2008 06:37 AM

Presidential air?

Before Obama came on the scene, there has never been a need to repeatedly point out a candidate's 'presidential air'. For lack of anything else substantive to say about the man, the phrases "He looked so presidential!", "He had the appearance of being so presidential!", "There was such a presidential air about him!"

As Obama would say, "I'm not a REAL president, but I play one on TV!"

Thursday, October 9, 2008 06:22 AM

Everybody's dummy

as exhibited by the the fans of the self-consciously appalling Camille.

The anti-union screed was lovely as well.

Home skool 4ever!

Thursday, October 9, 2008 06:15 AM

Palin and English as a second language

Ms Paglia's spirited defence of Mrs Palin's contorted syntax and garbled sentences is extraordinary coming from someone who has to cleave to correct usage as her stock in trade.

Part of the requirements of a successful politician is the ability to communicate often complex ideas to their constituents.

Palin's stumbling attempts in the Couric interview with, surely one of the simplest of interrogators does not bode well for her performance as Veep.

If Palin were standing once more for the Governorship, or even for Congress, her folksy charm might endear her to "ordinary folks" and be tolerated by her colleagues.

But she could be, to use that tired phrase "a heartbeat away from The Presidency" and frankly, I, as a High School dropout, don't want someone who sounds like a simpleton, who thinks man and dinosaurs walked the Earth together after it was "created" 6,000 years ago and who rejoices in The End Times "in her lifetime" anywhere near the nuclear (or should that be nuke-u-lar?)launch codes.

In short, I want a President and Vice President who are more intelligent than me, and show it.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 05:35 AM

Obedience, not abeyance

Apologies for the sloppiness above. I meant to praise Paglia's refusal to obey the rules of any single consistent ideology. Somehow, the word abeyance came out.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 05:33 AM

Frustration w/Paglia

Paglia is worth reading in my opinion because of her attempts to evade abeyance to any consistent ideology. I disagree with her as often as not, but I honor her participation in a longstanding tradition of American public intellectuals resisting conventional categorization. That being said, I'm (more than just) occasionally flustered by her airing of superficial and cliche assumptions such as, "The university culture at Columbia and Harvard through which Obama passed has been drenched in a reflexive anti-Americanism for several decades." That's simply not the truth of it except from the most shallow of viewpoints. Cultural criticism, for one, is not equal to kneejerk "anti-Americanism."

Thanks.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 04:31 AM

News Flash!

On Monday night at Madison Square Garden, Madonna went on an on-stage tirade against (in her words) "Sarah f**king Palin," saying of Palin among other things: "get that b*tch out of here."

In a related story, a very confused Camille Paglia's head exploded.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 04:20 AM

Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain.

Hello, I'm a letter writer who never posts anywhere else on Salon but has suddenly dropped in out of nowhere to praise Camille Paglia and share a little of my life story. If I sound suspiciously like I've drifted over from a right wing website, please be polite and-- much as you do with Paglia's chosen sounds-a-lot-like-Camille "letter writers" who oddly never seem to show up to participate in the comments section-- just play along with the fantasy. 'kay?

Thursday, October 9, 2008 04:09 AM

Vietnam: another view

Profligate defense spending collapsed the U.S.S.R., as it's collapsing us. Your hero, President Reagan, helped, via the arms race and unfettered borrowing, collapse two countries: the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., and he did it in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, that "turn the other cheek" guy.

I suggest this slogan for the Republicans: Killin' for Christ!

Thursday, October 9, 2008 04:02 AM

We do not have to earn it

I must take issue with the following passage from this article:

"Take-charge feminism doesn’t try to game the system or run to authority figures for protection. It’s hands-on in the moment, forcing respect for female power by earning it."

The fallacy that women must, or even can, earn respect for their power (and rights) must end. We, this 50% of the world's population, have been busy earning this respect throughout history. This respect must be demanded, not earned. The process of earning it lies in the past. If you disagree, look to your own anecdotes, the letters cited in your article about "agrarian feminists", your history books, and witness the process of women earning your respect over, and over, and over again, back to the beginning of time. Shame on you.

Thursday, October 9, 2008 03:16 AM

Vietnam War: Other view

About Vietnam War:

I wonder if anybody thinks that due to Korean war, Vietm=nam wars Reagan could thunder* Bring this wall down and ultimately bring down USSR

Deodatta Bendre

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