Oh, enough with the cries of elitism and the whining about how people in Blue states think people from Red states are stupid. You don't know which letter writers are from which states, do you? No, you don't.

And as far as whether or not Palin could have gotten where she is if she were truly a dumb bunny, there's a big difference between the kind of intelligence that you need to make complex far-sighted decisions and the sort of intelligence it takes to con people into things.

Republicans and Conservatives always talk as if they have a monopoly on "common sense" and are somehow more "real and down to earth" than everyone else and yet they're the first to fall for these kinds of cheap pandering used-car salesman tricks and vote against their own interests time and time again. You just want to hear the same fairy tale about how good and wonderful and perfect you "real" Heartland American types are, and how everyone else exploits and picks on you.

Well, the rest of it are sick to death of it. Palin's a shallow, mean woman who was chosen for cynical reasons and is cynical enough to play people like you for fools again and again. I only wish you could vote for her for President of your OWN country, and leave ours alone.

Do you really seriously think that, a candidate who sees himself as the embodiment of the anti-free enterprise is going to unite a country around him as a leader? Expecting Republicans to long rally around Obama is like asking Democrats to cheer for Robert Bork.

Sure, Obama will probably win the election, I'll give you that. A lot of people are terrified because of the economy.

But... we on the right who remember that for the last 30 years Dems have been trashing everything this country has tried to do for free enterprise and Pax Americana are ready for some serious payback. There's not going to be any sort of reconciliation or trial period with Obama. We are going to bury him every chance we get, and the thing is, he's going to give us a lot, because Obama has overpromised...and, he's largely stealing this election by running away from the left wing radical that he really is.

Obama can't deliver on a shred of what he is promising as the technology for his alternative energy nirvana simply is not there yet. Conservation won't work. You can't reducing the energy demands of 200 million Americans enough to offset the increased energy demands of 3 billion people long term. Right now fuel prices are falling but as soon as the world exits this recession, we're right back to $4/gallon gasoline and then some, and Obama's carbon taxes are going to that $4 more like $5/gallon. We're going to say that Obama promised to reduce the price of gasoline to say, $1 a gallon, and he'll be nowhere near that target. If he jacks up the dollar to get it, assuming he can, then, we'll point out all the manufacturing export jobs he's destroying. We'll count, and in every state that makes things. In fact, we might even run his own ads again!

We'll be there to point out that you have to actually choose between economic growth and environmentalism and on a case by case basis. If McCain had half a brain as a campaigner, he would be counting all of the jobs lost from all of the coal plants that were canceled because of Democratic environmentalists. But don't worry, we will. We will have web sites up for every coal plant shot down, every steel mill expansion denied, nuclear power plant not approved, and keep a running total of jobs lost to supposedly save mother earth and we will make the argument that Democrats care more about animals than people.

Obama's 10 year goal for energy independence, one would think, would have annual or even monthly milestones for barrels of oil replaced by some other energy source. Every day, every week, and every month of Obama's administration, we'll be ripping this guy because going into year 2, the election of 2010, there's no way he'll have any sort of linear progress to claim his goal is on the way.

God help you in 2010 if Iran detonates a bomb after Obama dismantles strategic missile defense. You can bring up the Bush economy as much as you want in that case, but we'll make the charge that Democrats are traitors stick....because, ya know, if you take down the shields while the enemies are loading up for bear, you might actually really be.

And of course, we all know Obama is going to sign some sort of anti-gun legislation.

I don't agree with with most of Gov. Palin's opinions, but I do agree that she's added excitement and a new voice to the race. Most of the women in U.S. politics are as boring as most of the men in politics, and she's not boring. I wish I had a fifth of her self-confidence - even as I believe Palin's not ready to be vice president. I can see that she's become a (quite imperfect) role model for young girls, and there is a severe scarcity of role models these days.

The Republicans need some new blood, and if Palin works at it, she can become a lasting power in the party, articulating conservative values in a way that the stubborn, inarticulate and incurious President Bush has not. Although she has sometimes spoken gobbledygook, I've had no problem understanding her points - and I am not the voter she seeks to reach.

Although I am reluctantly pro-choice, I think both parties have harmed themselves with a strident insistence on orthodoxy on the abortion issue. I hope that if Obama is elected, a health-care plan isn't lost because of Democratic insistance that abortion be covered. (I also hope cosmetic surgeries and Viagra are left out of the coverage.)

And Camille is always an interesting and provocative writer. I'd much rather read an unpredictable Paglia piece that gets me thinking - even if I don't agree with every point - than some of the by-the-numbers attacks on Palin (or Obama) that are part of the discourse today.

And anyone that can draw the ire of so many letter writers must be doing something right.