have the right stuff to appreciate her. Or should I simply say only the barbarians understand her in this time of Rome's decline.

No, but it is contingent on her, if she could, forcing men (and women) to live under her theocratic rule. It seems that for a lot of men the dominatrix theme here is entirely supported by the evidence. On second thought maybe that is her appeal: she would dominate both men and women whereas traditional feminism endorses a sexual religion that in practice only puts limits on straight men.

The only peril I see is in what reading Paglia's tripe could do to the human brain. Dr. Paglia, you have confirmed what many of us have suspected for so long--you are, without question, the most stupid individual with an academic title in this country, and probably in the world. Moreover, there is no way your writing could be more smarmy (unless you remind us once again that you voted for Nader in 2000). I would rather endure a video tape loop of Palin's preening than to read another of your columns. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to detox.

Wow, I am usually a fond reader of Camille's articles, but this one is way off. I think it's been fairly well established that Palin is way in over her head and the Republican's should be ashamed for making this poor selection. Sorry Camille - you're gonna have to put your opinion on this one with your opinion on Global Warming.

1. Bring up your "common man" bonafides by a.)mentioning your appreciation for the hilarious and brilliant Rush Limbaugh b.)talking about how you shop at Wal-Mart c.)attacking the elite institutions of higher education, the conventions of which you so daringly subvert.

2. Couch a mind-numbingly stupid notion (try something like: "Growing up in an Italian-American environment and my love of poetry imbued me with an deep appreciation for Sarah Palin's inability to form a coherent sentence") in pretentious, florid prose. And remember to make it something really provocative, so all your liberal readers will get real mad!

3. Mention your controversial embrace of Madonna, who single-handedly broke through the stodgy constraints of second-wave yada yada yada yawn.

And there you are! Now you're a meaninglessly contrarian cultural pundit, too!

You wrote "the preservation of our liberties ultimately depends on the enormous dedication and self-sacrifice of our military men and women."

While that may once have been true, our liberties have not been defended by the military since 1945. Since then the only challenge to our liberties has come from within, first McCarthy and the Red scare, but most recently the Patriot Act and Bush's surveillance without warrant plus the FBI and other federal agencies monitoring religious groups, vegetarians, and pacifists, by attacking and arresting reporters and protestors even before an event, and so on. Our freedom of speech has been abrogated by not allowing people with the "wrong" t-shirt or bumper sticker to attend political events, by establishing "free speech zones" far from anything, by restricting protest marches, by forbiding protests within a mile of events attended by either Bush or Cheney, and more. Our e-mails and phone calls are being intercepted. The FBI accesses our library records without any reason and forbids the librarians from informing anyone. Voting rights are abrogated by caging, by messing with the computers, by arbitrary removal of people from voting lists, by restricting the number of voting machines in precincts that vote the "wrong" way. The military not only hasn't done anything to stop this, but the Pentagon is actually participating in some of these efforts. It's time to ask the military to fulfill its obligation to defend the Constitution from ALL enemies both DOMESTIC and foreign.

What in the world is Paglia talking about? There are any number of intelligent, thoughtful women who would be far more qualified than Palin. Obviously, Paglia doesn't think America and feminism deserve the best.

As many posters pointed out, the question is whether or not Palin is qualified to be president, which is the major qualification to be vice president. She has had numerous opportunities to prove herself and has failed at every instance.

Maybe Palin isn't stupid, but she certainly hasn't spent any time considering the state of the nation and the world today. Her every public appearance has demonstrated the type of performance one would expect from a freshman college student cramming for an oral exam.

Ms. Paglia, please come down from your ivory tower sexually obsessed psychobabble for a moment and realize that, even if she isn't certifiably stupid, it was certainly stupid of John McCain to nominate her, just as it was stupid for her to accept.

FYI: Stupid isn't cool

Having successfully avoided reading Paglia for several years I took the bait. Talk about mugging! I felt as though my brain was mugged by this nonsense.

This article seems like nothing more than liberal grandstanding - an intentionally contrarian voice sticking out from the group - not because Camille actually believes what she says, but because she likes mixing it up.

If the stakes weren't so high, I wouldn't be bothered. But Camille is praising someone who has no business being where she is, and is actively inciting crowds to scary levels of hate.

Sure, being a contrarian can be fun. But not here.

If she was just a dummy, she wouldn't be so scary. She's sly as a fox, willing to say anything, but her core values are identical to those of the last 8 years that are bringing us to our knees. She's no dummy, she's sly, but she's not smart, either, and smart is what we need. Bush is sly, too, but he's also an idiot. We've had enough of that brand of "leadership".

One of the most striking things about this election is that it is a reflection of so many of the volatile issues that have been with us for several decades now. Race, naturally, seems to be center, but equally important is the passing of power from one generation to the next. Paglia bores us the same way McCain does,, same way Tom Brokaw does, etc. etc. (I should point out that I am part of the generation that follows Paglia, and as such have the privilege of seeing my generation finally come to power, in part thanks to the generation that followed mine....it took two generations worth of us to overcome that huge-numbered, over bloated, despicably self consumed generation Paglia finds herself a part of). They have always been marked by one omnipresent characteristic: it's all about them!

Paglia's attempt to shape the simpleton Palin into something of a new feminist (or another way for Paglia to rail against old feminism) is completely lame. Palin is an idiot...there is nothing smart, feminist, or even masculine about her(where did that come from?).

Academic word games, indeed.