Methinks Miss Paglia's intellectual outpourings passed their "sell by" date roughly 2 1/2 presidential election cycles ago. The one thing she has firmly in her mind is that Bill and Hillary Clinton are grifting white trash. All of Camille's Weltanschauung, prejudices, and theology flow from that single banal insight.

With all due respect and honor for Mr. McCain's military service in Vietnam, we should all remember that the true heros of this coflict have their names inscribed on a memorial wall in the Nation's Capital. With respect to his time as a POW, this does not make him a hero or a villian or qualify him to be President or C-in-C. One cannot compare him, e.g., with the POW's in Germany in WWII as depicted in the great escape. These were true POW heros. Moreover, his constant references during his Presidential Campaign to his time as a POW, coached as dark periods, the Hanoi Hilton time, or trying time, is unattractive and deplorable. True heros do not brag about there heroism.

PaulofAnnapolis

1) The word for Sarah Palin is noit "stupid." The word for her is "shallow."

2) Increasingly, the word for Camille Paglia is the same as the word for John McCain: cranky.

3) Madonna is quoted as saying that she would "kick Sarah Palin's ass if she comes on my street." Between Camille's two heroes -- neither of whom I particularly care for -- I pick Madonna in a fight -- it's not even close.

Oh Camille. Still kicking students who don't agree with you?

If ever I needed reassurance that Paglia is full of baloney, this is it. I thought maybe she'd changed or mellowed throughout the years but since Madonna made it clear she had no use for her, Paglia has moved onto Alaska for inspiration.

Go away, Camille.

There is exactly one thing on which Sarah Palin and I agree. For all intents and purposes, the 1960's are over.

Joe Biden isn't the fall-guy for paternalism. Sarah Palin is a smug little toad of a human being who is exempt from serious political scrutiny because she is so self-evidently unworthy of it. That Paglia seems to smugly rejoice in this exemption and it's consequences is just a symptom of how out of touch she is.

Joe Biden wiped the floor with her, and he kept his gloves on because she wasn't worth the fight. How do you fight with someone who lives in a fantasy land in which dinosaurs and humans coexisted 3000 years ago?

Answer: You let them do most of the talking.

And despite all of its shortcomings, in 30 days the American public will wisely put Sarah Palin back where she belongs - in Alaska.

The new face of feminism? My god, get real, Paglia. She's the new face of feminism if the new goal for feminism is to be antiwoman.

The word for Palin is "cunning"

I'm just asking since that seems potentially profitable...and it's the only thing I can think of why Salon still publishes her work...because it generates a lot of traffic. Nothing wrong with this really, it does open dialog but it's also a bit weird. Oh well, that is all.

The following says it all about Obama's experience at being in charge. He cannot run a campaign organization, yet many Americans want to turn over the reigns of the US Government to this inexperienced and wholly unprepared Pol. What a sad spectacle.

Reporter's Notebook: Seeing How The Other Half Lives

Posted by Dean Reynolds|

(CBS)From CBS News' Dean Reynolds:

(NASHVILLE, TENN.) - After most of the previous 12 months covering Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency, it was interesting, instructive and, well, relaxing to follow John McCain for the last few days. The differences between the two are striking.

Obama is the big time orator, McCain is the guy who struggles with a teleprompter or even note cards strategically placed nearby. Obama's crowds are larger, more enthusiastic. McCain's events are smaller, but to my eye, better choreographed. And now with the addition of Sarah Palin to some of his events, McCain can boast of crowds that match Obama's in energy.

There is an urgency to the McCain campaign now that I don't think was there before. Due to the fact that he is running second, no doubt, but it may also be because McCain has a finishing kick. Whatever the case, he is sharper on the stump than he was before. (Though I would suspect a candidate running behind would want to schedule two or three appearances per day, instead of the one McCain usually does.)

It is true that McCain enjoys taking questions from the audience in town hall-style settings. That doesn't mean he is the master of that kind of forum, it just means he's good at it. He likes to converse with voters. Obama does it well too, but seldom achieves that intangible bond with the people that all politicians crave -- or fake.

Behind the scenes, where the public is not allowed, there are other differences.

Obama's campaign schedule is fuller, more hectic and seemingly improvisational. The Obama aides who deal with the national reporters on the campaign plane are often overwhelmed, overworked and un-informed about where, when, why or how the candidate is moving about. Baggage calls are preposterously early with the explanation that it's all for security reasons.

If so, I would love to have someone from Obama's campaign explain why the entire press corps, the Secret Service, and the local police idled for two hours in a Miami hotel parking lot recently because there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was not an isolated case.

The national headquarters in Chicago airily dismisses complaints from journalists wondering why a schedule cannot be printed up or at least e-mailed in time to make coverage plans. Nor is there much sympathy for those of us who report for a newscast that airs in the early evening hours. Our shows place a premium on live reporting from the scene of campaign events. But this campaign can often be found in the air and flying around at the time the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" is broadcast. I suspect there is a feeling within the Obama campaign that the broadcast networks are less influential in the age of the internet and thus needn't be accommodated as in the days of yore. Even if it's true, they are only hurting themselves by dissing audiences that run in the tens of millions every night.

The McCain folks are more helpful and generally friendly. The schedules are printed on actual books you can hold in your hand, read, and then plan accordingly. The press aides are more knowledgeable and useful to us in the news media. The events are designed with a better eye, and for the simple needs of the press corps. When he is available, John McCain is friendly and loquacious. Obama holds news conferences, but seldom banters with the reporters who've been following him for thousands of miles around the country. Go figure.

The McCain campaign plane is better than Obama's, which is cramped, uncomfortable and smells terrible most of the time. Somehow the McCain folks manage to keep their charter clean, even where the press is seated.

The other day in Albuquerque, N.M., the reporters were given almost no time to file their reports after McCain spoke. It was an important, aggressive speech, lambasting Obama's past associations. When we asked for more time to write up his remarks and prepare our reports, the campaign readily agreed to it. They understood.

Similar requests are often denied or ignored by the Obama campaign aides, apparently terrified that the candidate may have to wait 20 minutes to allow reporters to chronicle what he's just said. It's made all the more maddening when we are rushed to our buses only to sit and wait for 30 minutes or more because nobody seems to know when Obama is actually on the move.

Maybe none of this means much. Maybe a front-running campaign like Obama's that is focused solely on victory doesn't have the time to do the mundane things like print up schedules or attend to the needs of reporters.

But in politics, everything that goes around comes around.