As a man who grew up in a feminist household, i have to say that i take exception with this article. Were I a woman, a conservative, or a feminist, i would be incredibly insulted that the McCain campaign thought so little of conservatives and of women that putting forth someone as profoundly unqualified to be vice-president (and therefore potentially president) as Ms. Palin is seemed like a good idea.

Sorry, but she isn't qualified. Nor is she intelligent enough to BECOME qualified in 8 years, assuming that Obama wins and holds onto the presidency that long.

I don't understand the United States populace anymore. When did people stop wanting their leaders to be leaders, and start wanting them to be the guy (or gal) next door? I don't want the leader of the U.S. to be my intellectual equal, i want them to intimidate the hell out of me. I want him or her to be so much smarter than the next person that they make us all feel like intellectual incompetents. I'm no intellectual slouch, but i am smart enough to know that i am not the smartest guy in the room. I don't want the President to be someone i'd be comfortable having a beer with.

Whatever happened to the concept of electing the best and the brightest to run things? Whatever happened to the sorts of people that FDR and JFK surrounded themselves with? When did the idea of electing a "C" student whose daddy paid his way through two ivy league schools to run things start to seem like a good idea? Say what you want to about Bill Clinton, but the man was a Rhodes Scholar - he was one of the best and the brightest. I'll take another Bill Clinton with his intelligence and with all of his personal faults, over the mental midget we have in the white house now any day.

Sarah Palin is a lot of things, but one thing she most definitely is not is a person who could claim the title of being on of "the best and the brightest." I tire of her excoriating Obama as being elitist because he was intelligent enough to get through two of the toughest Universities in the United States. Look into the man's background and tell me what it was about being multi-racial, as well as being raised by a single mother that makes him elitist? Tenacity, intelligence, and yes, the ability to actually form a coherent thought and then put that thought into well-pronounced phrase doesn't make a person ellitist, it makes them intelligent and capable. Why Americans want the country to be run by intellectual incompetents is beyond me.

One final point, stop watching and start listening. I live in Japan and have for the past 13 years; i didn't see the debate on TV, i listened to it on the radio. I DON'T CARE how cute she may be, listen to what she says. If you base your opinion of her on her words, and not on her looks, i don't see how you could possibly believe that she is qualified to be McCain's running mate. I am sorry, Ms. Paglia, this woman is doing the cause of feminism, and of conservatism, considerably more harm that good.

Its embarrassing, to you. All the feminist and academic bullcrap you write in defense of Palin and her brand of womanhood is not just over her head but completely beyond her field of vision. If Palin could have it her way, people like you would probably be deported to France where she probably presumes there are many others like you and where you'll be happier.

I don't get your fascination and school girl crush on Palin. I just don't get it. Maybe you are fascinated by her because she is in so many ways your opposite and yet she still possesses qualities you admire. There's definitely something of the pathological in your glowing recommendation of her even I can't hit on it exactly. Your crush on her is not rational so much as it is rationalized. Have you thought about that? Maybe you need help.

Sarah Palin is Governor but she is also a sister first and protective of her family. The two legged Moose that is her former brother-in-law was evidently physically abusive toward her sister and threatened the life of her dad. He is reported to drink a lot, some call him an alcoholic, so he represents something of a loose cannon behavior wise. Palin with first hand knowledge of his behavior saw him as unstable and unfit to be a police officer and pushed for his dismissal. Police departments have rules and procedures that govern hiring and firing. Governor Palin forgot that in her haste to get rid of the threat. When she told her Chief of Police to fire the guy he refused so she fired the Chief. She now is denying that she fired the Chief because he would not fire the drunken moose.

A tempest in a thimble. The Chief had a bad apple on the force and should not have had to be pushed to do his job. As Will Rogers would say today "I only know what I read on the internet" and so far this is a win for Sarah.

Many of you are accusing Paglia of having lust for Palin as a basis for Paglia's admiration. Does that mean that all the Obama admirers are lusting after him? Think long and hard - is that a reason to turn over the keys to him? It scares me how many of you will say yes.

Camille, thank you for your comments on Sarah Palin. You

so eloquently put into words how I feel about her. When you wrote that her "exuberant vitality" and "competitive spirit" borders on "the supernormal" I couldn't agree more.

You, dear Camille have the most common sense of any feminist I have ever encountered.But really to call it common sense is inadequate, it is wisdom, but not the kind you get from the university! I'm in shock after reading you, stumbling on this from links from Drudge Report. You must be a lone voice crying out in the wilderness with some of these opinions. I have never considered myself a feminist, because to me feminism has been the "Gloria Steinem" types. When she said all that Sarah

Palin and Hillary Clinton had in common was a chromosome, that for me sums up the feminist of today. I really admire Hillary that she hasn't jumped on the bandwagon of criticizing Palin and has even had kind words to say about her, she and Bill alike. Camille, you should be leading the feminist movement into the future! You seem like someone who would really want the best for ALL women, even Republicans (gasp!)

I printed out your column to take to work to show a few friends, one of whom said "Sarah Palin is an idiot." They have been brainwashed by the "mountain of rubbish" and don't know how to think for themselves. Thanks again for the refreshing

column.