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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The anti-union screed was lovely as well.

Home skool 4ever!

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!"

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

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.

I am NOT a feminist. I am, however, consistently amused and bemused at the insistence by you, and others at "How well" Sarah Palin did at the debate, and how she "took control" of the evening. That debate was a joke from the start, and everyone knows it. The McCain campaign brilliantly set up the pre debate expectations so that Joe Biden could say or do nothing to challenge her (Bullying!) contradict her (Patronizing!) correct her (Condescending!) Gwen Ifill, who should have pulled out and handed over the reigns to someone who actually could force Palin to answer the questions, had no recourse to hold Palin accountable for her vagueness for fear of coming off as unfair or for Obama. Palin got a free pass to wink, ignore and generalize her way to mediocrity (victory!)This was no debate between to equals, it was "bring your daughter to work night." (Isn't she just darling up there trying to act all presidential?) Did Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton go toe to toe with the good old boys all those years just to let Sarah Palin participate in a sham debate that by its very nature was the most condescending and patronizing political event in the history of politics?

Shame on you, Camile, for allowing your freakish fascination and attraction to the gorgeous Sarah Palin to blind you from the absurdities. To date, nobody has put Palin's feet to the fire to see if she can speak beyond soundbites and cutsie catch phrases.

It's a gigantic step backward for all women, and I am NOT a feminist.