I'm not in Mean Girl mode when I say Palin is no role model for women.

1. She not only squandered opportunities to travel, she spins her lack of curiosity about the world by saying she wasn't some rich kid who got handed a passport and backpack. Funny she should mention a backpack... the suitcase of choice for those who know how to travel on a shoestring.

2. She revealed a lack of seriousness about higher education -- not because she didn't attend one of the ivy leagues, but because she skipped around six different colleges, finally majoring in journalism. And then wasn't able to name one news source she reads!

3. She defended her frightening lack of knowledge by saying she would get clobbered no matter what she answered. Joe Biden has done close to 80 interviews. So I guess the guy can take a clobbering, but Ms. Gutsy Pioneer Woman must be sheltered from 'vipers' like Katie Couric?

4. She is getting away with substandard qualifications because she has charisma and classical beauty. Isn't this a product of the "increasingly shallow media environment" that Paglia decries?

Ultimately this is what "pro-sex feminism" is all about: Paglia's beloved "pagan power." The idea that a woman's primary strength lies in her "hips, lips, tits" and face. Men can be ugly and age, but a woman has to look like Madonna or Sarah Palin. Hillary's vitality and smarts just don't stack up to Sarah's jutting cheekbones and flirtiness. Great. We've come such a long way we're back where we started. And look how we'll end up: with the Madonna-like hyper vanity and "skeletal" frame that Paglia hypocritically sneers at.

5. She calls herself Christian yet participates in the politics of hate, inciting crowds to yell "kill him [Obama]!!!

6. She can't meet her pro-choice sisters (and brothers) halfway by at least trying to prevent unwanted pregnancies through thorough sex education. We all know her "abstinence only" approach didn't work for her daughter, and seeing that her first child was born eight months after she and Todd eloped...I can't help thinking she probably didn't save herself for marriage either.

7. She's got the bad kind of smarts -- a manipulative cleverness that hides her abuses of power and divisive politics. She's just a small town girl getting picked on by the elite city slickers. Please. You don't have to be from a small town to be provincial. She just is. And if you govern a small town, it means you manage a smaller budget and population. It's not as difficult as governing a big city or even just a bigger town. People are employing pragmatism, not prejudice.

8. She's a member of the NRA, an organization that wants to keep automatic assault weapons on the street. That's not 'manly." That's inhumane.

9. She had the lack of humility, judgement and self-knowledge to accept a post she is breathtakingly unqualified for. Yes, she has "smarts" but not intelligence, not an understanding of the nuances of global issues. And her timing could not have been worse with our nation facing two wars and an economic crisis which may rival the Great Depression.

10. She doesn't have the decorum of a world leader. She doesn't get it's inappropriate to wink and use colloquialisms during national debates, the verbal equivalent of blue jeans. It's OK to be a hockey mom or Joan-six-pack if beneath it you are someone quite extraordinary. Her crowds love to chant "USA" and "We're #1!!" goading someone who is merely average in intellect to be the leader of "the greatest country in the whole world," (not like those other countries which I guess are like the world's small towns).

This morning, the dental tech asked who I would vote for. I replied I would vote for Obama.

Our conversation morphed into a discussion of Palin's responses during the Veep debate. I told her I saw beauty contest in Palin's answers. The DT's reply to this was "Yeah, Peace in our Time!" Palin's vapid rhetoric is becoming more and more obvious.

Ms. Paglia, your 15 minutes of fame were over decades ago. It's past time for you to fade away.

Sarah Palin's "smarts" remind me of an old Yiddish joke that features a man who killed his parents and then threw himself on the mercy of the court as an orphan. Yes, she is smart at that sort of thing--or at least, of memorizing it when Karl Rove and his ilk make it up and spoon feed it to her. (And that kind of outrageous illogic has the advantage of making people of even average intelligence go a little crazy!)

But wait--did I say she's smart enough to memorize something, albeit contentless, absurb, and sleazy? In the debate, it looked like she was reading from note cards on her podium. (Others have mentioned a teleprompter...I don't know.) Anyway, she seldom addressed the questions posed in the debate. Rather, she recited--in fractured English--the talking points she'd rehearsed, and in at least one case totally changed the topic--asked to respond regarding McCain's health care plan, she replied that she'd rather "respond" about economics--which she then did, in agonizingly inept and meaningless fashion. What a slap in the face to truly intelligent women (or men or children, for that matter).

The bottom line is that of all the zillion things the Repubs have done to snub, oppress, disrespect, and ridicule women--and to thumb their noses at the entire nation-- none is as bad as picking this particularly offensive female as their standard bearer, this simperin', grinnin', stammerin', winkin', nose-wrigglin', gosh-darnin', doggonin', simpleton.

Re: Palin: THIS

"utterly corrupt, opportunist, unimaginative, and a congenital liar, but with a just-folks act that takes in the suckers"

(most excellent piece, G.L. // 10:31, I figured out Paglia a while back)

Please recall , if you can, that the rights many of us fought very hard to win in 1973 resulted in the idea of pro-choice.

Not pro-abortion, per se and certainly not pro-forced pregnancy- which we know is Palin's camp. No, the phrase has always been 'pro-choice'. Guess what that means ? It means all women have a choice.

And you seem to be thinking that feminism only applies to straight women. Or perhaps only white women or working women.

At one time, I was heavily involved as an activist and speechwriter for NOW on the state and local level. We were trying - at one point- to put together a program for mothers.

I have always said there should be a mother's union- stock options, overtime, company car and paid vacations.

However- motherhood is not for everyone nor should it be forced on women- regardless of your ideas.

If Palin likes a macho guy- that's great - I am happy for her.

It doesn't mean that is the answer for all straight women.

And I don't see you addressing women of color, lesbians or older women in your column. Perhaps your idea of whom is included in the term feminism is pretty narrow.

And I also question your ideas on 'femininity'. Does wearing makeup and high heels qualify a woman as more feminine ? How so ? How does your projection of what 'feminine' actually means onto a political candidate affect her qualifications ?

I am 'feminine' by the fact that I was born female. I don't need to prove my femininity by caricature. My gender is a given- and I find your harping on this notion of a woman somehow being' more feminine' to be very tired. You are one of the maximalist types- you think that women and men operate very differently and must be in separate spheres. While I have always been been more of a minimalist feminist- of course there are differences between the genders- yet that can said of any two people. I think of qualities as being HUMAN - not masculine or feminine. You can say what you want about Palin - but she does not speak for me.

Sarah Palin certainly doesn't seem qualified for the job of vice-president of the United States. I don't care what kind of shoes or makeup she wears.

I refuse to vote for a candidate based upon gender alone.

And I am more of a feminist than you'll ever be.