Yes, but there isn't anything under that.

She's rather vacuous and nasty... Haughty even.

The problem is that republican women like Sarah Palin are a dime a dozen. Well ok, maybe a quarter a dozen but they are pretty common... What is it about the republican party that seems to breed women like her? Well, and like Billy Six-Pack lipping off about wanting to kill Obama and telling black media crew members to 'sit down boy'.

If you can't see Palin as a shallow, shrill talking points puppet, there is almost no hope for you. The 'palling with terrorists' crack is so low and craven that it could have only been worse if Palin had a clue that she is practically encouraging violence towards O. Camille you rail on academics regularly but you are as removed from daily American life as they come. And you use too many words to make your non points.

As someone who grew up in Alaska, I can think of at least a dozen women who actually are "frontier women" (an outmoded stereotype of its own). Palin grew up in a bedroom community of Anchorage, for god's sake. She helped turn it into a strip mall desert of pure American inanity. I have guns--so what? I don't hunt, but I have plenty of women friends who do (or who make a living solely by fishing, or who race dog teams--which is much harder than riding a snowmachine). They live either in the Bush or in far more remote communities than Wasilla, the fastest growing area in Alaska and the meth capital of the state.

I realize Palin comes off as a spunky, adorable Danielle Boone to people not familiar with Alaskan lifestyles (and there are many ways of living here, most perfectly ordinary), but she is nothing special. Hell, any Native Alaskan woman can kick her ass with one leg. (And can I just add that Palin's record on Native issues is absolutely deplorable--people are burning pallets in villages because they can't afford fuel oil! Anchorage's mayor and school superintendent just issued a letter to Palin titled "We cannot stand by and tolerate the deterioration of rural Alaska." And see this Tlingit writer's deadly assessment on Todd Palin's "contributions" to Native communities: http://alaskareal.blogspot.com/)

Palin is an inferior model of Alaskan femininity in at least one important way. It is patently clear that she lacks a critical hallmark of intelligence: intellectual curiosity. One of Alaska's best reporters, Amanda Coyne, interviewed Palin in 2006 when she was a gubernatorial candidate. This is Coyne's account of a conversation with Palin that wasn't intended as any kind of gotcha:

During the 2006 interview, Palin told me she’d been “raised reading. We always had all sorts of things to read around.”

I asked her what her favorite books were growing up. Palin responded, “You know, all sorts of books.” When I asked her what kinds of books she read now, Palin told me, “All sorts of books.”

Coyne also started working on Palin's biography and then dumped the project "after being convinced that she was just not as substantial as I thought she was." You can read more about her assessment at http://49writers.blogspot.com/. Coyne's web journal, Alaska Dispatch, has plenty of useful and enlightening comments from Alaskans about Palin: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/

I'm afraid that what you see is what you get. I would certainly agree that she's energetic, cunning, and politically intelligent (not to mention incredibly ambitious). That's why she's transformed herself into this slavering embarrassment who is virtually unrecognizable to Alaskans--and all in the service of a man!

And don't even get me started on Troopergate. Let's just say that when Palin comes home, she'll very likely face a recall election. And so will her husband, Mr. Co-Governor and evader of subpoenas.

I wish people would stop depending on what they THINK they know simply from watching her on TV and start consulting people who do know something about her in Alaska. Her famous 80 percent approval rating is plummeting since her nomination. It was an inflated assessment largely in reaction to our previous governor, who as THE most unpopular governor in America placed third in his own primary. My dog would have had an 80 percent approval rating compared to him.

I just hope America doesn't make the mistake that we made, a mistake that many of us hope to redress. But it would help if people like Paglia would stop mythologizing an ordinary Alaskan woman (albeit meaner and perhaps stupider) who simply walks better in high heels than most of us can or care to.

Thank you for your heartfelt selection of letters that bolster your incredible reputation for insight and sensitivity toward those who buy whatever it is you're selling. It brought tears to my eyes, truly.

Quote: "Many others listening to Sarah Palin at her debate went into conniptions about what they assailed as her incoherence or incompetence. But I was never in doubt about what she intended at any given moment."

Of course you lacked doubt of any kind. Of course you understood SP as one knows a soul mate. Incoherence and incompetence are your stock in trade. Cut from the same cloth, you are. You're just better at school than she is.

Camille is still fighting the ol' battles with Gloria S. Now she uses Sarah as the ulimate anti-Gloria. So sad, that Camille who still idolizes Madonna has put Sarah in the same league. Any one who saw the Katy C. interviews, saw that Sarah was the least read, least informed politician ever to run for high office. To blame it on editing after seeing the leading and patronizing Qs of Hannity, shows Camille no longer deserves the esteem we gave her deservably in years past. Sad to see such an intellect devolve into inrelevance. Sad.

Enough! Paglia is insufferable. Please give her space to someone more relevant.

Camille, for a knucklehead liberal your words on Palin hit the mark. The so-called feminists who boast their femininity are nothing but chimeric icons...you should be able to click on them to get the real thing such as Sarah Palin; unfortunately you can't.

The (true) fear and loathing these so-called feminists and their liberal toadies heap on Palin (and you when you dare not rip her to shreds for their enjoyment and nurturing) demonstrates how far into an intellectual corner they have painted themselves. A woman isn't defined by ISSUES such as abortion; a woman is someone who does things, thinks, acts, reacts, loves, hates, and all the other human endevors. A strong woman (feminist) does most of those things well, does them quietly and does them confidently.

Keep up the good work.