Camille, you're a day late and a dollar short! Anti-foundationalist Stanley Fish beat you to the postmodern knockout in yesterday's New York Times! Better luck next time! Meanwhile, Salonistas should be relieved to learn that this means Palin is probably good copy for the foreseeable future and this sclerotic website will have something to whine about to it's Pavlovian audience.

I am no longer surprised by Camille Paglia's inability to recognize her own subjectivity.

Because of human confusion between subjectivity and objectivity, we tend to minimize the flaws in the personified symbols we choose to rally behind: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin.

A smart commentator (and citizen) tries to step back, recognizing that it is stupid to deify anyone. As someone who voted for Obama, I have become uncomfortable with the idea that I must be his defender and apologist. It would be a truly interesting column if Paglia would do likewise with her totems. Some real analysis from a clear-eyed fan would be enlightening. But, like the "Ask a right-winger" column, Paglia offers little enlightenment.

There's been a lot of scuttlebutt about Sarah Palin that deserves to be ignored. However, her turn on the national stage does reveal someone who quite likely suffers from narcissistic personality disorder or some similar impairment, making her tone deaf to the needs and desires of others (chronicled ad nauseum, but well represented by her attempt to give a concession speech). Perhaps this is a common ailment among the political class. On the positive side, a narcissist exudes great confidence and certainty. That's also the downside. With the world in the shape it is in, we really must do our best to avoid another pathological president who is adept at stirring up hateful crowds (linking Obama with terrorism) and disdainful of the knowledge needed to craft thoughtful and meaningful policy.

I am anxious that enough Americans would be swayed, like Paglia, to Palin's camp because it would be neat to have a female president who can field dress a moose. Her leadership abilities and informed vision for America are more meaningful. The fact that she lacks both cannot be blamed on elves, as Paglia would have it.

Sarah Palin's inability to take responsibility for her own fortunes or learn from her interactions with the media suggest that she desires a coronation, not public office. Is there any evidence at all that she has ever served the needs of anyone beside herself?

I also want to comment on the red herring about left wing assassination talk. You have to seriously dig to find individuals on the left discussing assassination. Having spent a lot of time in anti-Bush rallies, I cannot recall a single episode that suggested killing the president. The operative verbs were impeach or arrest. The idea that there is a double standard in the media--based entirely on meager anecdotes--reveals the shallowness of Paglia's analysis.

What hurts most about reading most of these comments is the total lack of maturity. Mature people don't use snarky, nasty, rude comments. They can also TAKE criticism as well as give it. People think it's no big deal hurling garbage at others, but, GOD FORBID!!! if garbage is hurled back!

What if our President had garbage hurled at him by the press like many others have had? How would you feel for him, his wife, his children?

Camille, I am a big fan. You are open, bright, and on point 99% of the time. But this piece on Palin as victim makes me scratch my head.

Is it selective memory? The only image you evoke on the Clintons was Chelsea's drunken binge in England. This is a woman who for DECADES was called UGLY in the national print, online and on the air.

Imagine the outcry if someone had called the Palin children UGLY. But thousands of right wing men are still convinced that Chelsea is some kind of dog.

How many murders was Sarah Palin accused of? Zero. The Clintons? Two (and they weren't even murders)

How many Sarah Palin jokes have you heard? Now compare that to the number of vulgar, hard-hearted, downright vicious Hillary jokes that are STILL circulating on the 'net.

In spite of an obvious leftward tilt, the east coast media establishment did NOT shy away from attacking the Clinton Administration. In fact they nearly buried him.

If you ask me, Palin got off easy.

"preening bullies, cackling witches, twisted cynics and pompous windbags""

Paglia should read that sentence, it captures what she has become beautifully.

Her views on the Shepard tragedy -- disturbing.

Paglia is a perfect example of why tenure is bad. The idea that she is actually "teaching" students says much about "The University of the Arts". Contrariness is one thing. She is dangerous.

(Did I sound like a Rush dittobot?)

This article is just one among a bunch of statements about Sarah Palin that leave me--well, I like the word gob-smacked. Like someone just hit you in the face with something so insane that it renders you speechless, or at least Super-Baffled.

How anyone can see in Sarah Palin anything other than a beauty queen living out the Peter Principle ("people advance to the level of their incompetence") is beyond me. I mean it. I don't just disagree. I am seriously baffled. How can we two human beings stare out at the universe and see such completely different things?

Yes, there is actually a Sarah Palin. We can agree on that. She is physically attractive in a bourgeois, sexless fembot kind of way. We can agree on that. But beyond that--well, it's baffling. The person I see is clearly stupid. Oh, perhaps she has a certain craftiness--all those beauty queens do--but clearly, she can't follow a thought for more than four words without getting tangled up in the weeds of complexity. She's a whiney bitch, basically. She's got no problem getting up at every friggin' rally and saying "Obama pals around with terrorists," and yet somehow, even the mildest criticism from the media provokes a "wah! wah! wah! You're mean to me!" response from someone who purports to be a grown up.

I know Camille likes to think of herself as some kind of pal of the non-intellectual elites in this country, but I promise you, her faux-real gal act is just that. I actually live and work with real live working class Americans, most of whom do NOT listen to talk radio (they're too busy working) and most of whom think Sarah Palin is an idiot. Even that great anti-intellectual, Howard Stern, said he was considering voting for McCain until he picked Palin for VP.

Really, I feel like we're living in different universes, here. Communication is useless.