Wandering off the leftist reservation brings the worst of insults and vulgarity toward the wayward one. I've rarely observed such venom and curses from liberal blogs and posted comments as I’ve seen thrown at Paglia here, and that’s saying a lot.

What point are you referring to? Is this a direct rebuttal to Xrandadu's statement (that he works hard and engages with society), or did some comments get deleted from the thread somewhere?

I love reading the comments CP gets from LL's (lemming liberals) who get so irate their dildo's get stuck sideways in their asses.

Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thanks to you who unintentionally provide comic relief on a rather dull day!

Whether Palin has a national future or not will depend on her willingness to hit the books at some point and absorb more information about international history and politics than she has needed to know in her role as governor.

Camille: The presidency isn't something you study for, like an undergraduate cramming for a final exam.

We had a good look at Sarah Palin during the '08 campaign, and we pretty much decided she is not presidential material. No matter how much she "hits the books," she just doesn't have the breadth of knowledge, experience and judgment that the presidency requires.

To be fair, she does have a lot of positive qualities, and she's very attractive personally, but just because she can fire up crowds of loyal Republicans, it doesn't mean she can handle the biggest, most complex, most demanding job on earth.

Quitting her job as Governor of Alsaka was a huge mistake. She needs to stay in Alaska. That state and its politics pretty much defines her level of competence. If she tries to swim in the larger pond of national politics she will get her clock cleaned.

You would think the GOP would have learned from the last time they plucked a governor of limited talents and intelligence and thrust him into the national spotlight, where it became painfully evident he was not ready for prime time.

But then, maybe some in the GOP think George W. Bush's presidency was a success.....

I'm new to Salon. Can someone tell me, judging by the responses to Camile's article, unless the article is on Drudge, are faggots and lesbos the only ones who read Salon?

I disagree with just about everything Paglia says in her article. But I think many of the letters here are almost reflexively over the top and waaay too personal. Some are actually vicious.

It's almost Nietzschean. Many of us on the left have decided that to fight the monster, we have to be the monster. Looking into the abyss, the abyss looks into you, etc. etc.

While I am sometimes one among many angry letter writers here, I'm beginning to think the whole thing is more than a little counterproductive. That the Internet gives us a false sense of so many things. 24/7 bad news being a big part of that. Being a big part of our anger-formation. And it creates a snowball effect. We read responses to our letters and get angrier and angrier. We can do that several hours a day, while we read new articles about how rotten everything is and respond to those. We read responses to our responses and get angrier.

There are things worth fighting for. We progressives have a long way to go toward achieving the kind of society we think is best for the country. Since the establishment is already center-right, "conservatives" are much closer to their ideals. But I wonder if we're not just wasting our time using this medium, getting hopelessly distracted by it, falling for that distraction.

I wonder if we're in danger of becoming nearly as over the top and as those on the other side of the aisle.

Speaking entirely for myself, I think organizing, mobilizing and pushing for change in the real world is a much better option.

Persumably you are talking about Leisha Hailey, who actually plays the bisexual Alice on the show, but nothing about her character could at all be considered "sad sack", unless you think all scrappy liberals are sad sacks.

Aren't Katherine Moennig, Mia Kirshner, Daniela Sea, Rose Rollins, are Rachel Shelley, also lesbians, or at the very least genuinely bisexual?

Daniela Sea has got to be a real butch lesbian, and if the rest aren't at least bi, then they play their parts really well, and that is all that really matters.

To Lisa Moscatiello,

Thanks for the tips on "Sweetheart Video," anything by Viv Thomas, and Girlfriends Films. I am a happily married man, but my wife and I take our porn and eroticism very serious, and have deep interest in realistic shows and movies on the LGBT culture.

Today there is a gay-ploitation entertainment movement coming out of the US's, Australian, Canadian, and British cinema and TV programming, a lot of which is very good, for both if you want eroticism with a plot or porn that is just very creative and endearing sexual performances. However, I actually thought "The Crash Pad" was pretty good, and I liked the Logo show "Exes and Ohs", and I recently saw the BBC mini series "Fingersmith" and "Tipping the Velvet" which I thought were both excellent.

You are right in your assessment. I was going to write something similar to what you discussed, but my time is very limited. As a politician (and other types of career), either you have it or not. Studying as if you were to take an exam won’t do it, no matter how much you work at it. One just needs to see very successful CEOs (this does not include Bush II who failed at everything), who either failed or did marginally in school, but managed to excel in this kind of environment (intellectually curious, understanding of complex issues, etc.). In short, it is case closed for Palin.

Ms Paglia - I am a 58 yr old white male New England WASP and a great fan! You could be the only liberal in print who is not afraid to think independently. I am inevitably taken up by the catholicity of your notice and the humorous dispassion of your comment. Plus - that you so infuriate the doctrinaire is like bubbly with dessert.

TP