I am one of those female, middle-class business owners Sarah Palin seemed to think she was addressing in last night's vice presidential debate.

Nothing is more horrifying than the thought of being represented nationally — or worse yet, globally — by a functionally illiterate, issue-evading, winking Barbie Doll. It is insulting to assume that Americans prefer lapses in the English language (“gonna,” “betcha,” etc. — how I wish the commentators would have counted the number of “ing” drops in her responses) to leaders who can speak clearly and articulately.

And I truly cannot imagine that Germany's Angela Merkel, Iraq's Jalal Talabani or China's Hu Jintao would appreciate coy winks during diplomatic discussions.

Palin's redirection of responses to the things she wanted to talk about (an expression she used more than once) was successful only in confirming her lack of knowledge about most of the issues that burden our nation today. Successful debating is about persuasive argument on the issues — not coy, patronizing, self-aggrandizing deflection.

Sharon F. Bock
Palm Springs