I've seen several comments about divisiveness on the XX factor over the last couple of days, and I'd like to comment from the perspective of one of those dreadful, disdainful, elitist liberals from the East Coast. Not just from the East Coast, from (gasp!) perenially out of touch and out of step Massachusetts.

I live in Cambridge, MA, so I can clearly not be trusted to understand the concerns of this sanctified group of middle Americans. Just the other day I shopped at (gasp) Whole Foods, where I bought (gasp!) locally grown apples. So what could I possibly know? Surely I look down on those with above-ground swimming pools!

That kind of sterotyping of people who aren't part of Middle America as politicians have defined it for the better part of the last decade is no more fair-minded than Mr. Cohen's sneer or Mr. Robbins' crack about Bush's intellect. It ignores the economic and social diversity of entire cities and regions. Even Cambridge is not a uniform parade of latte-sipping, arugula-eating, Volvo-driving liberals; there are also churchgoing families and vibrant immigrant communities. Cambridge is a city with both exalted educational institutions and the troubles of the most ordinary American cities, including drug- and gang-related violence and abject poverty. Because Cambridge is home to a disproportionately high percentage of affordable housing in the state, the struggles of ordinary people - assuming, of course, you're willing to allow people of many races to be included in the definition of ordinary - and homeless citizens are juxtaposed against the wealth created by the region's vibrant life sciences and technology industries. In other words, the stereotype exists here, but it coexists with a far richer and deeper landscape, one with both bright spots and deep troubles.

The region as a whole is no stereotype, either; Massachusetts has both wealthy suburbs and ailing industrial and fishing towns that have fought for decades to regain their footing when their local industries collapsed. So how are we not part of the real America?

There is exactly one thing that makes Massachusetts not "real America" as far as I can tell: our consistent failure to vote Republican, and our nonexistent role in determining the outcome of presidential elections. The electoral college allows Massachusetts to be not only ignored but roundly disdained and misunderstood; to be defined to the rest of the country by presidential candidates and set up for ridicule.

For the last eight years, Republicans have controlled the discourse about America, and operated under the premise that some citizens of this country are more American than others based on the place they call home, the way they vote, the level of education they've obtained, and the kind of aspirations they believe are important for this country, and I believe it's time for a change from all that.

Finally, for those of you who will dismiss my post as the rantings of an arugula-chomping, latte-swilling liberal from Sodom - er, Cambridge - I'll add this: I grew up in Middle America, went to a public high school, and swam in the backyard in our aboveground swimming pool. I loved growing up in Middle America - I just happen to love weirdo Cambridge as well.

Like you, CL, I'm not one of those, who, you know, whose parents got them a passport and a backpack and sent them off to see the world. Nooo, I have worked all my life. I got to see the world in the military. (Why didn't Toddy? ) I spent the years between the time I was 19 and 49 living in such exotic places as Panama, the Phillipines, VietNam, S. Korea, Germany (when it was still divided), France and Italy. I also lived in the Real America states of Alaska, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Louisanna and the not so American places like Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Hawaii and New York.

I got my book learnin' in high school and eventually even went beyond college. But my real education was gained living among various people, cultures, religions and traditions. And you know what I found? There are people everywhere! Real people! and some of them, even those who come from or live in those not-so-American places are---American! And they are Patriotic Americans! Imagine that! Imaging my surprise that someone who doesn't think like me, or look like me, or live like me, might also BE--like me--a proud American.

This is more like it! You are both right. I for one am sick and tired of the gross overgeneralizing of the "coastal elites" and such by the truly snobby "middle Americans" and republicans. All of those terms were created to divide and label those with whom we don't always agree and put those who create and use those terms as pejorative's as on a plain of higher moral existence. In truth, these people feel deeply inferior and insecure. We are all American's who love our country. Just because we don't see eye-to-eye on everything doesn't make me (a progressive) more or less American than my father-in-law (a conservative).

The discourse is constantly and shamelessly being pulled down by Palin and the oh-so-dishonorable McCain. Healthy debate is anathema to them because the facts don't favor them. McCain my try to weasel his way out of his association with the Keating Five and may decry the mud-slinging by Obama but lets not forget that his bulldog is the one who opened the door to this type of negativity. If he wanted to run a clean campaign maybe he should have been better prepared and stuck to his word that he would run a clean campaign. It is not his goal to be president and govern well; his goal is to win.

Well, as someone from a Kansas farm, who waded in a six inch deep creek (crick!), never saw anyone who wasn't white and German until I was 16, I have to give you my impression of Massachusetts. I've never been there, but I've always considered the state to be a leader in our country, particularly in terms of tolerance and acceptance. I've loosely followed your political scene for many years and have noticed that, as a state, you choose to do the right thing for your citizens time and time again. I've always maintained that my body may be in Kansas - and there are many admirable things in Kansas - but my mind is free to travel the world. I have deeply resented the inferences of the Republican candidates these last weeks that, because I live in the 'heartland', I must automatically be stupid enough, ill-educated enough to swallow their condescending and hateful rhetoric just because they claim to be 'just folks' like me. I am a widow in a small town, I work three jobs to support myself (all right, I work three jobs because it keeps me from being bored and supports my book habit), I don't even own a TV. When I was young, I once told a local politician that I acknowledge superiority on only two counts - if you are 1) smarter than I, or 2) kinder than I. Thus far, I've not seen anything on the Republican ticket to make me think they are my superiors in either of those counts.

At any rate, Massachusetts is a leader in human rights and has been for years, so I would say those who denigrate your region are the ones who should bow their heads in shame!