Among the first to respond was my 30-year-old nephew, Bill, a Republican as conservative as his father and so politically aware that he was predicting Palin would be McCain's choice before it happened.
Bill made the excellent point that the Republican Party was not reaching out to me with the Palin pick. It was reaching out to him.
"I don't want to vote for old white guys, either," Bill said. "With this pick, a woman and young, the party is letting me know that there is a place in it for me."
Others wrote to say that if I was going to question the depth of Palin's professional resume, Obama's experience deserved the same scrutiny. That is more than a fair point.
And if you want to count rich and complex life stories when considering a candidate, Obama and Palin are just about equals.
It would be unfair for me to leave you with the impression that the column I wrote and the reader response were nothing more than spirited conversation in which two sides respectfully disagreed.
The things that were said about me, my personal appearance and my children - as well as Barack Obama - were beyond the bounds of decency, and many were said in language that might only be seen in a bathroom stall.
Generally, the comments were not made behind the veil of anonymity the Internet can provide. The writers signed their names. And they revealed what I think has become the bare-knuckles nature of our national conversation.
So much pent-up anger, so much barely concealed hate was released in those e-mails and those postings. I wonder where next they will find a vent.
It is still two months until the presidential election. Things could get really rough out there.
