More offended by choice for veep

A recent letter writer laments our country's ban on dueling, noting that he "would love to see First Gentleman Todd Palin slap (Senator Obama) upside his head in defense of (Mr. Palin's) lady, and "all the ladies in the country' the writer alleges Senator Obama 'affronted with the 'lipstick on a pig' remark. I wonder what the writer would consider an appropriate response to Sen. McCain's snappy 1994 comeback to his wife's gentle teasing about the Senator's receding hairline, a vulgar, sexist barb McCain made in the presence of three reporters, a comment that this newspaper could not print without at least one deletion.

Frankly, as a woman, I'm more insulted by Senator McCain's choice of a coquettishly winking VP candidate over well qualified women in his own party such as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Gov. Olympia Snowe, or Former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

Irene O'Conner

Naperville