In any otherwise excellent column on the accomplishments of Rep. Michele Bachman, Karen De Coster gratuitously insults the Governor of Alaska who is described as “a trained monkey.” I wonder what it is about the personality of Gov. Palin that provokes such ungracious language.  To the leftist comedian, David Letterman, she is a “slut” and to Ms. De Coster she is little better than a dumb, ugly animal. Gov. Palin is many things and among them may be arguably that she is not qualified to be a presidential candidate, however is the conversation concerning her abilities advanced by making ugly disparaging comments about her looks and intelligence?  Could not Ms. De Coster merely have pointed out that Rep. Bachman, as a Washington insider, is much better prepared on a broad range of policy issues than Palin?  That would have been an argument, not an insult.  Also, the choice of the word, “monkey,” is revealing.  Since we commonly think of a monkey as an ugly creature, while most people consider Palin to be unusually gifted in the pulchritude department, I suspect that a little bit of female envy shaped Ms. De Coster’s assessment of Palin.