"I think her appeal is actually based on the social-climbing pipe dreams of segments of the working and middle classes, and that her unpopularity is a case of the healthy rejection of that by the majority, who see that Martha Stewart would never let rabble such as them them set foot in her house and that she doesn't have a clue in the world about the pressures and constraints of ordinary people's lives, despite her tie-ins with K-Mart."
Agreed, plus everything else you wrote. I tried watching her show a few times, but really hated it. The only thing worse than Martha though is wasting thread time on her, so I hope this thread runs out of steam soon.
Joanna