HI Shari
The topic (well as it started out anyway) concerns ways of getting rankings for competitive keywords, and asks the question can you get top rankings for competitive keywords by optimizing on-page content only.
Viewed from that narrow perspective the answer (IMO) has to be:
No you cannot optimize you page content to the point of getting top rankings for competitive keywords, but you can get top rankings ONLY by using anchor text irrespective of page content or lack of it.
Now if we want to take the conversation away from the original question and now discuss the bigger question of how best to construct a site so as to satisfy both the search engines and the users then I totally agree with your feelings that no aspect should be neglected.
The fact remains however you can get a page ranked high for competitive keywords by using only anchor text and little or no on page content relevant to the term ranked for.
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