There are several steps you can take, but you can't actually delete or uninstall the bloatware (supposedly they are helping keep the cost of the phone down because the app makers pay VZW to put them on there). At the most basic level, you can disable them. From the Home screen, press the Menu button and then Settings. Under More, tap Application manager. Scroll the band at the top of the screen to the right till you get to All, and wait a few seconds for the list to populate. Then go through the list, pick the ones you will never use, never want to see, wish didn't exist at all, etc., and turn them off. Tap an unwanted app and then tap the Turn off button. You'll get a warning that "Turning off built-in apps may cause errors in other apps"; ignore that and tap OK. Doing this will create a new list to the right of All named Turned Off. Any time you want one of these back, you just go to that list and turn it back on. There are some things you can't turn off because they are truly basic to the functioning of the phone; the Turn off button will be unavailable for them.
Less drastic than this, you can hide apps you don't want to turn off altogether but don't want to be bothered with. Start from the Home screen and tap the Apps shortcut. Then press the Menu button and select Hide applications. That will put a check box next to every app. Check the ones you don't want to see, and when you've got them all, tap Done in the upper right corner of the screen (or Cancel if you decide not to hide them). The checked apps are still enabled, but you won't see them in the apps area. To make some of them visible again, while in the apps area press Menu and select Show hidden applications, and then check the ones you want to see.
Finally, once you're down to just the apps you might conceivably want to use some time, you can create folders in the apps area and drag apps into them. This provides organization, a clean-looking screen, and quick access. (I've got all the enabled, non-hidden apps on my phone organized into 12 folders that show up on just one screen.) To do this, from Home tap the Apps shortcut, and in the apps area press Menu and then Create folder, and give the folder a name. When you've got the folders that you want, press Menu and then Edit (an essential step, which I am always forgetting), and start moving apps into folders. It's good to plan out in advance what folders you're going to want, so you don't spend a lot of time dragging apps into and out of folders. Once you've got everything organized the way your want, tap Save in the top right corner and you're set!