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Out of Touch (Peggy Noonan Alert)
Wall Street Journal ^ | May 18, 2006 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 05/18/2006 5:29:51 PM PDT by RWR8189

What the president's immigration speech and "The DaVinci Code" have in common.

What was missing in the president's approach the other night was the expression, or suggestion, of context. The context was a crisis that had gone unanswered as it has built, the perceived detachment of the political elite from people on the ground, and a new distance between the president and his traditional supporters. The president would have done well to signal that he knew he was coming late to the party, as it were; that he'd come to rethink his previous stand, or lack of a stand, and had begun to consider whether there was not some justice in the views, and alarm, of others.

Without an established context the speech seemed free-floating: a statement issued into the ether, unanchored to any particular principle and eager to use, as opposed to appreciate, whatever human sentiment flows around the issue of immigration. It was a speech driven by an air of crisis, but not a public crisis, only a personal and political one.

To acknowledge what he apparently thinks are the biases of the base, he used loaded words like "sneak"--illegal immigrants "sneak across the border"--as if to establish his populist bona fides. This was, not to put too fancy a rhetorical term on it, creepy, and managed to be offensive to everyone.

What was needed was a definitive statement: As of this moment we will control our borders, I'm sending in the men, I'm giving this the attention I've given to the Mideast.

(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: bordercontrol; borderspeech; bush43; davinci; davincicode; noonan; outoftouch; peggynoonan
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To: Savage Beast

Can your font get any larger or more obnoxious?


81 posted on 05/18/2006 7:14:42 PM PDT by RWR8189 (George Allen for President)
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To: hinckley buzzard
but at heart he is an east coast Episcopalian...

Funny! :)

Oh well... I do agree with you that he keeps "surprising" me :), I never would have thought this whole episode with the border after 9/11... Especailly after he showed guts and went after Sadam i figured the border was a done deal!. HA!.. was I surprised... I mean really surprised :)...

I think is a "Globalista" more than an American, at least the way we interpret being an "American." Which means simply putting America first, above politics, above everthing else. That's all.

82 posted on 05/18/2006 7:15:21 PM PDT by ElPatriota (Let's not forget, we are all still friends despite our differences)
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To: Savage Beast

Stop playing around and tell us what you really think!!!


83 posted on 05/18/2006 7:15:26 PM PDT by lonedawg (why does that rag on your head say holiday inn?)
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To: RWR8189

Maybe more obnoxious, but that's as large as I can get it.


84 posted on 05/18/2006 7:17:04 PM PDT by Savage Beast (The Spirit of Flight 93 is the Spirit of America!)
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To: RedBloodedAmerican

and BTW, off subject, Reagan gave amnesty; Bush is not. :)



They broke the law and will not suffer the consequences for that. Any way you slice it, it's amnesty. You can put lipstick on a pig, it still oinks.


85 posted on 05/18/2006 7:18:44 PM PDT by trubluolyguy (You want my vote? I want border security and no criminals rewarded for criminal behavior)
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To: RWR8189

Oh Peggy...Oh Peggy... /slovering. I always knew you were so talented ever since I saw you in that TV show a while ago. You had a leather jacket and those cute sports slacks that accentuated well... you know... uhm.... yeah... :)


86 posted on 05/18/2006 7:20:33 PM PDT by ElPatriota (Let's not forget, we are all still friends despite our differences)
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To: sinkspur
"I remember that. She even took a "leave of absence" from writing her weekly column (how much effort does it REALLY take to write a weekly column?) to work "full time" on Bush's re-election.

And yes, she made sure we all knew about it, too."

She didn't suspend writing her weekly column because of the lack of time but rather because it was a conflict of interest.
87 posted on 05/18/2006 7:21:20 PM PDT by BW2221
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To: lonedawg
Yes, it is. Sitting here sipping tea in the village of St. Mary Meade, I am struck by how much Peggy Noonan reminds me of when the last schoolmistress was appointed at the day school, and one of the teachers felt she had been overlooked. She went around making "helpful" comments and analyzing everything the new head did.

Finally everyone tired of her and would avoid her in the halls. She eventually married the greengrocer and went to live in Swansea.

Is that a good enough Miss Marple impersonation?

88 posted on 05/18/2006 7:23:42 PM PDT by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's and Jemian's sons and keep them strong.)
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To: BW2221

She didn't suspend writing her weekly column because of the lack of time but rather because it was a conflict of interest.

Never stopped Maureen Dowd!!!


89 posted on 05/18/2006 7:24:31 PM PDT by lonedawg (why does that rag on your head say holiday inn?)
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To: Savage Beast

Not to worry, you have to learn how to take it!... i builts character :) - so feel strongly about it and you said so. ok.


90 posted on 05/18/2006 7:24:54 PM PDT by ElPatriota (Let's not forget, we are all still friends despite our differences)
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To: Miss Marple

I love It!!!


91 posted on 05/18/2006 7:25:37 PM PDT by lonedawg (why does that rag on your head say holiday inn?)
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To: Savage Beast

Message to Moderator: Please remove my post #80. I let my anger and frustration cloud my judgment--as I have urged everyone else not to do. Thanks. ~SB


92 posted on 05/18/2006 7:27:07 PM PDT by Savage Beast (The Spirit of Flight 93 is the Spirit of America!)
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To: trubluolyguy
No, they will suffer consequences. They will have to pay a significant fine, keep their noses clean, remain steadily employed, and go to the end of the line.

In 1986, they wee simply made legal and allowed to apply for citizenship.

Now, what you are disagreeing with is the punishment. You think the punishment isn't harsh enough, apparently. So, what degree of punishment would you recommend in order for this to be acceptable to you?

93 posted on 05/18/2006 7:27:27 PM PDT by Miss Marple (Lord, please look after Mozart Lover's and Jemian's sons and keep them strong.)
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To: LowCountryJoe
"You know what's stupidity? Harping on the immigration thing when there's bigger fish to fry -- fish like reforming entitlement programs and agencies that are in serious trouble or that cause serious trouble. Entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Agencies such as the EPA, FDA, DOI, and DOE."

Immigration is going to have a catastrophic effect on things like Social Security, Medicare and Medicade. Unfortunately, when Social Security was enacted in 1933, the average life expectancy in the U.S. was 63 so the government was gambling on the fact that at least half the people wouldn't even be around to collect it and those who did would only do so for a few years. The situation has changed and will change much more with increased immigration. It's something we need to "harp" about.
94 posted on 05/18/2006 7:28:57 PM PDT by BW2221
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To: Rockitz

you summed up nicely what I think the driving force in american trade and foreign policy today, including the immigration issue - congress and the president are just doing the job their constituents want them do to. This is one of the few issues that the public is so adamantly opposed to them that it is making an impression even in the media. That is why I don't believe bush WANTS the southern border closed to illegal immigration/smugglers/etc, because if he did, it would have been done 4 years ago at the same time we (sheeple) were having to endure onerous lines and occasionally obtuse or incompenent TSA personnel to get on a domestic flight.

a fiscal motive for getting illegals in the system is to have them pay some (or more) taxes, whichever they would be liable for. Would they be required to pay income tax?

Off-topic but the globalist mentality is going to have to make some changes with relation to China, which in business still views itself as a national entity with ambitions as such.


95 posted on 05/18/2006 7:29:22 PM PDT by WoofDog123
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To: RWR8189

.


96 posted on 05/18/2006 7:30:39 PM PDT by It's me
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To: Savage Beast

Message to Moderator: Please remove my post #80. I let my anger and frustration cloud my judgment-


No..Now...we can't go buring our mistakes that easy!!!What are we gona harp on if you do that!!!!


97 posted on 05/18/2006 7:31:22 PM PDT by lonedawg (why does that rag on your head say holiday inn?)
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To: lonedawg
Well, there's this (post #1) and that (post #44) and they're pretty compelling if you ask me. These are not Leftists that we're talking about that are saying/writing these things either. These people are some of the most limited government folks that one can find kicking around.
98 posted on 05/18/2006 7:34:19 PM PDT by LowCountryJoe (I'm a Paleo-liberal: I believe in freedom; am socially independent and a borderline fiscal anarchist)
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To: lonedawg
Adolph Hitler has more principles than Maureen Dowd.
99 posted on 05/18/2006 7:34:42 PM PDT by BW2221
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To: RWR8189

During the Miers controversy, I freely criticized the President. It was very painful to do so.
This is so much worse, I can't write anything that clears the threshold of respect for our host Jim Rob, and (many of) my fellow freepers.
Noonan sounds a bit detached, as usual; she is playing the remote, faineant Olympian who catches a whiff of something distasteful down here on earth, and registers her whiff of disapproval. And she does it so well, but...there's no wrath in her.
And that says she is "out of touch," herself.


100 posted on 05/18/2006 7:34:59 PM PDT by Graymatter
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