Peggy Noonan: The Paragraph- Help the White House make the case for re-election

Opinion Journal ^ | 02/12/04 | Peggy Noonan

[Pokey78]

When you are a conservative and tend to support conservatives, it will come as a surprise, and an unwelcome one, when you ding one, as I dinged President Bush the other day about his "Meet the Press" performance. Of those who responded, about 60% disagreed with me, and the rest were more or less in agreement. Many of those who disagreed with me said they thought the president had done well with Tim Russert, that the interview made clear his decency and sincerity. Others said I was kicking the president when he's down and that's the problem with conservative pundits, they can't be trusted. My answer is the obvious one: It is the job of a writer to write the truth as he sees it, and if it's an uncomfortable truth, then so be it.

[nopardons]

If I haven't read the book/s a movie or series is based on, I ALWAYS read it/them afterward..........except LOTR! LOL

The family joke is, that you can always tell what I watched the night before, by looking at the book on my sofa.Well, not " always ", but mostly. :-)

We don't go to the movies either. We appear to have even more in common, than we knew.

[nopardons]

You nailed it......again!:-)

[nopardons]

What...you got yourself reinstated ?

[BigSkyFreeper]

To me, speaking as a male, Bush projects many endearing qualities, from his love of Christ (and he's not ashamed to admit it even to a liberal like Russert) to his occasional stumble. He's showing he's only human, unlike the Clinton worshippers who thought their man was omnipotent.

[Burkeman1]

Banned for a week only but I still think my antogonist should have been banned as well.

[Texasforever]

Banned for a week only but I still think my antogonist should have been banned as well.

Stop whining.

[nopardons]

That's a time out.......not a ban. I didn't even know about that. The last I saw, you were asking Jim to remove your account.

[Burkeman1]

Well- your right. No point. Sorry.

[Burkeman1]

I was hacked at that point. Leave it at that.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Agreed. He's not a narcissist like Clinton or Kerry - he doesn't think it's all about him. Well, you know - the pundits may not be impressed, but a lot of us love that about him.

[nopardons]

I understand completely. I was just surprised to see you, is all.

[Travelgirl]

I hope not. She has written some really good stuff.

[Prodigal Son]

I enjoyed the read. Thanks for posting this.

It resonated a bit with me this 'nervousness' she spoke of among conservatives. Personally, I have noted this a few months ago with the sort of desperate fury each new report of the 'Found WMD' was seized upon here and how angry people got when each one turned out to be not the mother lode that we wanted.

Not that I want to get into an argument about WMD, because I don't. That's just one instance of the sort of nervousness I think she's talking about that I have noted myself.

[Burkeman1]

Your nervous about WMDS in Iraq? You must be anti American? Anyone who doubts a word of Bush is a "commie". Are you a commie 'Prodigal Son'"

[Prodigal Son]

You're being sarcastic yes?

Personally, I don't care about the WMD, if that's what you're getting at. I don't care if Saddam ever had them or not. It makes no difference to me.

But not caring about them enables me to really notice how much finding them does mean to some of my fellow freepers. I think my words were apt. Each new 'find' is seized with desperate fury here by some.

I think Noonan is right in this sense. There is an underlying nervousness. People don't know how to articulate it and aren't sure what to make of it but it is important, I believe, that we acknowledge it. Pretending it isn't there doesn't help.

[Burkeman1]

I stoped reading after this in your post:

Personally, I don't care about the WMD, if that's what you're getting at. I don't care if Saddam ever had them or not. It makes no difference to me.

Sir- it makes a difference to many people in this country who now tend the graves of the dead or will nurse the wounded for years. But those who ask Bush to answer questions are "liberals?"

[Burkeman1]

Hey- where is your answer bright boy? What did the next American soldier in Iraq that wll die - Die for Prodigal Son? Tell us and then tell his family.

[NYCVirago]

I honestly do not know why Peggy gets paid any money at all. The only reason the base is restless is because of the 2 months of dem advertisement for their candidate and the lib press humping its own leg.

Excellent analysis!

[Prodigal Son]

What the heck are you talking about? I'm completely dumbfounded by your posts.

The war in Iraq has been going on for over 12 years. I enlisted for it myself when it started.

I'm just telling you the WMD aren't important to me. What's wrong with that? That isn't why we went to war there. It was used as a reason to end the war, perhaps based upon faulty intelligence but this is another matter. The war had gone on long enough, don't you think? How else would you have ended it that is actually realistic?

I think the American soldier on the ground has his own justifications for doing what he does. I know I did when I was an infantryman. I would surely not have liked being used politically by people such as yourself.

[Prodigal Son]

Also, I'm not sure a discussin about election nervousness and my comments regarding them get sidetracked on the latest casualty figures.

How does this relate to the article posted?