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Peggy Noonan: The Ben Elliott Story (What I saw at the funeral)
Opinion Journal ^ | 06/14/04 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 06/13/2004 9:04:38 PM PDT by Pokey78

What was the meaning of the past remarkable nine days? You cannot stop the American people from feeling what they feel and showing it. From the crowds at Simi Valley to the hordes at the Capitol to the men and women who stopped and got out of their cars on Highway 101 to salute as Reagan came home--that was America talking to America about who America is.

It was a magnificent teaching moment for the whole country but most of all for the young, who barely remembered Ronald Reagan or didn't remember him at all. This week they heard who he was. The old ones spoke, on all the networks and in all the newspapers, and by the end of the week it was clear that Ronald Reagan had suddenly entered the Lincoln pantheon. By Friday it was no longer a question, as it had been for years, whether he was one of our top 10 presidents. It was a question only whether he was in the very top five or six--up there with Lincoln and Washington. An agreement had been reached: the 20th century came down to FDR and RWR.

What is important now is that we continue to speak of the meaning of his leadership. Not bang away about what a great guy he was--there are a lot of great guys--but what huge things he did, not because he had an "ideology" but because he had a philosophy, a specific one that had specific meaning. He was the great 20th-century conservative of America. He applied his philosophy to the realities of the world he lived in. In doing so he changed those realities, and for the better. This is what we must pass on.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: almeyer; andrewferguson; christopherbuckley; clarkjudge; danarohrabacher; davidgergen; deeppen; haircutboy; joshgilder; kenkhachigian; landonparvin; patbuchanan; peggynoonan; peggynoonanlist; peterrobinson; ronaldreagan; thehack; tonydolan; tonysnow; whoareyou; whoareyouwhowho; whoisandyferguson; whoisdanarohrabacher; whoisdarkman; whoisdeepthroat; whoishaircutboy; whoishortonhearsawho; whoisjohngalt; whoispatbuchanan; whoispeterrobinson; whoisthehack; whoistheleprechaun
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1 posted on 06/13/2004 9:04:39 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: Howlin; Miss Marple; mombonn; Sabertooth; beckett; BlueAngel; JohnHuang2; *Peggy Noonan list; ...

Peggy ping.


2 posted on 06/13/2004 9:05:25 PM PDT by Pokey78
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To: Pokey78
When the funeral was over, when we came down the steps and out of the Cathedral, I saw Tom Daschle and Byron Dorgan and Sen. Reed from I forget where,

Heh, heh. Three totally forgettable people.

3 posted on 06/13/2004 9:09:25 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all)
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To: Pokey78

What a great article! She has given me my new tagline.


4 posted on 06/13/2004 9:16:13 PM PDT by arjay ("Are we a government that has a country, or a country that has a government?" Peggy Noonan)
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To: Pokey78
An agreement had been reached: the 20th century came down to FDR and RWR.

It will be recorded that Ronald Reagan cleaned up the mess that FDR left at his death, restored our time-honored values and put America back on the right path.

5 posted on 06/13/2004 9:16:15 PM PDT by Publius (VRWC member since 1963.)
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To: Pokey78

Who is "The Hack," and what is his involvement with Reagan and Peggy Noonan? Thanks to anyone who knows.


6 posted on 06/13/2004 9:18:54 PM PDT by AQGeiger (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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To: AQGeiger

Just wondering the same thing!


7 posted on 06/13/2004 9:21:04 PM PDT by Aggie Mama
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To: AQGeiger

As the article says, "the Hack" and "the haircut guy" are two of Peggy and Ben Elliott's lesser colleagues in the White House speechwriting office, whose names Peg very charitably changed to protect the guilty.


8 posted on 06/13/2004 9:21:59 PM PDT by RichInOC (Ronald Wilson Reagan, 2/6/11-6/5/04, R.I.P.)
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To: Pokey78
It was a magnificent teaching moment for the whole country but most of all for the young, who barely remembered Ronald Reagan or didn't remember him at all. This week they heard who he was.

My (almost) 6 year old now knows exactly who he is and what he did.......she doesn't understand it all, but she will.

9 posted on 06/13/2004 9:22:59 PM PDT by Gabz (RIP President Ronald W. Reagan 1911-2004)
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To: AQGeiger
I don't know who "The Hack" is but Peggy sure nailed him with this tried and true zinger:

"No, you'd have to be literate to do that," I pointed out."

Go Peggy!!!! <|:-)~~

10 posted on 06/13/2004 9:23:30 PM PDT by JoeSixPack1 (Freedom Stands Because Heroes Serve.)
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To: ntnychik

ping.


11 posted on 06/13/2004 9:24:08 PM PDT by potlatch (HECK IS WHERE PEOPLE GO WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN GOSH)
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To: Pokey78
Further down in the article...

My eye went from a grieving Mikhail Gorbachev to Joan Rivers to Jim Billington of the Library of Congress to Oscar De la Renta, from Antonin Scalia to Buffy Cafritz, from Clarence Thomas to Merv Griffin, from Prince Charles to Oatsie Charles.

Forgive my ignorance, but who the heck are Buffy & Oatsie?

12 posted on 06/13/2004 9:29:51 PM PDT by Keith in Iowa (Reagan defeated communism while Kerry was kissing its arse.)
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To: RichInOC

I read the article. I would appreciate it if you were not so patronizing.

I was specifically wondering if there was any information the exact reason for the enmity between this individual and Ms. Noonan. While "the haircut guy" is intentionally nondescript, it's clear she wants us to about her exchange with The Hack. So there was most likely some sort of public spat.


13 posted on 06/13/2004 9:32:59 PM PDT by AQGeiger (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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To: AQGeiger

Oops, left out a key word...

I was specifically wondering if there was any information on the exact reason for the enmity between this individual and Ms. Noonan. While "the haircut guy" is intentionally nondescript, it's clear she wants us to know about her exchange with The Hack. So there was most likely some sort of public spat.


14 posted on 06/13/2004 9:35:02 PM PDT by AQGeiger (Have you hugged your soldier today?)
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To: arjay
"Are we a government that has a country, or a country that has a government?" Peggy Noonan)

To be fair, Peggy borrowed this phrase from Mark Steyn.

15 posted on 06/13/2004 9:36:56 PM PDT by sinkspur (There's no problem on the inside of a kid that the outside of a dog can't cure.)
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To: AQGeiger

Sorry about that. I've learned from experience not to assume that everybody actually reads the articles line for line before they post. Even I don't always do it. If I'd really meant to patronize you, believe me, you'd know it.

No idea who either of those clowns actually was, and beyond the level of idle curiosity, I don't really care.


16 posted on 06/13/2004 9:38:37 PM PDT by RichInOC (Ronald Wilson Reagan, 2/6/11-6/5/04, R.I.P.)
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To: Pokey78

Wow. The part about the Hack is awfully jarring in relation to the rest of the article. What the hell's going on here?


17 posted on 06/13/2004 9:40:20 PM PDT by Vision Thing (If you do not study Reagan, you'll never understand America.)
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To: auboy

BTTT


18 posted on 06/13/2004 9:40:36 PM PDT by auboy
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To: Pokey78
... the 20th century came down to FDR and RWR.

I'll take Reagan.

In his time as POTUS, FDR fought war on two fronts. The economy and national defense. After 9 years of the Great Depression, FDR couldn't get the great engine of US capitalism back on track. FDR couldn't win the economic war with his policy agenda. FDR did lead America to victory in WWII. Beating Imperialist Japan, nazi Germany and the other Axis powers. In the process, the US economy came roaring back to life.

50 years after FDR, Ronald Reagan fought war on two fronts also. Reagan cut taxes, lowered inflation and put the American economy back on track. Reagan won the economic war. After 40 years of military confrontation between the worlds two superpowers, Reagan's initiative of "Peace through Strength" finally won the Cold War. In the process Reagan ended Euro-communism and toppled the Soviet Union. Not bad at all.

Reagan loved FDR.

I loved Reagan.

19 posted on 06/13/2004 9:41:23 PM PDT by Reagan Man (The choice is clear. Reelect BUSH-CHENEY !)
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To: RichInOC

I have never been SO disappointed in Peggy Noonan.

To use this occasion to settle old scores is tasteless and contemptible.

This should have been about Reagan...not about some creep called "The Hack."

I can't believe she would ruin her moment (I know I was looking forward to her column) with such Clinton-like trash.

Peggy, you let us down.


20 posted on 06/13/2004 9:42:26 PM PDT by paulat
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