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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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To: paulat

What?!

"How attractive she thinks she is"?

What color is the sky in your world? How on earth did you come up with that? Oh, I see--the hand on waist mention. That is NOT what she was saying there, fyi.


41 posted on 06/13/2004 10:16:08 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: cyncooper

My point is that it is seriously wrong to use a retrospective of Reagan's funeral as a tool to take revenge on a sleazebag.

I expected more of her.


42 posted on 06/13/2004 10:19:05 PM PDT by paulat
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To: Pokey78
"This is the thing, you see, you must stay militarily strong, with an undeniable strength. The importance of this cannot be exaggerated."

Still a wise woman I see in spite of several strokes. Would that the citizen's of this country could hear her message and take it to heart rather than the propaganda of those who would undermine our security for their own personal gain.

Peggy hits yet another home run in one of the most personal and moving pieces yet. She is a word artist. She paints beautiful pictures with language, and I look forward to part 2.

43 posted on 06/13/2004 10:20:50 PM PDT by ladyinred (RIP Governor/President Reagan, ride peacefully into that sunset.)
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To: Diddle E. Squat

BTW, any ideas on who is the "malignant leprechaun"?

I'm going to keep this story in mind the next time I read a rant about how Bush hasn't gotten rid of every person who isn't with the program as they ought to be.


44 posted on 06/13/2004 10:22:48 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: Pokey78

Thanks Pokey. BTTT


45 posted on 06/13/2004 10:26:10 PM PDT by lainde (Heads up...We're coming and we've got tongue blades!!)
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To: paulat

You are free to have your reaction. I'm far more disgusted at the political backstabbers who do great damage to this country and conservatism. Especially when some who attack President Bush are given a free pass and are used by the media if they have 'former Reagan Admin official' in their so-called credentials. THAT is what denigrates Ronald Reagan and all that he fought and stood for.


46 posted on 06/13/2004 10:28:36 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: cyncooper

Not right now, because I am only making an educated guess.


47 posted on 06/13/2004 10:29:19 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: Pokey78

The column was beautiful and moving and soaring and unbearably eloquent until the score settling part, and then it got fun.


48 posted on 06/13/2004 10:30:04 PM PDT by beckett
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To: Pokey78

This is one FINE LADY!! The panel she was on with C-SPAN made her stand out among her peers, beautiful!

The best were at their most glorious moments!!


49 posted on 06/13/2004 10:30:29 PM PDT by olinr
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To: Pokey78

Peggy didn't mention President Bush's eulogy. When I listened to him, I wondered if Peggy didn't help him with it because it was so beautiful.


50 posted on 06/13/2004 10:32:59 PM PDT by McGavin999 (If Kerry can't deal with the "Republican Attack Machine" how is he going to deal with Al Qaeda)
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To: AQGeiger
My guess, and as you see, I underlined "guess," is Dana Rohrabacher, congressman from California. He wrote speeches for Reagan when Noonan did.
51 posted on 06/13/2004 10:35:31 PM PDT by beckett
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To: Diddle E. Squat; cyncooper
I know that Peter Robinson in How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life wrote about how he and one of his speechwriting co-workers spent a lot of time at a local barber.

But I don't know if Peggy is referring to these fellas.

52 posted on 06/13/2004 10:35:40 PM PDT by Vision Thing (If you do not study Reagan, you'll never understand America.)
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To: McGavin999
Peggy didn't mention President Bush's eulogy. When I listened to him, I wondered if Peggy didn't help him with it because it was so beautiful.

On one of the news networks, I heard that the man who wrote GWB's 9/14/2001 eulogy, which was also delivered at the National Cathedral, was the same person who wrote GWB's Reagan eulogy. Unfortunately, I don't remember the writer's name.

53 posted on 06/13/2004 10:38:38 PM PDT by Vision Thing (If you do not study Reagan, you'll never understand America.)
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To: olinr

I lost a lot of respect for Peggy Noonan after reading the entire article. The Reagan stuff is great, but then she uses the end of the article to settle some personal scores with old "colleagues". Very inappropriate. Very much unlike her.


54 posted on 06/13/2004 10:43:34 PM PDT by pittsburgh gop guy
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To: Vision Thing

Whoever it was, it was fabulous. It sounded like he was just chatting with Nancy and the family, and we were all just there listening in. It was so warm and personal, that's why I thought perhaps Peggy had a hand in it, she loved RR so much.


55 posted on 06/13/2004 10:43:48 PM PDT by McGavin999 (If Kerry can't deal with the "Republican Attack Machine" how is he going to deal with Al Qaeda)
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To: Vision Thing

Her freeper admirers forget - or perhaps never heard - that there are those who've long criticized Noonan for breaking the speechwriters' code of anonymity by announcing that she wrote Reagan's words. By playing up the role of the speechwriter, it's been argued, she played into the hands of liberals who once claimed Reagan always had to be given a script. A lot of people once resented her for her self-promotion, but maybe because it's been so successful, those who resent it now keep their lips buttoned.


56 posted on 06/13/2004 10:44:17 PM PDT by churchillbuff (q)
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To: Diddle E. Squat
she is going after them because they are actively working to undermine the Bush administration and the President's reelection chances

I don't have a clue who she is referring to but I had that exact impression as I was reading the column. It seemed so disjointed and out of place in relation to the rest of the column that it almost seemed to be a veiled threat to those she was talking about.

57 posted on 06/13/2004 10:45:10 PM PDT by Tamzee (Noonan on Reagan, "...his leadership changed the world... As president, he was a giant.")
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To: Tamsey
It seemed so disjointed and out of place

I'm a little surprised - - more than a little surprised - - that editors at the Journal would let her use their forum and her status as a Journal columnist, to pursue personal vendettas, at least in such an obvious way.

58 posted on 06/13/2004 10:49:49 PM PDT by churchillbuff (q)
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To: Tamsey

Noony is a classy lady. Whoever this person is must be a real creep. If she could rise above politics for Daschle, she is no wimp. There are people out there that we unfortunately have to call them by what they are. Unless I have Peggy's character wrong, I think the hack must be scum.


59 posted on 06/13/2004 10:51:33 PM PDT by ruthles
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To: Vision Thing

I saw Peter Robinson on TV several times during the last week...there was a whole show about the "tear down this wall" speech which he wrote. He was in his twenties at the time.

She did mention something about one of them being on TV but this guy didn't come across as a hack to me.


60 posted on 06/13/2004 10:52:18 PM PDT by valleygal
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