Posted on 10/07/2004 3:08:46 PM PDT by Kaslin
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Democrats were “the party of the working man” decades ago, but now the Republicans are, Peggy Noonan said today at a luncheon sponsored by the Palm Beach Republican Club.
Tracing her own evolution, and that of relatives, from bedrock Irish Catholic Brooklyn Democrats to Reaganites, she singled out the Dems’ “creepily narrow view of religion and its role in our lives.”
The GOP is “welcoming of religion,” she said, but the Democrats have grown “narrower” and “nasty” about matters of faith.
As an example she cited Republicans' support for prison fellowship programs that help felons reform, help their families and reduce crime, whereas Democrats object to what they describe as “violation of church and state.”
“That’s crazy,” said Noonan, speaking to the crowd in place of Sen. Zell Miller. “The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.”
Her wake-up call began during her early working years. Toiling at mundane jobs, she got “clobbered” by taxes that Democrats kept raising.
Elitists' Hypocrisy
She recalled Boston in the 1970s, when elitist Democrat lawyers and judges and editors devastated the government schools and families by pushing forced busing upon lower-middle-class and poor children, black and white. “It hurt me so much to watch it,” she said, and still angers her to this day.
“If that meant little kids had to suffer, then so be it.” These same limousine liberals, she noted, “all had their kids in private schools.”
During Vietnam, she remembered, some Democrats and other leftists went beyond anti-war protests to “expressing an actual hatred” of the United States. “I knew America was not evil.”
Why Won't Kerry Apologize?
Noonan said she respected the anti-war activism of John Kerry, then using the issue to launch his political career, until his slanderous congressional testimony in 1971, in which he bore false witness against fellow troops he accused of beheadings, rapes and other tortures “like Genghis Khan.”
“I do not know why he did not apologize to this day,” Noonan said as the crowd applauded.
She recalled how after Vietnam the liberals in Congress “tore up” intelligence and the military.
“They made me a right-wing nut,” she said to laughter.
Republicans said “we can’t be dreamy and frightened about the world” and saw the need to defend the nation, Noonan emphasized. America is strong because of the GOP, she said.
“Democrats became not a party but a collection of hungry and demanding groups.” They care about “getting power and using it,” often to the disadvantage of American citizens in general, she said.
“They are inherently destructive in their policies.”
She had a brief explanation of why she was returning to politics now, to support President Bush and the GOP, after a long absence in which she focused on writing: “9/11.”
Kerry cannot run from his Senate record, she implied. “People do what they know how to do.”
The Massachusetts Democrat, if elected president, would increase taxes, increase spending and “be weak in the world,” she said. “It’s what he’s done. It’s what he knows how to do.”
Kerry would act as if America were just another nation in the U.N., she said, mocking his “global smell test.”
“We have to stay independent and sovereign.”
Sounding a conciliatory note after Miller’s strongly worded speech that the hundreds of guests had watched earlier, Noonan urged Democrats in attendance to heed her story, open their minds and “come on over” to the Republican Party.
Good article.
Democrats become Republicans when we grow up.
We realize God expects us to protect the blessings He has given us, and in doing so, to work to spread the blessings to others.
I have had it with the down tactics and tone of the Kerry/Edwards 04 campaign and it’s band of misfits. I refuse to refer to them in any other way except “Doom & Gloom 04”.
John Kerry – Putting America down since 1971 !!!!!!
LIE: Kerry/Edwards 04
TRUTH: Doom & Gloom 04
Who was it who said a conservative in NYC is a liberal who's been mugged?
Any comments by Peggy Noonan are worth posting more than once.
You can post all of the Peggy Noonan articles that you like as far as I am concerned.
I think she is a babe and brilliant, and it is the brilliance that I always find most attractive.
Was it Irving Kristol, Ken?
Great post.
And you know what the Dems are doing now is wanting Bush to "apologize" to divert attention from the fact Kerry needs to.
They are doing what they can to get away from the swiftvets.
Kerry has all but dropped his "Nam record" from his talks and is trying to avoid it.
John "Wag The Dog" Kerry. And he isn't even President.
(pings are for a good post by Kaslin)
By the way, Bush has NOTHING to apologize for. To anyone. Anyone who thinks he does (including OReilly, Gibson, ED and the boneheads at FOX) need to go back and listen to his address to Congress the week following 9-11.
Thanks
I thought it was Ed Koch...
Now he wants to be Commander-in-Chief.
“Democrats became not a party but a collection of hungry and demanding groups.” They care about “getting power and using it,”"
This is to our advantage. Since they have so many groups, of which many have seperate and sometimes conflicting interests.
IE: African Americans do not support the Homosexual Agenda, now more than ever, we are seeing a shift in the number of African Americans to the GOP. (Perhaps that is not the entire reason, others include the appointment of Condi and Colin.)
Other conflicts include the Sierra club, which became divided when illegal immigration was a hot topic.
The left is collapsing, getting more desperate....and more dangerous. I am convinced if Bush is reelected, we will see these people go absolutely nuts. If you think they are unhinged now.......
Dont make this mistake again, pal.
Thanks. Noonan is always worth a post. I would suspect the difference in giving to charities..not tax exempt foundations etc., but real money going to help real people like Salvation Army...is extreme between conservatives and liberals. It's always amazing to me to see people (like Gore) with large incomes and teeny giving.
Yeah I saw the thread where Bill O'Reilly wants the president to apologize because there were no WMDs. I used to like Bill, but he lost my respect. he leans more and mor to the left instead of being a true independent staying in the center
It was Churchill that said, "Any man under the age of thirty that is a conservative has no heart. Any man over the age of thirty that is NOT a conservative has no brain."
BTW, I'm under 30... and have no heart. (HA)
The Occidental Petroleum deal paid off for him, huh?
I am becoming more and more concerned with the polarization between liberals and conservatives in this country. I mean, at some point, this is going to come to a head, and then what? I thought 2000 was bad, I have never in my life seen the hatred that is so evident now and wonder what will make this country united again. Obviously a major terror attack only unites the country for a short time and then its business as usual.
I look forward to other people's comments. Not trying to be negative, but its hard not to.
That is what makes it so disgusting. He has never bothered to visit the troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.
He has not found it necessary to visit the wounded at Walter Reed, or any other military hospital here in the States.
Neither has he found it necessary to comfort the widows, the children, the mothers and fathers and the brothers and sisters of those brave troops and marines who gave their lives.
I don't think so
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