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Peggy Noonan: Way Too Much God
Wall Street Journal ^ | January 21, 2005 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 01/20/2005 9:33:31 PM PST by RWR8189

Was the president's speech a case of "mission inebriation"?

It was an interesting Inauguration Day. Washington had warmed up, the swift storm of the previous day had passed, the sky was overcast but the air wasn't painful in a wind-chill way, and the capital was full of men in cowboy hats and women in long furs. In fact, the night of the inaugural balls became known this year as The Night of the Long Furs.

Laura Bush's beauty has grown more obvious; she was chic in shades of white, and smiled warmly. The Bush daughters looked exactly as they are, beautiful and young. A well-behaved city was on its best behavior, everyone from cops to doormen to journalists eager to help visitors in any way.

For me there was some unexpected merriness. In my hotel the night before the inauguration, all the guests were evacuated at 1:45 in the morning. There were fire alarms and flashing lights on each floor, and a public address system instructed us to take the stairs, not the elevators. Hundreds of people wound up outside in the slush, eventually gathering inside the lobby, waiting to find out what next.

The staff--kindly, clucking--tried to figure out if the fire existed and, if so, where it was. Hundreds of inaugural revelers wound up observing each other. Over there on the couch was Warren Buffet in bright blue pajamas and a white hotel robe. James Baker was in trench coat and throat scarf. I remembered my keys and eyeglasses but walked out without my shoes. After a while the "all clear" came,

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: analyticalgenius; boldpeggy; gentlecritic; inauguraladdress; meeeeeooooow; noonan; pegomyheart; prescientpeg; sensiblechic; theantirove; traitor; w2; way2muchnoonan; whattawoman
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To: everyone

Peggy is part of the East Coast elite. She is too bipartisan, too gentle with the enemy, too quick to write condescendingly about Bush on matters of style, not substance.

She made some decent points in this column, but should have held off for a few days. She also didn't focus on the big picture, which is the essence of Bush's great message and his courage in putting it forward aggressively. Anything else is secondary.


181 posted on 01/20/2005 11:36:10 PM PST by California Patriot
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet

Definitely a nut.....and very homely....bless his heart

Something about Peggy just grates on me. Not sure what. Her "God drenched" comment didn't help my opinion of her, for sure.


182 posted on 01/20/2005 11:36:43 PM PST by Jrabbit
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To: All

The following letter has been submitted via the OpinionJournal article response feature. Contents of response as follows:
#---

Subject:
Re: Way Too Much God

Comment:
Not Anywhere Near Enough Way Too Much God.

Peggy, I am so disappointed you wrote this article. I was so happy with what I heard you say on Fox, and I wish you had written that article. I believe what caused the split between "Foxy Peggy" and "Way Too Much God Peggy" is the last sentence: Perfection in the life of man on earth is not (possible). There are legitimate views which state that perfection in the life of man of earth is possible, beginning with Jesus. But to reject that view, and to name it a desire for nuance, and we all know exactly who you mean here, Peggy, is completely self destructive. The President made it completely clear that ending tyranny is the "ultimate goal". If you read the last three chapters of the Book of Revelation, you will see that ultimate goal clarified, and who it is that brings it about, and it is not the President, and you know that. To take the side of his enemies and put this vision on par with a fire drill for the glitterati mocks the central values of this nation. I am so disappo! ! inted to hear you to be the one.


183 posted on 01/20/2005 11:37:37 PM PST by octavianaugustus (...)
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To: Howlin

ditto, that "Let the Eagle Soar" was pretty lame. I was disappointed in the musical selections myself.


184 posted on 01/20/2005 11:45:07 PM PST by SAMS
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To: Elkiejg
Encourage everyone to go to the bottom of the article and submit your response.

Also encourage everyone to actually read the article and understand it beforehand.

185 posted on 01/20/2005 11:49:07 PM PST by JeffAtlanta
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To: jwfiv
I don't think she's wrong at all.

This speech was a warning to everyone that we have plans to deal with other Middle Eastern regimes in the name of National Security.

186 posted on 01/20/2005 11:49:19 PM PST by DCPatriot (I don't do politically correct very well either.)
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To: Seek
Damn, some of you turn fast against anyone who makes ANY criticism against Bush.

Thank you for having a cool head and not pulling out the torches and pitchforks. Noonan has been one of the best friends to the conservative moment and to the election of GWB. Now that she offers up some criticism, she is just some elitist snob that is jealous that she wasn't the writer of the speech?

Lots of good conservatives disagree with the administration everyday here on FR. A day does not go by without a thread on immigration, the trade deficit, or the falling dollar where many here take GWB to task on perceived inaction or just plain being on the wrong side of the issue.

Look at how bad the democrats looked when they went after Zell Miller. All Peggy Noonan did is write one column that mostly praises the event along with some criticism thrown in and then cries of "well, I never really liked the woman anyway - educated women tend to not like God" start ringing out.

187 posted on 01/21/2005 12:07:43 AM PST by JeffAtlanta
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To: Palladin

maybe I am not as demanding in my inspiration as more intellectual people are, but I found this speech very inspiring. I liked his line about self-control, spreading freedom through encouraging revolutions of repressed citizens...Maybe my problem was I never got to hear the Reagan speeches in real time? Anyway, with the military bands and the historical significance of this day plus the speech I am prouder than ever to be an American. God bless me (in the words of Mark Levin!)


188 posted on 01/21/2005 12:10:29 AM PST by jeffie77
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To: DCPatriot; JeffAtlanta

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1325157/posts


189 posted on 01/21/2005 12:12:52 AM PST by Howlin (It's a great day to be an American -- and a Bush Republican!!!!)
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To: RWR8189
A lot different than her comments right after the speech on Fox.

This makes me wonder if there are two Peggy Noonan's. At least, in one body.

190 posted on 01/21/2005 12:20:13 AM PST by Oreo Kookey (How, indeed, do we click our tongues at beheadings and look the other way from abortion? I weep.)
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To: Howlin
Howlin, I'm not saying that it was a a bad speach or anything like that. I'm just saying that her article is not all that damning - Noonan's piece was mostly complimentary of the event and then she threw in some constructive criticism. Its not like she said that Bush lied or starting questioning his character.

If Noonan made any mistake, it was with the title of her column, "Too Much God", since it does not fall into line with the body of her piece at all. I do believe that many of those that are criticizing now haven't actually read the column and are just going by the title.

In any event, Noonan is one of our friends. Like all friends, she is not going to always see things eye to eye with the rest of party. Good for her - she's not being a cheerleader.
191 posted on 01/21/2005 12:25:46 AM PST by JeffAtlanta
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To: Howlin
OK now Howlin, be the spin doctor here.

Tell us all why "Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another" is positive. Tell us why we should be happy that we are not allowed to be independent.

I am waiting. The founding fathers have risen from their graves and they are waiting also.

Go ahead Howlin, spin. . . Spinnnnnnnn.

Amazing how the euphoria of an Inauguration causes 99% of conservatives to go into temporaary blindness.

Peggy Noonan and I can still see. Thank God for 1%. We have always thanked the founding fathers for being 1%. The founding fathers are spinning in their graves over that sentence, so you might a swell spin us some terrific answer better than "Geez, talk about going off the deep end." Spin at a high RPM, Howlin. We are waiting.

192 posted on 01/21/2005 12:48:28 AM PST by Dont_Tread_On_Me_888 (John Kerry--three fake Purple Hearts. George Bush--one real heart of gold.)
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To: Dont_Tread_On_Me_888
Tell us why we should be happy that we are not allowed to be independent.

Where on earth does it say that? Where did I say that?

Amazing how the euphoria of an Inauguration causes 99% of conservatives to go into temporaary blindness.

Are you speaking about yourself?

193 posted on 01/21/2005 12:51:28 AM PST by Howlin (It's a great day to be an American -- and a Bush Republican!!!!)
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To: RWR8189
My problem with Peggy Noonan is that she writes like someone who has always been so talented, her elegant style just flows effortlessly...and who, finally, writes effortlessly without checking to make sure the style is there. Lately a lot of her stuff seems to have been composed on autopilot.

Never mind why Mr. Baker can don his trench coat and scarf before she can find her shoes.

Good thing her name is Peggy Noonan because she couldn't get her recent stuff published if her name was, oh, Margaret Woolgather.

And Peggy, don't kid yourself that you're making a fragrant pomander when you're sticking pins in a doll. Readers who know you well, know your nuance-drenched, nuance-saturated, nuance-suffused approach here is just an exquisite's reaction to the Bush style and substance, for which he is not in your debt. Besides, whoever wrote that line about the Clinton years as "sabbatical," writes Noonan better than you do lately.

After all the times she's written lamentations about the effete, the over-nuanced, the decadent, after all the times she's mentioned the virtues of directness and red-blooded masculinity, it sounds mighty suspicious when the lady scorns the gamekeeper.

194 posted on 01/21/2005 12:51:37 AM PST by Graymatter
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To: Palladin; Texasforever
I think you must have missed my question to you, as I am sure you wouldn't have ignored it since you were so positive in this statement:

I hated the part where W equated the cult of Islam with the Judeo-Christian traditions that have made this country what it is today.

Where EXACTLY in his speech did he say that?

195 posted on 01/21/2005 12:53:26 AM PST by Howlin (It's a great day to be an American -- and a Bush Republican!!!!)
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To: Graymatter

Peggy is a good writer and a big help to the GOP, she had an off article tonight. I can forgive her this one time.


196 posted on 01/21/2005 12:54:09 AM PST by John Lenin
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To: RWR8189

I don't believe that Peggy Noonan's comments come from envy--but then, how would I know? And how would anyone? I don't think criticizing Noonan for motivations she may have is constructive.

I disagree with Peggy Noonan's assertion that there was too much "God" in the president's speech. I do, however, agree that ending tyranny is impossible, and so is establishing heaven on earth. Any attempt to make heaven here will inevitably end in failure--if we're lucky, only failure. Communism was preached as establishing Utopia; it ended in oppression and gulags. (And no, I'm not suggesting that this will be the result of President Bush's policy.)

There were a lot of things I liked about this speech, and two I didn't. The first is the exaltation of liberty, as if it is the best and ultimate cure for the world's problems. I think, personally, that the world's problems come because people are bad--the best people have a little sin in them, and the worst are like Adolf Hitler--and democracy cannot make people good. People can make democracies good; democracies can put down tyrants, and democracies can install tyrants. The Nazis were put in power by "the people". The goodness or badness of a democracy depends on the goodness or badness of a majority of its people. The idea that a government determined by the people is, ipso facto, a good government disturbed me, as did the idea of Freedom As Savior Of The World.

The second thing I disliked about the speech was the reference to the Koran: "the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran." How about these words of the Koran: "Slay the enemy wherever you find him" (Surah 9:92)? Doesn't this Islamic terrorism spring from the fact that some people pay a little too much attention to the words of the Koran? And what's with lumping Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed together? Mohammed was a murderer who (talk about child-brides) married a six-year-old; is he really on the same level as Christ? Does Mohammed rank with Christ? Is the Koran just as creditable as the Bible? Am I wrong in thinking that the president's formulation puts Christianity and Islam (Christ and Mohammed, the Bible and the Koran) on the same level?

President Bush claims to be a Christian, and I believe him. But it puzzles me why he keeps on praising a religion that explicitly denies Jesus Christ.


197 posted on 01/21/2005 1:03:35 AM PST by Irish Rose
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To: John Lenin

LOL yes I forgive her lots of times. But she has less excuse than most.


198 posted on 01/21/2005 1:05:19 AM PST by Graymatter
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To: Howlin

Did Trent Lott write one of the songs also or did he just help pick out the music?


199 posted on 01/21/2005 1:08:54 AM PST by texasflower (Liberty can change habits. ~ President George W. Bush 10/08/04)
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To: RWR8189

I see nothing with thanking God - the Founders wrote the Declaration Of Independence "appealed to the Supreme Judge Of The World for the rectitude of our intentions." And this is a country in which Americans say Grace Before Meals. We Americans believe our rights come from God and they are not our gift to the world - they're God's gift to humanity. Thus I am comfortable with the God Talk. Peggy Noonan thinks this speech is a tad overambitious in being dreamy about bringing the perfection of heaven on earth. Well to John Winthrop and the Pilgrims at the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the beginnings of America were to build "shining city on a hill" - a country which would be a light to the world in bringing out the best in men. The arc of history in our country has extended towards establishing freedom here at home. And now we mean to be on the side of those who want to make what has been a rare lot in the history of mankind a reality. We are meant to be partners with God in perfecting the world so we will rejoice in the blessings of our Author. As Rabbi Tarphon wrote in The Ethics Of The Fathers, you were not given to begin the task at hand. And yet you're not free to desist from it. In the words of the famous Civil War song, freedom and His truth is marching on. God Bless America.


200 posted on 01/21/2005 1:09:33 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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