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 ...
You should.
Ms. Noonan is very talented. Talented people tend to get full of themselves, especially if they don't have a spouse and children to assault their egos regularly!
She shouldn't have used the word, 'inebriation'. That wasn't becoming.
I took a quick peek on the two threads to check how people are piling on Peggy just for having an opinion. It was exactly what I expected.
If Hillary Clinton tells you that it would be stupid for you to play in rush hour traffic, would you reject that idea because she's a doodyhead, and onto the highway you go? Of course not. The conclusion may yet be true, though a doodyhead makes it or it is arrived at illogically.
Exactly as I expected, there would be people like you who would fail to understand that these threads are NOT about "Peggy just for having an opinion."
From what I read, they are. It's full of excuses why she must be being led astray. Perhaps she really just feels the way she feels. Perhaps she's just trying to get a rise out of you. Perhaps she's just lying for ratings' sake. But people who otherwise "love" her stuff are piling on her and that's a fact.
Reducto absurdum.
Rush addresing these "critics" from both sides. Nailing them RIGHTLY.
I think Peggy is a wonderful reflective writer, which is why her books and speeches have been so good. I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume her reflexive opinions aren't always spot on. I'd be interested in her perspective in a month.
It MUST be something other than the water.
They make Shiner out of that water.
Q.E.D.
P.S. BTW, Shiner tastes like it's been run through a horse!
And have you read her little pep talk to the Democrat party?http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110006120
And?
Didn't hear Laura this morning, what is her take on the speech?
Lots of folks like Shiner Beer....taste like it was run through a horse....Teehe...now how would you know that. Been tasting horse pee lately... ;o)
This is bizarre criticism. (I wonder if Noonan has ever been criticized for God-drenching a column. I would imagine so.) For me, the speech struck just the right note, and even if it was, as Noonan says, "rather heavenish," well, that's what inaugural speeches tend to be. They're not State of the Union speeches.
Did this criticism really need to be made? I saw Noonan on Fox News last night and I thought, Do you really need to say this? And now?
No, conservatives shouldn't be "cheerleading," as another poster pointed out, but neither should well-known conservatives take every opportunity to get face and air time by bashing Bush, especially over something so trivial. And let's face it, that's what these pundits are doing. They know the MSM will latch onto any criticism of Bush by conservatives. They get to look good. They get to be called "independent thinkers" or "mavericks."
Noonan could have graciously waited a few days to make her silly comments (and I'm speaking as a big fan of hers). Instead she decided to grab the opportunity of the moment. Too bad.
Heres a question from the bleacher section of FR.
If Peggy had written a column praising Bushs speech to the stars...to the point of going over the top, and somebody got on this site and criticized her...by saying she was paid off to write the column, or had written the speech herself, or was having a bad PMS day...what would have been the response?
No doubt about it. This article reads like there are some sour grapes where Noonan is concerned.
LOL.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.