[RWR8189]

A lot different than her comments right after the speech on Fox.

[Howlin]

She called it "grating."

[Next_Time_NJ]

I thought the same thing. She sounded like she liked the speech.. now its too much god?

[Oystir]

EXACTLY

[Oreo Kookey]

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.

[yer gonna put yer eye out]

Also the caricature drawing that accompanied the article in the Wall Street Journal was either a blatant attempt to make President Bush look terrible, or the artist is just incompetent...
either way I think Noonan is playing on both sides of the isle, and the choice of the President's picture is a slap at him...

[fourdny2]

Exactly...yesterday as soon as the speech was over she thought it was wonderful...but is she the one who pointed out that the speech didn't have enough modesty to suit the liberals? After someone said that, they all jumped on it. Mary/TX

[sarasota]

Yes, and someone on Fox asked her if it would have been a different speech if Peggy Noonan had written it. Oh no, she said.....Then, as an afterthought, this piece. How did she dispell her own clarity so quickly?

[Bushiefan]

Peggy Noonan has lost my respect. I find her article very
disturbing. Maybe she and Joe Scarborough have been
spending too much time with MSNBC nuts.

[Glenmerle]

Peggy Noonan: It was a God-drenched speech. This president, who has been accused of giving too much attention to religious imagery and religious thought, has not let the criticism enter him. God was invoked relentlessly.

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.

[Prost1]

Here is a link to Jack Wheeler's comments about Ms. Noonon in a Newsmax article.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/6/18/141839.shtml

Worth a look for an opinion of one who "worked" with the gracious lady. :-)

[Wolfstar]

A lot different than her comments right after the speech on Fox.

I'm glad someone else other than myself caught this woman's blazing hypocrisy. Peggy Noonan is a phony.

[Captain America]

Immediately following the inaugural speech, Noonan was positive about it in a Fox News panel discussion.

A couple of days later, she writes this column, which seems to have no purpose other than to imply that the speechwriter didn't do a competent job. I didn't understand the flip flop.

I had always enjoyed Noonan's contributions but now I am taking a second look. I once attended a speaking engagement of hers and I do recall that she has an air about her that she knows the real deal about everything--that she is the unquestioned expert.

Could it be that when any presidential speechwriter does good work, she feels threatened? Has she ever publicly praised other White House writers? Could she be that small?