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Peggy Noonan: Way Too Much God (Freepers let's tell her our thoughts)
WSJ ^ | 1/21/05 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 01/21/2005 4:19:45 AM PST by Mikmur

PEGGY NOONAN

Way Too Much God Was the president's speech a case of "mission inebriation"?

The inaugural address itself was startling. It left me with a bad feeling, and reluctant dislike. Rhetorically, it veered from high-class boilerplate to strong and simple sentences, but it was not pedestrian. George W. Bush's second inaugural will no doubt prove historic because it carried a punch, asserting an agenda so sweeping that an observer quipped that by the end he would not have been surprised if the president had announced we were going to colonize Mars. A short and self-conscious preamble led quickly to the meat of the speech: the president's evolving thoughts on freedom in the world. Those thoughts seemed marked by deep moral seriousness and no moral modesty.

The president's speech seemed rather heavenish. 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. "The Author of Liberty." "God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind . . . the longing of the soul."

And yet such promising moments were followed by this, the ending of the speech. "Renewed in our strength--tested, but not weary--we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." This is--how else to put it?--over the top. It is the kind of sentence that makes you wonder if this White House did not, in the preparation period, have a case of what I have called in the past "mission inebriation." A sense that there are few legitimate boundaries to the desires born in the goodness of their good hearts.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: bush; bushdoctrineunfold; god; gwbanointed; inauguraladdress; inauguration; noonan; peggydowd; president; shesrightguys; w2
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Comment #61 Removed by Moderator

To: buzznut

Welcome to Free Republic!


62 posted on 01/21/2005 5:21:00 AM PST by dawn53
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To: Don'tMessWithTexas

I agree. I didn't understand why she even mentioned James Baker and Warren Buffet. It served no purpose as far as I could tell.

This was an inaugural speech, not the state of the union address. I thought the speech was exactly what should be said for the occasion.


63 posted on 01/21/2005 5:28:34 AM PST by jennyjenny
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To: Mikmur

Noonan is usually softer than she was in this Bush hit piece. She's always been borderline conservative to me. She flip flops back and forth in the same column so much that I think I need to take a dramamine before I read her. And those little side trips she takes insider her own mind or whatever --- UGH! But she's usually not mean. This one was MEAN! I might have to go from finding her boring to totally disliking her with passion.


64 posted on 01/21/2005 5:28:41 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Legislatures are so outdated. If you want real political victory, take your issue to court.)
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To: DM1

She's only good when she talks about Reagan. Apparently it has more to do with his offering her work than with his ideology. This piece reveals a real mega-ego.


65 posted on 01/21/2005 5:29:49 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Legislatures are so outdated. If you want real political victory, take your issue to court.)
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To: MEG33

"Something really happened to her..."

Really. That's not the Peggy Noonan I know.


66 posted on 01/21/2005 5:31:20 AM PST by cloud8
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To: Mikmur
to spread freedom and liberty, both religious and economic?

In a word, no. America was founded to provide freedom and liberty, both religious and economic to people who live here. Big difference--and the Wilsonian view (a liberal view, by the way, so quit using the pejorative on Noonan) has been, and will be under this president, discredited.

67 posted on 01/21/2005 5:31:25 AM PST by jammer
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To: Mikmur

Must be her time of month....


68 posted on 01/21/2005 5:32:14 AM PST by Dallas59 (Bush said the "F" word 27 times January 20th, 2005!)
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To: cajungirl
I don't think anyone ought to get their knickers iin a know because Peg didn't like the speech. I understood her point and while disagreeing with it, this was not a malicious review nor was it extreme.

Deserves repeating!

69 posted on 01/21/2005 5:32:36 AM PST by technochick99 (Self defense is a BASIC human right.)
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To: beckysueb
Trying to teach democracy to a ArabJap or a AfricanGerman is like trying to teach a rooster to.....
70 posted on 01/21/2005 5:35:51 AM PST by dfwgator (It's sad that the news media treats Michael Jackson better than our military.)
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To: Mikmur
I'm hoping that Noonan is suffering from temporary insanity.

Inaugural speeches are sweeping, providing the President's broad vision of the future. President Bush did that, and he didn't do it in a fashion that exceeded many prior inaugural speeches.

She's either nuts or bitter about something. Maybe she submitted a speech that was rejected.

71 posted on 01/21/2005 5:37:22 AM PST by Dog Gone
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To: cajungirl
"Peggy is part of the elite. And many of those elites helped reelect GWB. James Baker is our elite!! And what is it about staying in an expensive hotel that gets your goat. Heck, anyone with the money could do it and be in the "camp of the elites". Rich people aren't the problem. Unless you are a communist or something."


Elite of what, this is not the first time Peggy missed the point. Now her major complaint was about toooo much 'God' and bad music.

Her positives what alllll about her, where she stayed and the whose who of where she stayed. Complaining about God is at the top of the liberal cause these days, and the mere fact that Peggy joined in with that chorus exposes her for being out of her league with this speech.
72 posted on 01/21/2005 5:37:47 AM PST by Just mythoughts
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To: Mikmur
Peggy is a speech writer and a good one. It's not hard to see that she would feel that, if given the chance, she could have done a better job of fashioning Bush's address. Sigmund Freud may have diagnosed Peggy as suffering from "speech envy" which, while not fatal, can impair one's judgment.
73 posted on 01/21/2005 5:38:12 AM PST by finnigan2
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To: MikeinIraq

Agreed. Sheeesh.


74 posted on 01/21/2005 5:39:43 AM PST by Conspiracy Guy (Happy Inauguration Day, George W. Bush . Four more years ! Hail to the Chief !)
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To: cajungirl; pubmom
I don't think GWB promised to extend freedom in the next four years and make a utopia.

Pubmom: thanks for the ping.

As I've read and listened to the reaction to this speech, I've noticed the pundits fall into two categories. Those who like it heard it like I did, an address to the PEOPLE living in oppression. Those who don't like it are interpreting it as a threat to the oppressors. Peggy falls into the latter category, which surprised me. Maybe she wants a gig at CNN or something. But she didn't hear the same speech I did.

I heard a president speaking directly to people living in darkness...Rise up. The entire speech was designed around the analogy of fire. One spontaneous spark can spread quickly and widely...as one man dreams of freedom, his dream spreads to those he shares it with, and to those they tell, and so on. We've seen that fire's power, both in the fall of the Berlin wall and just recently in Ukraine. Once that fire starts spreading, no oppressor, no army can suppress it.

The people in Kiev Square weren't organized by the "realists". No, some few brave individuals struck a spark. They went to the square in the dark of night and said "no more". In homes, shops and offices others felt that spark and soon a million people were camped there. They stayed through threats, snowstorms, Christmas. They only had one weapon: their very presence.

I believe THAT is what Bush addressed yesterday. The funny thing is, I think Bush is the realist here. Sparks can indeed set a fire that burns bright and fast and far and wide. Where it goes is unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. But one can't deny that it is most threatening to those who hide in their palaces and dare not come out for fear of their own citizens. They face a choice: relinquish power or burn in your palace.

Confusius said: "May you live in interesting times". Indeed.

75 posted on 01/21/2005 5:39:49 AM PST by Timeout (What's the chromosome, Kenneth?!)
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To: Mikmur
I cannot believe that a non-liberal would bash this speech.

I see, so no one is allowed to have an opinion that differs from yours?

Perhaps she is just not comfortable with God herself.

She's a devout & practicing Catholic.

She surely need not be embarrassed for the President, he can handle himself.

I'm sure she isn't and yes, he can.

I happen to greatly respect & admire Peggy Noonan. I don't agree with this column in it's entirety, but I'll not join you and the other piranhas in attacking a lady who has been nothing short of exemplary in her defense of Conservatism over the years.

I'm beginning to believe what a lot of folks have/are saying about this place in regard to any criticism of the Bush admin.

Believe me, if you folks wish to draw lines in the sand I'll proudly walk over and join the author of When Character Was King. (More than a few here could benefit from reading it)

76 posted on 01/21/2005 5:45:40 AM PST by jla
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To: Mikmur; All
Ms. Noonan, I would wager, is "comfortable with God," at least as I understand what you are implying. I can't discern from a snipped post, and, curiously, the WSJ was not available at my usual stop this AM, so I didn't have an opportunity to read it. My hunch is that there is way more to her comments than a quick read would reveal.

I thought the innaugural was right on -- inspiring, actually -- in terms of the gravity of the statements; the only thing that bothered me was the inclusion of the Koran in the part where he rattled off the littany of "holy books." I made a mental note to get more info on the Koran and settle the question for myself.

If Ms. Noonan was stating that the speech could be interpreted (by those inclined to do so) as playing into a game of one-upmanship with the notable leftists who have recently "got religion," I can understand that concern.

77 posted on 01/21/2005 5:49:01 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (Leftists Are Losers.)
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To: Mikmur
The only point where I agree with Noonan is in her criticism of the inaugural's music.

(I thought Susan Graham's singing was lovely; but 'God of Our Fathers' should be a vigorous, stirring anthem. Instead, it was played as if it were a downbeat dirge. What a disappointment!)

Noonan is clearly consumed with envy for her fellow speechwriters. This isn't the first time she's tried to spoil a great occasion with her narcissistic public ruminations -- Reagan's funeral was another.

Grow up Peggy, and realize that there are other speechwriters out there who are just as good, or better than you.

78 posted on 01/21/2005 5:49:53 AM PST by shhrubbery!
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To: the invisib1e hand

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1325165/posts


79 posted on 01/21/2005 5:49:58 AM PST by Just mythoughts
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To: jla

well said. Peggy rocks. I'd like to know just what the heck she was getting at, but haven't read the whole spiel.


80 posted on 01/21/2005 5:50:00 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (Leftists Are Losers.)
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