A Sourpuss? Moi? [Peggy Noonan responds to her last column on the inaugural speech]

WSJ - Opinion Journal ^ | 1-26-05 | Peggy Noonan

[bellevuesbest]

I have been called old, jaded, a sourpuss. Far worse, I have been called French. A response is in order.

You know the dispute. Last week I slammed the president's inaugural address. I was not alone, but I came down hard, early and in one of the most highly read editorial pages in America. Bill Buckley and David Frum also had critical reactions. Bill Safire on the other hand called it one of the best second inaugurals ever, and commentators from right and left (Bill Kristol, E.J. Dionne) found much to praise and ponder. (To my mind the best response to the inaugural was the grave, passionate essay of Mark Helprin.) So herewith some questions and answers:

A week later, do I stand by my views?

Yes. If I wrote it today I wouldn't be softer, but harder.

[MEG33]

"The devil I know policy"..My #7..

also the Way Too much God was brushed off as an editorial matter...yet she ignores much precedent in previous inagural speeches and says:

"This world is not heaven.

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."

(God was invoked RELENTLESSLY?)

[Dick Vomer]

Have to admit, I thought GWB went way too far in that address. He did not assure me that he has a plan for Iraq and quite the opposite... it seems as he would be quiet content to just create havoc over the entire middle east. I thank God that we control the Senate and the House and can keep this loose cannon under control during his periods of delusion.

sure.....in case you haven't noticed 3000 Americans were murdered in one day by the "stable" occupants of the Middle East. They hate us... you can't hate "more" if you want 3000 people to die...

Why don't you join the other gutless, anti-American, victims in the National Socialist Democratic Party at the DU and leave the defending of the country to the adult men willing to protect you.

[Coldwater Creek]

You have hit the nail right on the head! Sooner or later everyone that sells their soul to MSNBC becomes bitter and cynical.

[Miss Marple]

Yes, exactly. And President Bush is going with his speech has served notoice to those "allies" that their tyranny was the cause of the frustration that ended up hurting us, and that we want them mooving towards more reprsentative governments.

Well, I now see that Peggy didn't have a bad day. Her comments in this article show me that she simply fails to grasp why this speech was important. She has been hanging out with the "sophisticates" for too long.

[Coldwater Creek]

Hve you been hiding under a rock? The plan is to draw the terrorist to a central place and dispose of them, and the fallout is freedom and democtrcicty for the Middle East. I guess that the President has said it so much that he thinks people should have gotten it by now.

[Miss Marple]

I won't be on the computer much today and I wanted to make sure you see this. I think Peggy has done herself in with this column.

[Coldwater Creek]

Make that democracy.

[Liberty Valance]

Sounds like Peggy has been havin hi-balls with MoDo...
If her next column is still about this same thing she might need counseling. She's obsessing.

[MEG33]

#7 ..That little lecture by Peggy is very telling.

[Miss Marple]

I thank God and Jesus Christ that lacking your repentance, your eternal soul will know no peace.

Well, there's a loving, forgiving comment.

[Night Hides Not]

Peggy sold her soul long before that, when she took NBC's money to work on "The West Wing". I seem to recall her extolling the brilliance of Aaron Sorkin on a talking-head show last year.

I like Peggy, but it appears to me that she now takes herself as seriously as other pundits do. She's been living in blue areas far too long.

[Miss Marple]

Yes, it is very telling. It sounds to me like she has come under the influence of someone who is an "expert" in foreign affairs.

Meanwhile, two former secretaries of state who are veterans of realpolitik, Kisssinger and Schultz, supported the speech.

[VaRepublican]

Tolerance of what?Death to infidels?

[fooman]

Lets see.

US - civil war to regain the second republic
Closed Japan- Democracy straight away
UK- Centuries to develop quasi democracy. Still closed in many ways
Afghan - Democracy straight away
Kuwait - Now quietly democratic
Germany. Weimar Replubic then Hitler, then democracy


As we can see ms Noonan this messy business. But even coutries who have in their first 50 years (US, France) can sometimes get it right. And it sure beats nuking Mecca, does it not?

[MEG33]

2005/1/24 Your longevity as a forum member lends so much credence to

"There is no place here for your brand of liberal sarcasm. If you cannot contribute to a serious discussion of serious issues, please remain silent. We will all be better for it."


(Sarcasm, in case you did not get it)

[Miss Marple]

LOL!

[fooman]

Lets see.

US - civil war to regain the second republic
Closed Japan- Democracy straight away
UK- Centuries to develop quasi democracy. Still closed in many ways
Afghan - Democracy straight away
Kuwait - Now quietly democratic
Germany. Weimar Replubic then Hitler, then democracy


As we can see ms Noonan this messy business. But even coutries who have trouble in their first 50 years (US, France) can sometimes get it right. And it sure beats nuking Mecca, does it not?

[omniscient]

Noonan is dead to me. Next will come her endorsement of HRC. You watch.