[bellevuesbest]

Nobody has posted this yet, so I thought I would. I expected her to address her column from last week but this isn't what I expected.

[swilhelm73]

Eh, seems to me she went a little too far in her last column and got slammed a little too much for it to back down in this one.

[RWR8189]

I'm glad you posted it and not me.

I posted her piece last week and I'm still getting replies 900 posts later.

Good luck.

[Quix]

Not as outraged as I expected to be at her.

Some tolerable points.

But I still mostly disagree with her.

[gaijin]

I've lost so much respect for her. Sigh...

I guess I never really knew her.

[MEG33]

"Here is an unhappy fact: Certain authoritarians and tyrants whose leadership is illegitimate and unjust have functioned in history as--ugly imagery coming--garbage-can lids on their societies. They keep freedom from entering, it is true. But when they are removed, the garbage--the freelance terrorists, the grievance merchants, the ethnic nationalists--pops out all over. Yes, freedom is good and to be strived for. But cleaning up the garbage is not pretty. And it sometimes leaves the neighborhood in an even bigger mess than it had been."

She disagrees with the President and here is the interesting point. Some people have no capacity for self governance and must be led by authoritarian means or tyrants.

[b9]

Thank you for posting this.
I would be most happy to see this administration
focus on revising the tax code.

[risk]

No one will remember what the president said about domestic policy, which was the subject of the last third of the text. This may prove to have been a miscalculation. --Her first column on the topic.

She's all wrong on this, and now she's recalcitrant at that. President Bush's speech is shaking the world. It's an end to 70 years of foreign policy strategy that worsened at Yalta, and ended when we realized that letting down the Shi'a in 1991 was costing us the peace in an already conquered Iraq in 2003.

This isn't about winning a war, or winning one peace. This is about changing the minds of people around the world who think we're willing to be on the wrong side for our own convenience.

President Bush announced to the world: if you're a tyrant "keeping regional instability at bay," the USA is no longer going to be your friend. From Cairo to Banda Aceh, one speech rekindled hopes for freedom that the Cold War had long since smothered.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Ms. Noonan has serious and bonafide "conservative" credentials, but she would not be the first person to cross over to the dark side. She has every right to her opinion, but it is my belief that she went over to the enemy when she was hanging around with Chris Matthews, Ronald Reagan, Jr., Howard Fineman, Larry O'Donnell and the rest of the liberal vermin boys on MSNBC. She was a great lady and positive asset to our cause. I fear she is lost. She has shown by this recent column that she cannot take criticism well. She doesn't know it yet, but she is now on the wrong side of history.

[BigSkyFreeper]

She should be thankful that Bush had reassured the America and the world that he is not in the business of occupying and global conquest, which has been the charge from the left. The world should be inspired by the fact that Bush wants to spread freedom into the darkest corners of the world.

[dawn53]

In this world we must speak, yes, but softly, and carry many sticks, using them, when we must, terribly and swiftly. We must gather around us as many friends, allies and well-wishers as possible. And we must do nothing that provides our foes with ammunition with which they can accuse us of conceit, immaturity or impetuousness.

I think she gives our foes more credit than they deserve.

They will accuse the US of conceit, immaturity and impetuousness, no matter what we do.

Consider the criticism from the Indonesia government and calls for us to withdraw when all we were trying to do was provide Tsunami relief.

As Ann Landers would say, "Wake up and smell the coffee, Peggy."

[AmericaUnited]

Peggy has gotten 'Has-Been' disease(aka PJB syndrone). Affects all who think too highly of themselves and can't accept they will never again have their previous influence/fame/position, etc.

[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.

[omniscient]

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

[woofie]

How about this for a speech:

We are a nuanced and complicated nation.... Tyranny is kinda bad and we dont like bad things,however sometimes we will just shut up to get along.I will talk in circles for the rest of my time but a new day is sort of dawning. My mother said "never bite off more than you can chew. "Healthcare is important for everyone....as is freedom from/and of the press.We will try hard during our next 4 years but ya never know. Thanks for coming.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Peggy Noonan part deux PING

[Preachin']

I love our president, but this freedom of speech thing is quite nice.

[kittymyrib]

Who cares what this old, jaded, sourpuss with the affected voice has to say, anyway? It seems she wants attention now.

[independentmind]

Peggy has guts and this is a very good article.

[lowbridge]

And we must do nothing that provides our foes with ammunition with which they can accuse us of conceit, immaturity or impetuousness.

Gasp! Our enemies, the tyrants of the world...they might...might........call us names???? My God. In order to avoid that, we must do NOTHING.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

[Popman]

I have been called French

That had to really hurt!!!

Peggy is great, she just had a bad day. We all do once in a while.