Posted on 01/27/2005 9:39:48 AM PST by quidnunc
Michael Gerson has served George W. Bush magnificently as chief speechwriter, during both the 2000 campaign and the first term in office. His departure would have prompted us to declare his enormous talents "indispensable" to this president but for the two pieces of good news that accompanied its announcement. The first is that Gerson will remain at the White House in a new senior position. The second is that he will be replaced as chief speechwriter by another superb talent: our former colleague William McGurn, who was NR's Washington editor for three years in the early 1990s. We lost McGurn to the call of the Orient: He worked in Hong Kong for the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Wall Street Journal, but found time to contribute regularly to NR. He came back to the U.S. to become the chief editorial writer for the Journal. President Bush's public voice remains in the best possible hands.
Whatever, you're obviously over sensitive on the subject.
LOL That's a good answer when you have nothing to say but wanna have a response.
You're obviously under-informed on the subject. ;)
Thanks for the address. I think by the time we got to the speech I was already God-heavy with all the songs, but Bush's speech sticks a lot of god inferences, too. But whatever, I thank you for the link and your considered response as opposed to most of the idiots who've responded.
Whatever
I had a look at the comments to her comments. The majority of responses had solid arguments, even the one from the Frenchman.
But the MSM have to be careful about criticizing Bush's religiosity, because the inevitable follow-up is "If Bush's religion is so bad, what about the religion that sends planes into buildings?" Not for nothing has there been a huge drop in the criticism of "Christian fundamentalism" since 9-11--because CF is nothing compared to the fundies in the "religion of peas". ;)
Well, I think Peggy N. must have started the whole ball rolling with this "God-drenched" phrase she used.
I really don't find this year's address anymore God-drenched than some of the past ones.
Oddly, the 2 by Ronald Reagan which actually had the most references to God that I could find at any rate, were probably Peggy's work, so it's funny that she would criticize this year's one this way.
As for the music that went before it, it was to my ears fabulous. I love all the old American music (and some of the new ones I heard this year) -- it doesn't matter to me how God-drenched it is!
I do too--which was why I hated much of the music at the inauguration. Orin Hatch's song isn't old American music. I was waiting for the classics, every god-soaked one of 'em--but what the heck was the stuff being played during the inauguration? The woman who sang had a great voice but that song she sang was ghastly, as was that foghorn-blaring white dude singing Orin's American classic.
You're trolling.
God/Creator is a keystone in the foundation of the "American experiment." The belief that mankind was endowed by the Creator with certain rights, including a right to liberty, establishes that no human person or government can take that innate right away. We are all born hard wired with that right and not dependent upon government for it.
In Ex parte Virginia, 100 U.S. 366, the court stated that 'liberty,' as thus used, is meant something more than freedom from physical restraint or imprisonment. It means freedom, not merely to go wherever one may choose, but to do such acts as he may judge best for his interest not inconsistent with the equal rights of others; that is, to follow such pursuits as may be best adapted to his faculties, and which will give to him the highest enjoyment.
In fact, the Bill of Rights sets limits upon our government from encroaching upon our individual liberty.
In addition, this keystone establishes that all of mankind possess that natural right, regardless of tyrannical persons or governments or religions that currently supress the exercise of that right. The hunger for liberty lies in each like an ember awaiting a breath of fresh air to rekindle the fire.
The President's speech also spoke about the American ideal of character. He spoke about fundamental beliefs in concepts such as justice, liberty, integrity, tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives as universal - originating in the enduring wisdom of many religions. He spoke about them being ideals of conduct changeless throughout time. He said that "Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self." Implying that this concept of character is key to the process of self-government.
Although I am not religious, I don't think this was too much "God." In fact, extracting God from the American experiment is to leave it unanchored and adrift in a sea of relativism and the current whim of the majority.
Kinda like Maureen Dowd's disconcerting meltdown in early January in advance of a lonely 53rd birthday. As Paul Harvey says...
Mind your own business. This is a board for posting opinions. If you're too weak-minded to enter a discussion, leave it to those who can; "You're trolling" adds nothing to the discussion.
You aren't Ash redux, are you?
Kinda like Maureen Dowd's disconcerting meltdown in early January in advance of a lonely 53rd birthday. As Paul Harvey says...
Yes, she's having an extended MoDo moment.
Just after Reagan's funeral Noonan wrote a particularly graceless article excoriating some of her fellow speechwriters in the Reagan and Bush (41)'s administration.
She's turned into a bitter, censorious noodge.
Furthermore, if you read her last two articles, she is taking issue with the philosophy embodied by the speech — she is coming down on the anti-neocon side of the ideologoical divide.
You're still boring. That's my definition of a troll--you keep saying nothing but "You're trolling". Either add something to the discussion or blow, bore.
Peggy never wanted an Administration job. She lives in New York raising her son and has a great job with the WSJ as well as the books she writes.
If there is any bitterness perhaps it is that having taken a huge pay hit to work for gratis she found that her input and suggestions were not taken seriously.
Here you have a very experienced writer, who has essentially because of the Reagan funeral, wanted to get involved again and make a contribution, probably found that The Powers That Be just were not interested in her ideas or what she had to say. Would not be the first time this has happened to someone.
I thought "Hallelujah!" every time President Bush mentioned God. Hallelujah!!! I'm still celebrating Bush's victory and a victory for the Right. Ms. Noonan just exposed herself, that's all.
I am Catholic. And you are correct. Not only was the statement outrageous, it was insulting and ignorant.
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