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Noonan: Defense Begins at Home ("Take it away, FreeRepublic")
Opinion Journal ^ | March 10, 2005 | Paggy Noonan

Posted on 03/10/2005 3:36:52 AM PST by RobFromGa

Freedom may be on the march, but America is still vulnerable to attack.

Thursday, March 10, 2005 12:01 a.m.

There are two predominant journalistic memes since the Arab spring began. The first, from the left: What if Bush was right? This was most famously and appropriately grappled with on Comedy Central, when Democratic foreign-policy thinker Nancy Soderberg consoled Jon Stewart with the hopefully facetious, but either way revealing, advice to hang on, things can still turn bad with North Korea or Iran. The other, from the middle and the right: As I wrote in this space two years ago, the invasion of Iraq will likely give rise to a surge of democratic feeling that will inspire the entire Mideast. This is known as making it clear to one's fans and foes that you were on the right side of history.

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


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: noonan; soderberg
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To: Bahbah

Quite frankly, we should be trying to trip up all tyrannies. Sometimes that means we ought to work towards a strategy of provoking a revolution, like in Iran. Sometimes that means we ought to support opposition groups, like in Lebanon. Sometimes that means surgical military strikes - for example, Mugabe should have had a laser guided bomb shoved up his arse a long time ago. And rarely, that means going to war. However, tyranny is unacceptable - and as we're discovering, allowing it to persist is dangerous.

Regards, Ivan


21 posted on 03/10/2005 4:35:36 AM PST by MadIvan (One blog to bring them all...and in the Darkness bind them: http://www.theringwraith.com/)
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To: RobFromGa

How unbelievable is this? Maureen Dowd's column today is ALSO on homeland defense: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/opinion/10dowd.html

And, Dowd is also an older single woman living alone in a big city. Coincidence? I think not.


22 posted on 03/10/2005 4:36:26 AM PST by walden
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To: ken5050
I'm still a strong admirer of Noonan's. I just think that she is very September 10 regarding the issue of advancing Freedom. We have a window of time here to take action to make our country safer. The window was opened by 9-11. The way to make America safer is to eliminate the enemies and their breeding grounds-- simple as that.

Bush's 2nd Inaugural is simply laying down the gauntlet that we intend to see the swamp drained, and that we expect that the people in the swamps to help with the task.

The alternative to bold leadership (and I think it could be bolder) is to allow this precious window to close without taking enough action. The next opportunity might come after millions have been murdered and we cannot tolerate that.

I think that Noonan is saying conservatives ususally don't like these grand schemes that rely on government very much. There are two changes here-- we were attacked and, more importantly, the person in charge means what he says, and is not playing politics. If Clinton had made the same speech, it would be laughable and we would be concerned. But it is in character for President Bush.

Peggy, let's just let events unfold and stop trying to rehash the Inaugural Speech. You sound overly defensive.

The rest of your column today is a good reminder, and we should be doing more at home. (I believe that we are doing more that we don't know about) The fact that three and a half years later **TOMORROW IS 3-11** we haven't had another major attack is astonishing to me.

The list of what has been accomplished over these 3 and a half years is staggering! We have about an equal amount of time left in Bush's second term. I hope to be looking back on this in November 2008, even more amazed.

23 posted on 03/10/2005 4:36:39 AM PST by RobFromGa (Bush Needs to Stay Aggressive in Term 2)
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To: sevry

I haven't noticed (speaking as a middle aged spinster woman) that I am growing "more fearful" as the years go by. Indeed, many of us women are growing less fearful as we have disovered in a long and adventurous lifetime that 90% of those things we fear never happen and we can handle the rest (because they tend to repeat themselves and we have the experience to know what to do.)

I don't know what Peggy Noonan's problem is in picking a goal that exceeds one's grasp, but I have found this essential to accomplishing anything at all. I could not have been credentialed to cover the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the biggest sports car race in the world, if I had not set that as a goal and then worked up to it in increments. Whining, "Oh, that's out of my reach and I can never accomplish it!" would not have done me a bit of good. (Neither did all the Peggy Noonans in my life who counseled me to quit before I ever began, incidentally.)

Peggy, if you have survived and prospered this long, you know it can be done. So does Mr. Bush.


24 posted on 03/10/2005 4:39:37 AM PST by KateatRFM
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To: RobFromGa
Peggy, let's just let events unfold and stop trying to rehash the Inaugural Speech. You sound overly defensive.

You've boiled it all down rather nicely here.

25 posted on 03/10/2005 4:46:32 AM PST by Petronski (This is the Serengeti, heart of the Dark Continent, where Bar Codes roam free...)
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To: MadIvan
I've no problem with us - that is the free nations of the world - working towards bringing freedom to the whole world. I just think the pace has to be set in a way that it can be sustained. I have no doubt that the president means for this to happen in the years and generations that it may need. And I believe the president believes it's a goal best achieved by those who will enjoy the benefits. Peggy is picking a fight when there really is nothing to fight about. The president doesn't want to spread democracy in an Utopian scheme. Probably, if she could write his speeches, she would then understand that it's not a Wilsonian goal push forward freedom.
26 posted on 03/10/2005 4:49:03 AM PST by elhombrelibre (Liberalism is proof that intelligent people can ignore as much as the ignorant.)
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To: RobFromGa; Howlin
I continue to think the president's inaugural address, suggesting as it did that he was on a mission to expunge all political tyranny from the globe, and asserting that our nation's survival depended on this utopian project, was a rather crazy speech, weirdly Wilsonian and at odds with conservatism's ancestral knowledge of the imperfectability of this world and the inability of politics to heal all that wounds us.

I beg to differ, Peggy. It's a smaller world now with much more dangerous weapons and people. This effort by G.W. and friends, imo, must be pursued now. It was overdue.

****

conservatism's ancestral knowledge of the imperfectability of this world -- I have a feeling that some of the Founders would be in on this venture of this administration. A concept of the world, its dangers, and conservativism should certainly have changed some over the centuries. Just my opinion.

27 posted on 03/10/2005 4:51:49 AM PST by beyond the sea (Colonial Script........... or nationalize The Federal Bank..)
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To: RobFromGa
And who can say the day will not come when we bitterly rue our dreamy lack of preparation? We live in the age of weapons of mass destruction.

"dreamy lack of preparation" -- This kind of thing is so easy to say. Any time we get hit, and we will, Peggy can say, "I told you so."

This lady has changed in the past months...... not for the better.

28 posted on 03/10/2005 4:57:46 AM PST by beyond the sea (Colonial Script........... or nationalize The Federal Bank..)
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To: RobFromGa
I don't disagree with Ms. Nonan, I'm no rubber-stamp Repub.

My 90% satisfaction with our admin leaves 10% open for discussion, I would hope our gov does the right thing and takes heed to a few of her suggestions (re: civil defense, etc...), but I'm a realist and politics are like periodicals, here and now, not tomorrow or next year...
29 posted on 03/10/2005 4:59:27 AM PST by Barney59 (Now there's a man with an open mind - you can feel the breeze from here!)
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To: RobFromGa
But we are not doing enough. And I know this because no one is talking about it.

Very silly logic, Peggy.

30 posted on 03/10/2005 4:59:58 AM PST by beyond the sea (Colonial Script........... or nationalize The Federal Bank..)
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To: Arkie2
My prior comment got pulled because I responded to a comment the writer of which asked the moderator to kill. I'm reposting just to insure that no one is left with the wrong impression about my deleted post. It read:

"I about spewed coffee everywhere when I read the reference to FreeRepublic in Peggy's column this morning. Had to read it a couple of times just to be sure it really was there on the WSJ site. I was surprised by her reaction to Bush's speech but it doesn't change the fact that her column is the first thing I read Thursday mornings. (Peggy, count me as a fan!)"

I also commented favorably with regard to Ms. Noonan's sexual attraction. Definitely a foxy lady!
31 posted on 03/10/2005 5:01:54 AM PST by TennMountains
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To: MadIvan

That's the thing people on the left, and some on the right, like Buchanan, and apparantly Peggy Noonan, is missing.

They think Bush is conducting foreign policy. He's not, he's conducting a war.


32 posted on 03/10/2005 5:10:15 AM PST by Truthsearcher
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To: RobFromGa

Sorry.

I no longer read her articles, including this one.

Best action is to not give her the attention she obviously craves.


33 posted on 03/10/2005 5:12:17 AM PST by Soul Seeker
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To: RobFromGa

Freedom may be on the march, but America is still vulnerable to attack,


Any free open society is vurnable to attack.

That is the price one pays for being free.

The solution is that you make the attacker pay such a terrible price for attacking you that he does not want to attack you, or should he attack you one time make sure that he does not do it again.

In other words, you break his spirit.

All this sitting around wringing one's hands saying, "I'm so scared!, I'm so scared!. Please don't attack me!" while shaking like a chuwauwa[sp]dog trying to sh## a peach seed does is make the terrorists laugh. And atack again.


34 posted on 03/10/2005 5:14:25 AM PST by sport
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To: TennMountains; Petronski
I also commented favorably with regard to Ms. Noonan's sexual attraction. Definitely a foxy lady!

She is cute and very attractive (that great Catholic girl school look), but I wouldn't really refer to her as "sexy". But, maybe in some evening clothes, or later that evening she would certainly qualify.

I know one thing, I'd like to see her with her shoes off and her hair a little bit out of place, if you get my drift.

;-)

35 posted on 03/10/2005 5:20:55 AM PST by beyond the sea (Colonial Script........... or nationalize The Federal Bank..)
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To: Petronski
Peggy just doesn't get it. She's irrelevant. No one really cares what she thinks anymore.
36 posted on 03/10/2005 5:22:43 AM PST by Don'tMessWithTexas
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To: RobFromGa
Ah. Maybe we can boil all this down now; she seems to have two problems with Bush's speech:

1. ...he was on a mission to expunge all political tyranny from the globe,

2. ...and asserting that our nation's survival depended on this utopian project...

1. cf. Kennedy's "...bear any burden, pay any price...etc". I can't imagine why a mission to expunge all tyranny is a bad thing.

2. I doubt Bush actually meant "if any tyranny exists anywhere on earth America cannot survive". This is the sort of hyper-literalistic reading you do when you are 10 years old and you are trying to win an argument with your dad.

Peggy, admit it: it was a great speech. You just got your ears a little cocked somehow that night.

37 posted on 03/10/2005 5:32:55 AM PST by Taliesan (The power of the State to do good is the power of the State to do evil.)
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To: RobFromGa

One thing that seems to have gotten left out of the calculation is that we had already stepped into Iraq. Once there, and roughly in control of it, why not "do the democracy thing"?


38 posted on 03/10/2005 5:33:37 AM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: RobFromGa

She is yesterday's news. Not worth the effort.


39 posted on 03/10/2005 5:50:36 AM PST by NeilGus
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To: RobFromGa
I'm not sure about the "Wilsonian" crack... I'm not old enough to remember a lot about him.. ( will research, though. )
I didn't have much reservation about Bush's speech though.. A bit Idealistic, yes.. ( I think that's the Wilsonian thing.. )
But there's nothing wrong with high ideals, or lofty goals..
I was always advised not to set my sights too low.. that it was always better to strive for something that was somewhat beyond your reach.. to stretch yourself to the limits..

I do agree with her on the Title of the Article, however..
Defense Begins at Home...
Only, HOME isn't just New York City.. which seems to be her true concern.. the security of HER home..

There are other homes in America..

We need more Action concerning real Home Defense..
Restrictive Gun laws truly leave Americans defenseless..
Let's get rid of laws and regulations that keep the average american from having adequate weaponry in the home..
It's an army that can never be defeated..

How about that, Peggy? Ms..Noonan?
How about turning your energies toward ARMING New York City?
Can you imagine the fear in the eyes of the terrorists when they see the entire city of New York arming itself?

40 posted on 03/10/2005 5:52:06 AM PST by Drammach (Freedom; not just a job, it's an adventure..)
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