Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Conceit of Government
opinion journal ^ | 6/29/05 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 06/29/2005 3:50:35 AM PDT by Molly Pitcher

What's wrong with them? That's what I'm thinking more and more as I watch the news from Washington.

A few weeks ago it was the senators who announced the judicial compromise. There is nothing wrong with compromise and nothing wrong with announcements, but the senators who spoke referred to themselves with such flights of vanity and conceit--we're so brave, so farsighted, so high-minded--that it was embarrassing. They patted themselves on the back so hard they looked like a bevy of big breasted pigeons in a mass wing-flap. Little grey feathers and bits of corn came through my TV screen, and I had to sweep up when they were done.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: barackobama; beltwaybias; clintons; congress; kennedys; politicians; whitetrash
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

1 posted on 06/29/2005 3:50:37 AM PDT by Molly Pitcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

Superb. Thanks for posting.


2 posted on 06/29/2005 3:58:09 AM PDT by agere_contra
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher
What is in the air there in Washington, what is in the water?

Swamp gas. Washington, D.C., is built on a swamp and the emanations from the rotting vegetation eat away slowly at the human brain. This wasn't so bad back before the invention of air conditioning, when most District residents fled to more healthful climes during the summer, thus reducing their exposure.

3 posted on 06/29/2005 4:07:51 AM PDT by Junior (“Even if you are one-in-a-million, there are still 6,000 others just like you.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher
"a bevy of big breasted pigeons"


What's wrong with them, indeed!?



Over paid, over pampered, over exposed, over rated, overly self absorbed and overly willing to sell out the entire nation for their own gain; as a whole, they have become the greatest threat to America!

4 posted on 06/29/2005 4:13:34 AM PDT by Zacs Mom (Proud wife of a Marine! ... and purveyor of "rampant, unedited dialogue")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

"Mr. Obama said he keeps a photographic portrait of Lincoln on the wall of his office, and that "it asks me questions."

I'm sure it does. I'm sure it says, "Barack, why are you such an egomaniac?"

ROFLMAO! Good one peggy!


5 posted on 06/29/2005 5:04:47 AM PDT by jocon307 (Can we close the border NOW?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

One of the best essays Ms. Noonan has ever written. Is she single {{sigh}}?


6 posted on 06/29/2005 5:35:56 AM PDT by JusPasenThru (Ignore alien orders.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jocon307
My lord, that is the most sarcastic I've ever seen her. It's beautiful:

"'In Lincoln's rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat--in all this he reminded me not just of my own struggles.'

Oh. So that's what Lincoln's for. Actually Lincoln's life is a lot like Mr. Obama's. Lincoln came from a lean-to in the backwoods. His mother died when he was 9. The Lincolns had no money, no standing. Lincoln educated himself, reading law on his own, working as a field hand, a store clerk and a raft hand on the Mississippi. He also split some rails. He entered politics, knew more defeat than victory, and went on to lead the nation through its greatest trauma, the Civil War, and past its greatest sin, slavery.

Barack Obama, the son of two University of Hawaii students, went to Columbia and Harvard Law after attending a private academy that taught the children of the Hawaiian royal family. He made his name in politics as an aggressive Chicago vote hustler in Bill Clinton's first campaign for the presidency.

You see the similarities."

I want to bear her children. Or something like that.

7 posted on 06/29/2005 5:37:58 AM PDT by LibertarianInExile ("Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist." -- John Adams. "F that." -- SCOTUS, in Kelo.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

BTTT


8 posted on 06/29/2005 5:40:43 AM PDT by EdReform (Free Republic - helping to keep our country a free republic. Thank you for your financial support!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibertarianInExile

LOL! I know, the article is a hoot. She should do this sarcasm thing more often.

She's absolutely correct, also. I too have been noticing the self-praise flowing from the pols lately. Sheesh, even the Hollyweird types feign modesty better than the DC crowd.


9 posted on 06/29/2005 5:43:31 AM PDT by jocon307 (Can we close the border NOW?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

Excellent article. I am utterly disgusted with the pols patting themselves and each other on the back for their many and wonderful virtues.

Shut up already!


10 posted on 06/29/2005 5:45:43 AM PDT by Restorer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

Good article


11 posted on 06/29/2005 6:21:31 AM PDT by Republican Red (''Van der Sloot" is Dutch for ''Kennedy.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher
. . .The Supreme Court this week and last issued many rulings, and though they were on different issues the decisions themselves had at least one thing in common: They seemed to reflect a lack of basic human modesty on the part of many of the justices. Many are famously very old, and they have been together as a court for a very long time. One wonders if they have lost all understanding of how privileged they are to have lifetime sinecures of power and authority. Do they have any sense anymore of common human wisdom, of the normal human arrangements by which Americans live?

Maybe a lot of them aren't bothering to think. Maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no longer in the habit of listening to arguments but only of watching William Rehnquist, and if he nods up and down she knows to vote "no," and if he shakes his head she knows to vote "yes." That might explain some of the lack of seriousness in the decisions. Local government can bulldoze Grandma's house because it's in the way of a future strip mall that will add more to the tax base? The Ten Commandments can appear on public land but not in a courthouse, but Moses, who received the Ten Commandments can appear in the frieze of the House but he'll be sandblasted off the Supreme Court? Or do I have that the other way around?

What are they doing? All this hair splitting, this dithering, this cutting and pasting--all this lack of serious and defining principle. All this vanity.

Perhaps Justice Ginsburg or Justice Stevens will retire soon and write a memoir: "Like Jefferson I held to principle, and like Lincoln I often lacked air conditioning. But in my intellectual gifts I've always found myself to be more like Oliver Wendell Holmes . . ."

I think Katie Holmes could render more clear-sighted decisions than either of these two.

12 posted on 06/29/2005 7:49:22 AM PDT by Caleb1411
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher
You don't have to look any further than your local government. Your neighbor gets elected and the next thing you know he/she considers themselves a genius. Next they become thugs.

Washington is no different. They ALL know better than you and are willing to send others with guns to "help" you.

13 posted on 06/29/2005 7:54:28 AM PDT by Protagoras (Now that the frog is fully cooked, how would you like it served?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

Funny how when the MSM talks about average folk being fed up with government, they then put McCain, Biden, et al in our face. Funny how I am fed up with the kind of govt Peggy is fed up with, not the kind the NY Times is fed up with!


14 posted on 06/29/2005 7:57:29 AM PDT by guitarist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

Good warning to Frist in this article. He may have made a political mistake diagnosing Schaivo by TV, but he had good intentions. But Peggy nails him on the appearance of pride in this one...


15 posted on 06/29/2005 7:58:32 AM PDT by guitarist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher
Maybe a lot of them aren't bothering to think. Maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg is no longer in the habit of listening to arguments but only of watching William Rehnquist, and if he nods up and down she knows to vote "no," and if he shakes his head she knows to vote "yes." That might explain some of the lack of seriousness in the decisions. Local government can bulldoze Grandma's house because it's in the way of a future strip mall that will add more to the tax base? The Ten Commandments can appear on public land but not in a courthouse, but Moses, who received the Ten Commandments can appear in the frieze of the House but he'll be sandblasted off the Supreme Court? Or do I have that the other way around?

Brilliant!

16 posted on 06/29/2005 8:35:51 AM PDT by NeoCaveman (we should not hesitate to resolve the tension in favor of the Constitution's original meaning-Thomas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher

Ever wonder what the outcome might be if we put a vote to Americans on the following question?: Shall all members of Congress be dismissed, ruled ineligible to run again for their position, and new representatives be elected to replace them.


17 posted on 06/30/2005 8:24:30 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dubyaismypresident

Frist was comments were embarrassing, but not as distasteful as the Clintons sitting there waiting to be gushed over by
Rev. Graham. The two most disgusting people ever. The just think they are something.


18 posted on 06/30/2005 11:05:36 AM PDT by go-ken-go
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Protagoras
Your neighbor gets elected and the next thing you know he/she considers themselves a genius. Next they become thugs.

I believe this describe a similar process for the Hollywood elite.

19 posted on 06/30/2005 11:12:45 AM PDT by Bear_Slayer (DOC - 81mm Mortars, Wpns Co. 2/3 KMCAS 86-89)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Molly Pitcher


Instapundit: Noonan Pops [Obama's] the Balloon

20 posted on 06/30/2005 12:09:05 PM PDT by OESY
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson