Season of the Witch

Power Line Blog ^ | April 26, 2008 | Scott Johnson

[drellberg]

"This seems to be the season to bash Bush. At any rate, Noonan's weekly Wall Street Journal column takes up the subject of airport security and takes the occasion to bash Bush. The column is titled "The view from Gate 14." Noonan gives voice to the common frustration with post-9/11 airport security:"

[drellberg]

Noonan is a good friend of a good friend. She takes risks as a writer, I believe. Sometimes she resonates; often she misses wildly. I post this because I fly a lot. I mean a lot. I witness the opposite of what she conveys. I see people day in, day out enduring this nonsense with the utmost patience and understanding. It is a small price to pay for all of the values that as a nation we hold dear.

I love our President, who takes nothing but grief and yet who has sheparded this country through some difficult and dangerous times. Anyone with an objective mind and doubts about his successes should go read Kagan's most recent article in the Weekly Standard on where we stand in Iraq. I love our President. I love our President. He takes nothing but grief, and yet he is perhaps the greatest man I have seen in my 50 years of life. May God bless him and keep him, and make his face to shine upon him and bring him peace.

[fifthestate]

yes I agree...sometimes he irritates me beyond belief but I’m not sure who I would rather be President at this time

[outofstyle]

Noonan is a good friend of a good friend.

I did not read this article. However; what's up with Peggy Noonan? Maybe it's me, but she seems to be drifting to the left along with the entire country. She appears to fawn over Obama.

[acapesket]

Peggy Noonan has a stinger in her behind.
Who cares where it came from?
She has become an unimportant screeching witch who babbles nonsense.
She is beyond compassion.
Somebody pissed her off and she’s gone beyond.

[buridan]

For a really amusing attorney’s blog on airport security, see:

http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2005/10/the_airline_scr.html

[Copernicus]

With all due respect, President Bush IS responsible for the state of affairs at Gate 14. I applaud Noonan for the courage to speak out about it.

There was, and is, absolutely no reason for the entire country to jump up on a table with their collective skirts wrapped around their ears shrieking "mouse" because a handful of terrorists had the pluck to use BOXCUTTERS to blow up a billion dollars of prime New York real estate.

This government has gone completely feral and it needs to stop.

I have said it before and I will cheerfully repeat it here:

Emotion based Conservatism is as destructive to Liberty and a Representative Constitutional Republic as emotion based Liberalism.

Best regards,

[jazusamo]

Good column and an appropriate title.

[hosepipe]

Bush will probably go down as a hero of the democrat party.. since he single handily fractured the republican to an unredeemed mess.. Even RINOs are beginning to see it..

RINOs are normally blind as bats.. but some of them see that Bush chases his tail.. AND CATCHES IT.. Wonder if he always was a MOLE.. Because his domestic espionage matchs the democrats.. Globalist, BIG government, socialism..

[denydenydeny]

Yes, I thought this was a Hillary thread when I saw the title.

But when I saw that Arianna Noonan had written it, I knew she’d much prefer attacking the president than any Democrat.

[rlmorel]

The people who gripe the loudest about the security are the same people who will gripe the loudest next time a plane is blown up, hijacked or used as a missile. They will say that not enough was done.

That’s my opinion.

[SecAmndmt]

“Globalist, BIG government, socialism.”

Yes, but the moral and legal relativists will claim that the alternative was worse, and that the events of 9/11 justify what amounts to the destruction of the Republic...in order to save the Republic.

[y6162]

Easy for you and Peggy to say. W’s policy is to prevent another attack. What’s your policy besides complaining?

Peggy has nearly morphed into Zsa Zsa Huffington. Good riddance to her.

[ilgipper]

Airport security post 9/11 is significantly better run, more professional and more efficient than pre-9/11. I say this as someone who travels very regularly. before 9/11 the private agencies that ran security, hired nincompoops who barely paid attention or communicated to travelers...they looked like minimum wage idiots you might see at a fast food restaurant. today, security workers are much friendlier, more focused on their jobs and seemingly much more motivated to do their job effectively. Sure, i have seen a few exceptions, but despite the move from private company to government run TSA, I see a vast improvement.

[Doctor Don]

I heard Peggy Noonan when she spoke in Oklahoma City on Thursday night. I agree with everything in her article. She is a very wise lady!

[TheCipher]

But with security being run by the government, you have typical government "practices" like giving the screeners advance notice when a covert testing procedure is going to be done at the airport. There is a bill in congress to prohibit this practice. You can see it at : The Hill Rat

[G.Love]

Noonan is a whiny elitist gasbag who loves the look of her own words on the page. That she presumes to speak for Republicans in general is getting more and more annoying and she is starting to sound like Mo Dowd in her constant Bush bashing.

[maine-iac7]

I did not read this article. However; what's up with Peggy Noonan? Maybe it's me, but she seems to be drifting to the left along

She sounds like a woman scorned - I sometimes wonder if she not only thought that her years as a writer for Reagan, she thought this would give her an automatic spot with Bush - 'scorn' number one.

But it seems to go beyond that - as if she had a crush on Bush and wasn't given the time of day there either...

She's turned into a bitter screecher...

[maine-iac7]

guess what? We can read. And even understand.

No need to “shout”

[Enchante]

"Peggy has nearly morphed into Zsa Zsa Huffington. Good riddance to her."

LOL. I can't say I pay much attention to Peggy Noonan.... I find her almost unreadable, long on histrionics and short on reasoned analysis. I know she is supposed to have done some good work in the '80s but I can't say I've ever read a column of hers that impressed me. OTOH, when I see her name I usually pass on by without stopping. She's a self-important bore.

[PghBaldy]

If Bush truly cared about the security of this country, he wouldn’t have allowed the rampant illegal immigration, among other things. Americans at airports (and everywhere) get more screening than illegal invaders.