Posted on 01/27/2005 9:16:49 PM PST by quidnunc
Because her idiosyncratic take on George W. Bush's Second Inaugural Address did not go unnoticed, Peggy Noonan decided she had some splainin' to do. Okay by me. But then she went and threw a press conference. For herself. Asking and answering her own questions. If that isn't a symptom of Olympian presumption, I'm not sure what is.
Fans of her writing may remember that Noonan is the columnist who three months ago told fellow conservatives not to rock the boat over Arlen Specter's elevation to chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee (even though she's Catholic and Specter has been hostile to pro-life nominees for positions on the federal bench). Back then, she described "Ssssshhhhhhhh" as both a "wonderful sound" and "good advice for our country" — something to keep in mind while we breathe deeply and "build a great silence" on issues that matter.
I hate to start thinking of her as Peggy "turn down the volume" Noonan, but her newfound enthusiasm for quietude at any cost would explain her adverse reaction to GWB's second inaugural. She wants oboes and clarinets. The guy in Air Force One whom she voted for prefers trumpets and cymbals.
"Life is layered, complex, not always most needful of political action. For many people in the world the most important extrafamilial relationship is not with the state but with the God," Noonan writes.
That's blessedly true, as far as it goes, but borderline lunatic when used to criticize a head of state who can only meet the demands of his office by engaging in political action. While the presidential writ doesn't extend to priesthood (thank God!), and the troubles of this world will pass away, it's hard to fault GWB's ode to freedom as "perplexing and disturbing," the way Noonan does.
In a crowning irony, Noonan gives thanks for the fact that timid staffers in the Reagan White House could not prevent Mr. Reagan from saying "tear down this wall," and calling the Soviet Union an "evil empire." Four administrations and one Laura Ingraham-style "but monkey" later, however, Noonan laments the lack of defensive thinking that in her youth she would have eviscerated.
-snip-
I think you've found the answer. :-)
LOL...well that's one way of putting it. :-)
"One, if an ostracism of Peggy Noonan is reason enough for you to ruin our party's chances in the next election, you are intellectually incapable of distinguishing big things from tiny ones"
Ostracism of the likes of Noonan will just be the beginning. You cannot maintain a majority by pissing off people (like Noonan fans) who admire the majority of her work and remember her fondly as a Daughter of the Reagan Revolution. Today its Noonan, tomorrow its Indepedents, then Moderates.
We need more congress-criters in 06 so Bush can get his nominees to SCOTUS. This kind of BS is not the way to do it. Learn to maintain a Majority Party by disagreeing with, not attacking, your own. I've seen this kind of behavior from Republicans before - knock it off before it becomes a pattern.
That'll probably leave a mark.
On the speech, I think enough time has passed to conclude the sky did not fall as a result. Peggy didn't like it but there was no reason to panic. She thought the speech would somehow give justification to our enemies that we are "immature." Nonsense.
She did it to herself, get over it.
Nobody's gainsaying her ability to string word together, it's the cognitions behind her wordsmithing that makes one shake one's head more in sorrow than in anger.
My impression is that she's develped an entirely inflated opinion of her place in the scheme of things.
To hear her tell it, presidents are just empty vessels until their staffs give them marching orders.
I already read that post and I see her feeling rejected. Now she's in a bad mood. Working a campaign is different from policy-formation. She needs to be brought back in and told about current situations. Except Bush demands to have a fresh outlook for America. Goss is in the process of emptying the CIA of democrats. Rice is going to empty State of democrats. Rumsfeld is hated for firing democrats from Defense. The new Attorney General is going to clean house in Justice too.
Bush is tired of BS from these agencies.
Bush has the handle of 5000 different jobs and he's firing people. That's a GOOD THING.
Darn it, John. You beat me by 25 minutes. :)
I didn't see that. That is really a sad, sad shame.
I'm sure that 100s of thousands of Noonan fans, like you, will sit on their can and let the Dems take seats in '06 if Noonan gets a sound and deserved drubbing from the common folk. You are delusional.
From all I've read on this thread, we are simply disagreeing with her brain-dead remarks on Bush's inaugural, and her equally dopey defense of those remarks.
Peggy is simply out of step with the vast majority of the rest of her party. It is she who is driving a wedge into the GOP, not those of us who, for the life of us, are trying to figure out what the hell has come over her.
Her timing for bad articles is astounding, Like I said, this time it backfired, if they are intentional.
Did you ever notice how closely her mannerisms resemble those of the late Princess Diana?
Where,oh where were you,when I was getting beaten up here,for stating the bleeding obvious about Peggy? LOL
Her sickeningly sweet columns,her wild swings for and then disgustingly anti-President Bush,and everything in between,makes Peggy the HACK I rightly called her.
And on the personal side,you have her nailed. That twee flirtatious school girl act,at her age,is laughable and annoying.
Makes sense to me. In Chapter 14 of her book "What I Saw at the Revolution," she compared Reagan to a bobbing Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon head.
She will never fully recover from this one.
I'm a Peggy fan and I'm definitely not for throwing her "over the side". But I believe Peggy is dead wrong in her critique, for a specific reason:
Peggy, who reminds me of my mother in her calm, thoughtful, introspective writing, is a woman. Because of that, she -- like my mother (and most women) -- shys away from controversial language and confrontational statements. Ann Coulter is the exception, not the rule.
This, though, was a speech that was intended to be both challenging and confrontational -- on what amounts to a man-to-man basis (or President-to-tyrant, so to speak). Consequently, Peggy bridled at "man talk"...and words she never would have written herself.
In other words, it's a "gender thing". And I don't believe Peggy will ever understand why she's wrong on this one.
read later bump
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