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The Spectacle Blog
Jeff Lord is right to take Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post to task for her criticisms of Mitt Romney’s critique of the Obama Administration’s handling of the acts of war against American interests in Egypt and Libya.
Well, I would add Peggy Noonan to that list. During an appearance on Fox News with Bill Hemmer yesterday, The Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter also took Romney to task:
I was thinking as he spoke, I think I belong to the old school of thinking that in times of great drama and heightened crisis, and in times when something violent has happened to your people, I always think discretion is the better way to go. When you step forward in the midst of a political environment and start giving statements on something dramatic and violent that has happened, you’re always leaving yourself open to accusations that you are trying to exploit things politically. I don’t feel that Mr. Romney has been doing himself any favors say in the past few hours - perhaps since last night. Sometimes, when really bad things happen, hot things happen — cool words, or no words is the way to go.
This is fatuous nonsense. Peggy Noonan, of all people, should know that the mainstream media has different standards of conduct concerning Democratic and Republican politicians. Surely, she understands that the liberal press put Romney under greater scrutiny in a single press conference than they have with President Obama over the past 3½ years.
Let us remember that something violent happened in Iran during their “elections” and all President Obama could say is that the United States should not been seen to be “meddling” and, as always, The Anointed One got a pass.
Strangely, the toughest thing Noonan had to say concerning President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was that they were “shying away from the higher meaning this event.” That’s the understatement of the century. President Obama and Hillary Clinton can be described with many qualities. Shyness isn’t one of them. I would be more inclined to describe their behavior as appeasing and cowardly.
As for Romney, had he said nothing he would have been assailed for his silence. If Romney had said something and not expressed his anger and outrage he would have been criticized for not expressing sufficient emotion and lacking compassion at the loss of American life. As far as the liberal press goes, Mitt Romney is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Now it may be true that Romney isn’t doing himself any favors with the liberal media but she should not conflate their sentiments with those of the majority of the American people. So long as she does so, it is Peggy Noonan who isn’t doing herself any favors.
View all comments (18) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/09/14/peggy-noonan-isnt-doing-hersel
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DTOM| 9.14.12 @ 11:50AM
Peggy Noonan represents the worst of RINOism and CINOism, in thrall to the mainstream media. Currently, she is so far from political currency that she has, consciously or unconsciously, become a compliant "conservative commentator" who gets air time only because she is a reliable critic of all things conservative, or accused of conservatism.
Dear Peggy, maybe you haven't noticed, so listen up: the mainstream media lemmings are hurtling over a cliff in their unmitigated, unwarranted support of this historically incompetent Administration. Hitching your star to that wagon only assures you of being lost at sea...
Please, Peggy, give up the television appearances and sound bite sales. Do some serious research, write yourself some hefty tome about some 1980's political topic that you surely could be the master of and enjoy the royalties. Stop destroying what little credibility you have left. For your own benefit. And ours. Please?
God Bless,
Don't Tread On Me!
Vet4Progress| 9.14.12 @ 2:31PM
DTOM is infected with the same virulent stream of megalomania that has infected the conservative movement. Shrill, narcisistic, bombastic, utterly devoid of any judgment, sense of propriety or ability to to use his higher critical thinking skills. Bereft of nuanced thinking he is left with overly simplistic jingoism, either/or left/right thinking that barely qualifies for the term ("thinking"). I'm sure affixed to his 2002 Nissan Altima is a bumper sticker that reads "America - Love it or Leave it"
soljerblue| 9.14.12 @ 4:50PM
Peggy Noonan is a fluent and sometimes gifted writer. But that doesn't mean the quality of thought behind them always rises to the same standard. Kind of like Vet4Progress in his above post.
Dai Alanye | 9.14.12 @ 4:32PM
Noonan has always shone by virtue of reflected glory from the man whose speeches she wrote. But the grand ideas were Reagan's, while organizing the mere words was Noonan's task.
In fact, she's always been something of a fathead, and envious of the attention paid to better women than herself.
Bob Grant| 9.14.12 @ 12:04PM
Aaron,
Peggy Noonan's views are from a particular perspective which is that of a speech writer. Peggy is a WORD person. She primarily judges politicians on their use of the language.
Why do think she was in awe of obama in '08? She was mesmerized by his perceived (and completely over-hyped) brilliant use of the English language.
She's over that now. She's seen the light. She's a Romney gal.
She criticized Romney because his LANGUAGE may have been perceived by some as insensitive to people who more than likely believed their lives were in danger and were trying to do everything they could to deescalate a bad situation.
She may have a point although I still agree with Romney 100 percent.
I'm going to cut her some slack on this one because I "consider the source" when I read her articles or hear her talk.
CJW| 9.14.12 @ 12:24PM
Noonan voted for Obama, and wrote articles explaining why. She also wrote a book about her Reagan years describing how smart she is, how she wrote great speeches, and how important she was. As if a speechwriter is the same as a great leader like Reagan.
Maybe Peggy should write speeches for Obama and Biden.
Rosanna R Buck| 9.14.12 @ 12:29PM
I can see Peggy Noonan cringing when Ronald Reagan stood at the Berlin Wall and demanded that Gorbachav tear it down. I think her silence would have been more appropriate than Mitt Romney's remarks ( which I think were perfectly appropriate). Having heard Ms Noonan and vehemntly disagreed with her fatuas remarks before, this did not come as a great surprise. I can not believe Bill Buckley agreater wordsmith than Ms. Noonan would have had the same reaction.
Ms Reggie Buck
Thom| 9.14.12 @ 1:07PM
Peggy Noonan gets paid by the pound. Her stated positions change like the seasons. If you don’t like something she says today, just wait a month or two….
That’s the problem with some “wordsmiths”. They are in love with the flow and sound of the words but lack any comprehension of their meaning… In the thirties, Peggy could have found fond words for Hitler and Stalin in the early years…. For enough money I suspect she could write a pretty good speak for the Devil….
Teflon93 | 9.14.12 @ 1:55PM
So she'll be voting for Obama again, then?
Vet4Progress| 9.14.12 @ 2:25PM
"As for Romney, had he said nothing he would have been assailed for his silence. If Romney had said something and not expressed his anger and outrage he would have been criticized for not expressing sufficient emotion and lacking compassion at the loss of American life. As far as the liberal press goes, Mitt Romney is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't."
Yes, indeed and apparently the same treatment goes for the PResident as well. The salient difference is that the President is the one who has to actually govern whereas Mittens is left to throw verbal bombs from the sidelines. What was required in the first 24 hours and esapecially in the first few moments as the story was literally playing out was STATESMANSHIP. Romney failed that test. Noonan has a greater respect for her country, her profession than is evidenced by Mr. Goldstein.
Bob Grant| 9.14.12 @ 3:03PM
"What was required in the first 24 hours and esapecially in the first few moments as the story was literally playing out was STATESMANSHIP..."
Perhaps of obama but not Romney, who IS NOT IN GOVERNMENT.
If you want to go down that route I can direct you to an assortment of statements made by CANDIDATE obama in '08 made toward the sitting president while an event was unfolding.
rlranger907| 9.14.12 @ 2:47PM
Peggy Noonan has departed from the orthodoxy and blind loyalty to team above all else, so she must be purged as a RINO and CINO.
Daniel Larison in the American Conservative:
"The substance of Romney’s critique, such as it is, consists of a false accusation (the first response was to “sympathize” with embassy attackers), which is based on an equally baseless framing of Obama’s foreign policy record (the so-called “apology tour”). Even if Romney were right to hold the Obama administration responsible for an unauthorized statement, the embassy statement doesn’t support Romney’s accusation, either. The embassy statement wasn’t evidence of sympathy for the attackers.
"The truth is that Romney was trying to link his opponent in the minds of the public with the people attacking U.S. diplomatic missions. He made this attempt on the basis of the flimsiest evidence available. His accusation was then repeatedly shown to be false before he appeared at his Wednesday morning press conference. Undeterred by having been proven wrong, Romney pressed his dishonest attack once again. Since then, Romney’s defenders have worked very hard to avoid addressing the substance of Romney’s statement, perhaps because they know they can’t defend it and don’t even want to try."
kingsmill| 9.14.12 @ 2:50PM
Au contraire, she has once again proved herself to be a Beltway Bimbo. Therefore she must be championed by trolls.
kingsmill| 9.14.12 @ 2:48PM
Noonan's idea of a great leader is Kay Bailey Hutchison. She was outed and discredited with her secretive, inane anti-Palin remarks to Chucky Todd on MSNBC. Nothing this fraud says surprises me. She also is beginning to look like one of Dr. Zaius' lobotomized humans from the original Planet of the Apes.
Occam's Tool| 9.14.12 @ 3:22PM
Certainly, a greater statesman than Obama was Julius Caesar. When Obama is flushed down the memory hole except for being the first black President (whose ONLY significant accomplishement began in November and ended on his inauguration day), Caesar will still be read.
If this had occurred under Caesar's watch, Bengazi would be a smoking hole in the desert. As it should be now.
We are dealing with inhuman vermin. Treat them that way.
Al Adab| 9.14.12 @ 4:12PM
Galia est omnis diviso in partes tres.
soljerblue| 9.14.12 @ 4:46PM
Nor, I suspect, would the Islamofascists have attacked the Russian or former Soviet embassies for precisely the same reason.
Crassus| 9.14.12 @ 4:25PM
Not surprising since Peggy Noonan is a card carrying member of Obama's Mile High Club.