The problem with Peggy Noonan’s bizarre, rambling column yesterday is that when she floats the idea of Cheney’s ouster in the Wall Street Journal, it’s not just one woman’s ramblings in a local paper. Her idle, factless speculation rests on her laurels and the reputation of her publication. And to at least the left and the media, if not the rest of the country, that counts for a great deal. So it’s no surprise that Howie Kurtz leads with her column today:

What did surprise me was this Peggy Noonan column in the Wall Street Journal. She, after all, is a former Reagan and Bush White House speechwriter who took a leave in 2004 to work for the president’s reelection. But here she is putting into play the question of not only whether Cheney is damaged goods but whether he might have to pack his bags…

There it is. Her reputation. Her newspaper. Her Bush-fawning credentials. “See! Even Peggy Noonan thinks Cheney’s time could be up.” Her column will have shelf-life, not because it was of any particularly high quality, but because she’s a person in the right-wing category (yes, debatable, I know) who has said it. And the press will gleefully repeat her inanity.