Peggy Noonan Blasts Sarah Palin

Proof • July 10, 2009

Since Sarah Palin first popped onto the nation’s radar, one of her most ardent critics has been conservative columnist Peggy Noonan. Noonan, of course, has been more respectful and circumspect in her criticism of Palin than others, and for that she gets my respect, but I’m not sure anyone loathes Sarah more than Noonan does.
Except maybe the people who perpetuate myths about Sarah’s baby Trig not really being hers.
So it’s not at all surprising that Noonan has a scathing column in the Wall Street Journal essentially saying “good riddance” to Palin. You can read the whole thing here, but this is the crux of her argument I think:

Here’s why all this matters. The world is a dangerous place. It has never been more so, or more complicated, more straining of the reasoning powers of those with actual genius and true judgment. This is a time for conservative leaders who know how to think.
Here are a few examples of what we may face in the next 10 years: a profound and prolonged American crash, with the admission of bankruptcy and the spread of deep social unrest; one or more American cities getting hit with weapons of mass destruction from an unknown source; faint glimmers of actual secessionist movements as Americans for various reasons and in various areas decide the burdens and assumptions of the federal government are no longer attractive or legitimate.
The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted.

The problem I have with this is that it is a decidedly non-conservative argument to make. Noonan says we need “gifted” political leaders to apply government solutions to the problems we face. I would suggest, at least on domestic issues which are likely to be the most serious issues we face in the next dozen years or so, that our problems have been created by far too many politicians who we think are brilliant and gifted thinking they actually can solve all the problems for us. Government intervention in our economy, our markets and our day-to-day problems has created or at least contributed to most of the major issues we face.
What we need now is not more “gifted” politicians in office, presumably to pull the right government levers and make everything all better, but rather someone who will recognize that government is the problem and seek to transfer much of the power the government has accumulated for itself (at a more rapid pace over the last 75 – 80 years than any other time in our history) back to the people. I was talking with a friend this morning about Noonan’s article, and he told me that mainstream Republicans (like Noonan, I’d suggest) are missing the boat on the role of government. Rather than recognizing that the government doesn’t have all the solutions, they simply want to pursue other more restrained solutions than the liberals want.
I shudder at the thought of more “gifted” politicians pursuing their interpretations of what the government needs. We need to limit government. I think Sarah Palin, though far from perfect, is someone who could move us in the right direction.

Tags: Asshats, Domestic Issues, Politics

http://Array robert108

So what? Who cares what Peggy Noonan has to say?
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

I think Peggy’s wrong in her underlying belief. I think Sarah would have handled this with the right touch better than recent leaders.

Going to Harvard doesn’t automatically give you the ability to cope.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

Noonan, Noonan…say isn’t she one of the people who wrote everything Raygun said?

I guess she might know a thing or two about being a con.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

In your case we’d I’d be willing to use the “idiot” label, just to break up the pattern for you.
tothestars2

“gifted politician”-one who can lie so effectively that they, and all who listen, actually believe the words spoken out of its mouth. Of course, while reading these words from a teleprompter.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

The one thing we can all agree on, both left and right, is that the country is nearly in FUBAR status. (Effed Up Beyond Repair.)

What’s the one common denominator of most of the leaders we blame?

They went to “elite” schools. How about some regular guys?
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

“gifted politician”-one who can lie so effectively that they, and all who listen, actually believe the words spoken out of its mouth. Of course, while reading these words from a teleprompter.
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

1200 page, $787Bln bills are written by staffers not by elected officials.

I suspect it’s a lot worse than that. I think much of the bills are submitted by special interests to the staffers who may or may not even understand what they are submitting.
Buzz

Dang if Bob isn’t Johnny on the spot with that shit.

Pwned by Bob, again.
tothestars2

Poor Boob, just doesn’t get it. The key word was “lies”. Sure, I could find and post pictures of Bill Clinton and Obama using a teleprompter, but that would be just juvenile. He responded just as thought.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

“A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not.”

He responded just as thought.
Ken

Noonan says we need “gifted” political leaders to apply government solutions to the problems we face.

Sorry, but where did she say or even imply that? What she was saying is that we need leaders who are educated and gifted in several different areas; a renaissance man/woman who is fully capable of tackling both domestic and foriegn obstacles with skill.

What we need now is not more “gifted” politicians in office, presumably to pull the right government levers and make everything all better, but rather someone who will recognize that government is the problem and seek to transfer much of the power the government has accumulated for itself (at a more rapid pace over the last 75 – 80 years than any other time in our history) back to the people.

You act as if that’s simply enough. If all you want is a ‘hands-off’ leader then just vote for Ron Paul. But a President has more responsibility then simply transferring power back to the people. It’s a good characteristic, but not good enough on its own. The POTUS is also the CIC, the voice of America abroad, and the de facto leader of their political movement. I would also argue that the POTUS does need to know when to pull the right lever. Limited government is not the same as no government.

Furthermore, why do you act as if being gifted is a bad thing? It smacks of anti-intellectualism. I know that we’re a government of the people, but excuse me if I’d rather have an Einstein than a Joe the Plumber as POTUS.
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

Since Sarah Palin first popped onto the nation’s radar, one of her most ardent critics has been conservative columnist Peggy Noonan.

ROB, I am not trying to pick a fight or anything but to call Peggy Noonam a conservative is really a diservice to the conservative movement. Peggy is part of the RINO’s that voted for BARRYO NOBAMA during the last election.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

Peggy is part of the RINO’s that voted for BARRYO NOBAMA during the last election.

Sorry goon, you’re wrong again.

Peggy voted for McCain.

Although if you think McCain was a RINO then you’re half right, I guess.
tothestars2

“Look, I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years.”

Obama gave a similar response to a question from a reporter that he dismissed as “silly”: “Guys, I’m a state senator. I was elected yesterday. I have never set foot in the U.S. Senate. I’ve never worked in Washington. And the notion that somehow I’m immediately going to start running for higher office, it just doesn’t make sense

The more consequential lie of the 2008 Obama campaign, and the one that may determine the outcome of the election, was Obama’s promise to accept federal funds for the general election if his opponent did. It was a given that John McCain, the co-author of campaign finance reform legislation with liberal Democrat Russ Feingold, was going to observe the federal spending limit of $84 million that accompanied the funds. Obama, on the other hand, never had any intention of limiting his spending to that amount

50 more go to http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/50lies.asp

And remember, He didn’t have sex with that woman/women.
http://www.thedailyslant.com/ Hairy Polemic

Rob,

The problem I have with this is that it is a decidedly non-conservative argument to make. Noonan says we need “gifted” political leaders to apply government solutions to the problems we face.

Wow. That so mischaracterizes what she said.

Noonan’s whole article, up until the very last part which you quoted, focused on foreign policy concerns and how effective leaders need to know why they hold the values that they hold (not simply hold them because they were raised that way). Noonan wasn’t saying that we need leaders who can create more government to solve our problems, she was saying that we need leaders who have the brains to be capable at doing their jobs as leaders of… our government (duh).

I particularly agree with this quote:

She was a gifted retail politician who displayed the disadvantages of being born into a point of view (in her case a form of conservatism; elsewhere and in other circumstances, it could have been a form of liberalism) and swallowing it whole: She never learned how the other sides think, or why.

This characterizes 99% of our population — liberal or conservative. Robert is an extreme example of this, but most Americans are like this to a scary extent. And this will be, in my opinion, the primary cause of our democracy’s inevitable collapse.

I don’t think Palin lacks intellect merely because she didn’t go to an Ivy school. I think she lacks intellect because barring a diploma from an Ivy school (which is IMO a bare threshold of evidence showing intellect), she has not given me anything else to make me think that she is an autodidact of some sort.

Noonan made a good point on this: Lincoln had like 18 months of formal education, but he had trained himself to be a lawyer by his early 20s and was admitted to the Bar. What exactly has Palin accomplished that is evidence of any ability to think? She became a politician?

You like her because she espouses your values (I initially liked her for the same reason). But half the juicers at my gym want to stick it to the man too, I wouldn’t vote for them to be President.
Brent

Peggy is wrong (not unusual) throughout the column. She makes a very persuasive argument, but then I thought about her various refutations and realized she’s either completely misreading things or she’s intentionally trying to concoct a story that fits her decidedly beltway beliefs.

As for Ken:

Sorry, but where did she say or even imply that?

How about the part where Noonan writes,

The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can.

And Ken says,

But a President has more responsibility then simply transferring power back to the people. It’s a good characteristic, but not good enough on its own. The POTUS is also the CIC, the voice of America abroad, and the de facto leader of their political movement.

The constitution does not say or even imply that the president is the voice of America abroad. We weren’t supposed to have a King. But then, since you believe,

I would also argue that the POTUS does need to know when to pull the right lever. Limited government is not the same as no government.

it is not surprising that you believe in one-man political messiahs.

I know that we’re a government of the people, but excuse me if I’d rather have an Einstein than a Joe the Plumber as POTUS.

Right. Way to be intellectual, Ken. Einstein was a socialist in the tradition of the great communist and fasicst “intellectuals” and “leaders” of his era. You’d rather have a socialist as a president? How did that work out for those other countries?
robert108

HP: Standing up for real American values is a virtue; you might want to try it some time. Being against Marxism, communist agitation and appeasing terrorists is also a virtue.
I’m sorry you have no faith in our American values, but that’s your problem.
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/hpb hpb

What If Palin Were President?

Former sports reporters certainly won’t do. We need former constitutional scholars. Who else, after all, has a better understanding of how to undermine the document?

Really, where would we be if a bumpkin like Palin were president? With her brainpower, we probably would be stuck with a Cabinet full of tax cheats, retreads and moralizing social engineers.

If Palin were president, chances are we’d have a gaffe-generating motormouth for a vice president. That’s the kind of decision-making one expects from Miss Congeniality.

The job of building generational debt is not for the unsophisticated. Enriching political donors with taxpayer dollars takes intellectual prowess, not the skills of a moose-hunting point guard.

The talent to print money we don’t have to pay for programs we can’t afford is the work of a finely tuned imagination, soaring gravitas and endless policy know-how.

Palin is so clueless she probably would have rushed through some colossal stimulus plan that ended up stimulating nothing.

If Palin were president, no one doubts this nation would have continued the Bush-era policy of indefinite detention of enemy combatants and the CIA’s program of transferring prisoners to other countries without legal rights. Be thankful you have a president who makes you think this nation doesn’t.

If Palin were commander in chief — and, again, can anyone imagine anything so preposterous? — the United States still would be fighting endless and expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It’s true that Palin’s first veto as Alaska governor was of a bill that would have blocked state employee benefits and health insurance for same-sex couples, but does anyone doubt her true intentions?

If she were president, brave American soldiers still would be living under the dark specter of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Palin even might have instructed her Justice Department to file a brief in defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. Such is the depth of her depravity.

Does anyone believe that Palin possesses the competence to nationalize entire industries without the consent of the people? A housewife from Wasilla isn’t equipped with political brawn to shake down banks and bondholders.

Palin never would be able to convince Americans that a trillion-dollar government-run health care plan would save taxpayers money or have the rhetorical ability to convince even a single person that a European-style cap-and-trade scheme has any benefit at all.
http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/ goon

Even if Back Water Boob is right. Big if. Were you in the voting booth with her, the fact remains: to call Peggy Noonam a true blue conservative is really a diservice to the conservative movement. Peggy is part of the RINO’s that voted for reguardless on who she voted for.
studakota

Hard for this writer to visualize Sarah, or Todd Palin, on discovering they had just enough to cover their monthly bills, going to the bank and borrowing funds to finance a trip through Europe. Matter of fact I’d expect them to be quite Niggardly about their expenses. A dose of Common sense will work for this voter everytime.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

What do you need goon, video of her saying she would vote for McCain?

She voted for McCain.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

Peggy is part of the RINO’s that voted for reguardless on who she voted for.

Goon, who did you vote for?
http://www.thedailyslant.com/ Hairy Polemic

Rob,

Hairy, Noonan said in her column exactly what I quoted in my post.

That is correct. That is how quoting works.

She seems to think that all the solutions lay with the government, and that we need some gifted genius in the white house to pull the levers.

But no. I don’t think her column, or even what you quoted, reflects that she seems to think this at all. You’re putting words in her mouth. She said that our government needs effective leaders, she did not say that we need more government.

a lot of other urban conservatives are straining for reasons to dislike Palin without having to come out and just say that she’s stupid because she grew up in a backwater

No. I think she’s stupid because she grew up in a backwater and because she has done nothing to show that she is smart despite this.

Believe it or not, backwater townies tend to have less education than people who can afford it — it’s an ugly fact of life. I don’t get offended at people’s preconceptions of my intelligence when they find out about my economic background, but then I actually have accomplished things to prove myself otherwise. Palin has not.

Oh, and I never strained to dislike her. I actually liked her a lot at first, then I began to see the logic behind her values. There is none. She has just the values. That’s not enough for me. I want a leader who understands why what they believe is right, not just someone who has blind faith. Having the former means you have the capacity to adapt to the unexpected situations that life (and a Presidency) might throw at you.
Michael K.

I agree with Rob’scomments above. We don’t need Republicans who run as the party of more efficient “Midnight Basketball”. It is time to liberate the federal government from the permanent ruling class. 1200 page, $787Bln bills are written by staffers not by elected officials. “Actual genius” would be to recognize that, with little intervention by government, the people can get along fine on their own. This is the distinction between Palin and her “conservative” critics like David Frum and Peggy Noonan. David Frum and Peggy Noonan are “big government” Republicans. This is the time of the “Great Clarification” between conservatives in favor if individual liberties and “big government” Republicans who see government as “part of the solution”.

Smaller government, lower taxes, common sense economics and more freedom!

I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe–”That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.

Henry David Thoreau
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/realitybasedbob/ realitybasedbob

“The elites hate her.” The elites made her. It was the elites of the party, the McCain campaign and the conservative media that picked her and pushed her. The base barely knew who she was. It was the elites, from party operatives to public intellectuals, who advanced her and attacked those who said she lacked heft. She is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon.

“She makes the Republican Party look inclusive.” She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated.

“She shows our ingenuous interest in all classes.” She shows your cynicism.

Oh that’s gonna leave a mark.

All that and Old Peg still voted McCain/Palin.

I sure hope Gene doesn’t see this.
docdave

Peggy Noonan, a conservative spokesperson??? Don’t make me laugh. She’s a full fledged RINO as best.
ellinas

Anytime someone speaks against Palin y’all label him/her as a lefty, Rino, or not a true conservative.
Do y’all see a pattern here?
ellinas

Whistler. You gonna throw me under the bus too like Noonan?
What a surprise.
Deep inside, you know that what I said is true. You are not man enough to admit it.
robert108

Do y’all see a pattern here?

It’s not a “pattern”; it’s an accurate analysis based on facts.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/homosexuality_is_wrong_-_a_compendium move_zig

ROB, I am not trying to pick a fight or anything but to call Peggy Noonam a conservative is really a diservice to the conservative movement. Peggy is part of the RINO’s that voted for BARRYO NOBAMA during the last election.

I have to agree. Inside the Beltway, looking for a Conservative does not stop at what people call themselves — look to what it is that they actually do.

Many are simply LIARS

Liberals Imitating A Republican.

Think we caught ourselves one.
Ken

As for Ken:

Sorry, but where did she say or even imply that?

How about the part where Noonan writes,

The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can.

Umm, I think you may have misunderstood:

Noonan says we need “gifted” political leaders to apply government solutions to the problems we face.

I was referring to the part where Rob claims Noonan says we need leaders who will apply government solutions.

The constitution does not say or even imply that the president is the voice of America abroad. We weren’t supposed to have a King.

Correct, but you’re naive if you don’t recognize the reality. Between being CIC and setting major foreign policy, the POTUS is our nation’s defacto voice abroad.

it is not surprising that you believe in one-man political messiahs.

What?!? Where did I say that? I can’t stand the left’s worship of Obama and their inability to recognize his flaws. I think some on the right are in danger of doing that to a lesser degree with Palin.

Right. Way to be intellectual, Ken. Einstein was a socialist in the tradition of the great communist and fasicst “intellectuals” and “leaders” of his era. You’d rather have a socialist as a president? How did that work out for those other countries?

Oh come off it. I thought it was pretty obvious that I was referring to his intelligence rather than his political idealogy. I only used Einstein as an example because in our culture he’s often considered the high-mark of human intelligence. Obviously a genius with the wrong ideology is worse than a buffoon with the correct one. Personally, if it was between a genius and a layman (assuming I agree with both their views), I’d take the genius any day of the week. I’d also take a Ron Paul any day of the week over Palin.
Ken

Also, Hairy’s assessment of what Noonan wrote is absolutely correct.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Sure Reagan used a teleprompter. But he could also speak without one. Unlike obama.

And while noonan was a reagan speech writer the ideas she wrote about came from reagan.
sayanything-6955

They went to “elite” schools. How about some regular guys?

Who would get to go to those secret “barbeque’s” and “salons” with the washington post?
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Brent is exactly right.

We seem to have this myth about effective political leaders being some sort of super geniuses. It’s likely a myth perpetrated by our political leaders themselves, since it’s so flattering, and their admirers.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Hairy, Noonan said in her column exactly what I quoted in my post. She seems to think that all the solutions lay with the government, and that we need some gifted genius in the white house to pull the levers.

I didn’t say that. She did.

The problem here, I think, is that both Noonan and you (who once referred to Palin as “provincial”) and a lot of other urban conservatives are straining for reasons to dislike Palin without having to come out and just say that she’s stupid because she grew up in a backwater (the same town where I grew up, as it happens) and talks funny.

I wonder if Reagan himself would have met the lofty standards Noonan suddenly has on foreign policy issues when he went from actor to Governor of California to candidate for President. I don’t think he would have, but then I don’t think Noonan would have applied those same standards.

Because Reagan wasn’t “provincial.” And he didn’t have a funny accent.

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