Liar, Liar, Mike's On Fire
Peggy Noonan says one thing in scripted form -- and quite another when she doesn't know the microphone's hot.
Here's what I'll call "The Before Story," Noonan on Palin, which I read sometime this afternoon in the WSJ:
Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist; because she wears makeup and heels and eats mooseburgers and is Alaska Tough, as Time magazine put it; because she is conservative, and pro-2nd Amendment and pro-life; and because conservatives can smell this sort of thing -- who is really one of them and who is not -- and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to the Obama candidacy.
Via LAObserved, from the LATimes political blog Top Of The Ticket, an accident in honesty.
Noonan says McCain's pick of Palin means "it's over." "The race is over."
"Is she the most qualified woman...?" Murphy asks.
"The most qualified?" Noonan responds. "No. I think they went for the, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives. (unintelligible) ...Every time Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it."
Whoops! (To borrow from Joan Crawford) Peggy, get the mop!
And she does, backtracking, not only on her remarks on Palin, but most notably, for appearing to be human while appearing on TV. (I like Noonan a lot more as a human than when she sounds like a first grade teacher going all profound.) She writes in her WSJ post-open-mike mea culpa:
In our off-air conversation, I got on the subject of the leaders of the Republican party assuming, now, that whatever the base of the Republican party thinks is what America thinks. I made the case that this is no longer true, that party leaders seem to me stuck in the assumptions of 1988 and 1994, the assumptions that reigned when they were young and coming up. "The first lesson they learned is the one they remember," I said to Todd -- and I'm pretty certain that is a direct quote. But, I argued, that's over, those assumptions are yesterday, the party can no longer assume that its base is utterly in line with the thinking of the American people. And when I said, "It's over!" -- and I said it more than once -- that is what I was referring to. I am pretty certain that is exactly what Todd and Murphy understood I was referring to. In the truncated version of the conversation, on the Web, it appears I am saying the McCain campaign is over. I did not say it, and do not think it. In fact, at an on-the-record press symposium on the campaign on Monday, when all of those on the panel were pressed to predict who would win, I said that I didn't know, but that we just might find "This IS a country for old men." That is, McCain may well win. I do not think the campaign is over, I do not think this is settled, and did not suggest, back to the Todd-Murphy conversation, that "It's over."However, I did say two things that I haven't said in public, either in speaking or in my writing. One is a vulgar epithet that I wish I could blame on the mood of the moment but cannot. No one else, to my memory, swore. I just blurted.
Peggy, there are men all over America right now who'd give, I dunno, something pretty good, just to hear you say "fuck."
I'm not saying you're wrong, or disproportionate, or that she doesn't deserve it, or that it isn't funny.
But she said some neat things on that blog in recent days, noted elsewhere in these comments....
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at September 3, 2008 10:32 PM
Yes, she got caught big time. Pretty decent recovery with her front-end append though.
Amy, I fully understand that you have your own legitimate reasons for poo-pooing Sarah Palin's appointment. Peggy Noonan clearly concurs with you.
What you both also have in common is that you're two of my favourite writers -AND- I absolutely disagree with you both on this issue.
Rather than re-explaining my reasons, I invite you and all your readers to watch a video from 2 good old boys from Texas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSx0RV3lAxc Those guys and I probably can't be further about in where we live and how we live but our views on this issue are pretty much identical.
If/when McCain-Palin win, I will comment once again that the secret weapon of the Republicans are the nasty personal attacks on Sarah Palin and her family by the Liberal Fascists and by the MSM. Note: I do not include you in either of those groups!
Robert W. at September 3, 2008 11:07 PM
Crid,
I think the interesting point here is that she writes a LOT of things that she doesn't necessarily believe. She's a partisan hack with an agenda, and she's playing people like you for fools, spreading a party line that she doesn't personally buy, but she'll certainly try to help sell.
franko at September 3, 2008 11:08 PM
No. It's not possible.
While having neither heard the recording nor probed the details of her explanation, I just don't think it's possible that a conservative of her pedigree (speechwriter to Reagan) would have said, during a working hour of full consciousness and sobriety in attendance at the quadrennial Republican National Convention, and with microphones visible within inches and perhaps affixed to her person, that an 8-point race with 60+ days to go and a fascinating new running mate was "over".
It just doesn't make a lick of sense, except as creaming fantasy for naive teenagers on Digg or embittered Democrats on Wonkette. Naw. I'd believe almost any denial... It denies itself. Didn't happen.
But if you are such a person --so desperate for yuck-yucks on what might prove to be the most powerful conservative night in a generation-- you should go down under and read the list. And be sure to read the 'grandchild' list as well.
Good sarcastic fun. Har har.
(PS- But she does look a little overwhelmed, doesn't she?)
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at September 4, 2008 2:00 AM
They've lost Nixon speechwriter and evolution denier Ben Stein, too!
franko at September 4, 2008 8:56 AM
They could lose the election anyway, Franko.
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at September 4, 2008 9:51 AM
Hey, neat. At the bottom of the youtube box were other videos, including Palin's Convention speech. I had seen it at a friend's hospital here in rural Mexico, but my wife had not. So, she got to watch all 36 minutes, thanks to your link.
irlandes at September 4, 2008 11:28 AM
I can't get over Palin leaving that tiny village 20 million in debt for a giant sports complex. If she's that irresponsible in two years, what would she do to the country?
JoJo at September 4, 2008 12:01 PM
As a fiscal conservative I am starting to wonder whether fiscally conservative politicians really exist. I was initially hopeful about Palin until I read about the sports complex story. Does anyone know how accurate that story is?
Charles at September 4, 2008 12:06 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2008/09/04/liar_liar_mikes.html#comment-1587266">comment from CharlesAs a fiscal conservative I am starting to wonder whether fiscally conservative politicians really exist.
Likewise. When you find one, please let me know, because I'd like to vote for him or her.
Amy Alkon
at September 4, 2008 12:47 PM
I've been getting my info and links from Andrew Sullivan at:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/
The more I hear about this woman the less I like her. There's a link to a youtube video of Palin addressing a church group. It's quite interesting.
JoJo at September 4, 2008 2:15 PM
JoJo -
PLEASE tell me that you're joking.
Andrew Sullivan? The one that is STILL trying to figure out if Trig is REALLY Sarah's baby?
That man is crazier than an army of Napoleons. If you're using him as a source on Sarah Palin, Everything You Know Is Wrong™.
brian at September 5, 2008 12:40 PM
Faithful Rover is nothing but a pet sleeping by the doggie door.
Crid [cridcridatgmail] at September 5, 2008 3:36 PM
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