Peggy Noonan Is Definitely Not Working Class

Peggy Noonan's "A Farewell to Harms" in the Wall Street Journal leaves me wondering where I stand in relation to the Republican Party. Ms. Noonan pretty much slams anyone who found Gov. Sarah Palin the least bit interesting. In fact, Ms. Noonan's slam -- so full of the sort of grace and poise one expects from really bright Republicans -- even made its way (no doubt heralded with carbon-neutral fireworks) to the Huffington Post.

And in the comments thread attached to Ms. Noonan's column (commenting is a new feature at the WSJ on-line, by the way), a commenter had the following to say about the GOP and Ms. Noonan's column:

Anyone who disagrees with this article by Noonan is either disingenuous or stupid. It's refreshing to see that there are some intelligent people (i.e. Noonan) in the GOP.

Such sweeping generalizations aside (and rather self-aggrandizing ones, too), Ms. Noonan's criticism of Gov. Palin strikes me as fatally flawed in several places. In fact, I simply don't get it: how can Ms. Noonan be so bright and yet so, well, dim?

Enough. I will not enlarge upon Ms. Noonan's commentary here for fear of unduly influencing those of you who have not yet read it. But I will ask you to pay close attention to Ms. Noonan's extraordinary wit. Just stand in awe of the paronomasia she employs with such ease in her opening sentence:

Sarah Palin's resignation gives Republicans a new opportunity to see her plain. [bold mine]

Such slant rhyme, such anagrammatic wit! I love it!

I will end with this: In her essay, Peg Noonan pegs no one but herself. You'll see that Ms. Noonan is not only NOT working class, she is without class. She inadvertently puts a new face on the class-less society.

(See, Ms. Noonan, how easy this is? I would remind you that such slant rhymes and word-plays may be fun, but in your essay, they strike me as rather sterile: You should think of employing no onanism here, if you get my drift. As I said, it's so easy.)

©2009/Contratimes. All rights reserved.

"Biden Pick Shows Lack Of Confidence" ... And Nothing New

Big News: Joe Biden is Barack Obama's running-mate. Very old news: Joe Biden is not change we can believe in.

I love the headline over the AP essay written by veteran AP political analyst Ron Fournier:

BIDEN PICK SHOWS LACK OF CONFIDENCE

Here's a great quote from Fournier's commentary:

"For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator [Obama] worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack."

Ah, yes. Willing to attack. The thing about Biden, one of my family members said, is not that he just attacks. It's that he's an attack dog. A salient point, considering Mr. Obama promised the country his campaign would rise above rabid and feral partisanship. But like nearly all political promises, such is short-lived.

What does Biden bring, or so nearly EVERYONE avers? He brings gravitas, and foreign policy experience to Mr. Obama's rather unimpressive resume. The Biden gift proves that Mr. Obama's having "lived abroad" does not add up to much. It also proves that Biden is Obama's Cheney: we will all know who really runs the White House -- who the real 'decider' will be -- if Mr. Obama is elected.

And what else does Biden bring? Well, according to one pundit we get this:

"As he [Biden] speaks, as he goes on and on and spins his long statements, hypotheticals, and free associations--as he demonstrates yet again . . . that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back--you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going. I love him. He's human, like a garrulous uncle after a drink."

Thanks Peggy Noonan (and James Taranto) for this hilarious description of our country's potential "new" (What do you mean by that?) vice-president.

So, who is Biden? He's a rambling po-mo nuanced-to-the-gills old Washington insider who is Barack Obama's Dick Cheney, an old white dude who brings change we can believe in; though that change is just one in name, not attitude, posture or vision.

Amazing: The Democrats pretty much rejected Biden every time he ran for the White House. Now, somehow, he is suitable to have the White House -- in an emergency. Is he "the man" called on to guide "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy" (as Biden so deftly described Mr. Obama in early 2007) as Obama "leads" America toward a "brighter future"?

The only way ANY candidate can ever bring "change we can believe in" is if he or she runs for office as neither a Republican nor a Democrat. The world -- including the Europeans! -- knows that there is nothing new under the American sun. Especially this time.

Food for thought, or not.

©Bill Gnade 2008/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.

Peggy Noonan On The Hill

Last week I directed readers to an incisive comment posted by James Taranto of OpinionJournal. Today I can't resist directing readers to Peggy Noonan's essay comparing Hillary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher. And like Mr. Taranto, Ms. Noonan pens one of the most trenchant comments I've seen in a long time. Here's what she said regarding Mr. Barack Obama's campaign to secure the Democratic presidential nomination vis-á-vis Mrs. William Clinton:

I am not sure of the salience of Mr. Obama's new-generational approach. Mrs. Clinton's generation, he suggests, is caught in the 1960s, fighting old battles, clinging to old divisions, frozen in time, and the way to get past it is to get past her. Maybe this will resonate. But I don't think Mrs. Clinton is the exemplar of a generation, she is the exemplar of a quadrant within a generation, and it is the quadrant the rest of us of that generation do not like. They came from comfort and stability, visited poverty as part of a college program, fashionably disliked their country, and cultivated a bitterness that was wholly unearned. They went on to become investment bankers and politicians and enjoy wealth, power or both.

It is a brilliant, devastating comment.

Ms. Noonan's essay makes me cheer for Mr. Obama; and it makes me wish I had met Ms. Thatcher.

Peace.

©Bill Gnade 2007/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.