Peggy Noonan: "Fire Congress Because We Can't Fire Bush"

[kpete]

Is There Progress Through Loss?
A national election, a national decision.

Friday, October 27, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT


This is two weeks ago, from a Bush appointee: "I hope they lose the House." And one week ago, from a veteran of two GOP White Houses: "I hope they lose Congress." Republicans this year don't say "we" so much.

What is behind this? A lot of things, but here's a central one: They want to fire Congress because they can't fire President Bush.


Republican political veterans go easy on ideology, but they're tough on incompetence. They see Mr. Bush through the eyes of experience and maturity. They hate a lack of care. They see Mr. Bush as careless, and on more than Iraq--careless with old alliances, disrespectful of the opinion of mankind. "He never listens," an elected official who is a Bush supporter said with a shrug some months ago. Along the way the president's men and women confused the necessary and legitimate disciplining of a coalition with weird and excessive attempts to silence Republican critics. They have lived in a closed system. They now want to open it but don't know how. Listening is a habit; theirs has long been to suppress.


..............

..........As for the election, it reminds me not of 1994 but 1992. That year, at a bipartisan gathering, I was pressed for a prediction. I said it was a contest between depression (if Republicans win) and anxiety (if Democrats win). I said Americans will take anxiety over depression any day, because it's the more awake state.

more at:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110009154

[Solly Mack]

1. Well, if the people who can "fire" Bush won't, then the people

with the power to get rid of Bush should be "fired"

That's part of the reason Congress has such low ratings.

The people know Congress has the power to contain Bush - they just aren't using it and instead have become a rubber-stamp Congress.

So the people will take it out on Congress.

The rubber-stampers in Congress should have considered this before they tied their futures to Bush.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. This is Peggy Noonan?

Well, I know this is not a lasting relationship, ma'am. but for now, welcome, Ms. Noonan, to our side of the barricades.

[madmax]

9. My first thought exactly.

:wow:

[DocSavage]

20. She is not writting

to be on our side. She is writting about the dis-satisfaction that many republicans have with the congress. The only way that many feel the republicans will find thier way back to the conservative principal that they want is for them to sit out for a couple of years, wait for a new "Gingrich" to surface with a consistant coherent conservative message.

Many republicans are willing to throw conservatives out, let us hose things up, then come to the rescue in 08. Will it work, never know. If we win back the house and on day 1 roll back the tax cuts, start cutting funding for Iraq, well, the party will be over quickly.

I work with a lot of conservatives, have real good battles too. Respect thier views, and they respect mine. They dislike Bush for not being conservative enough. But that will never equate to a vote for Hillary or Kerry in 08.

If there is a shift in power in 8 days, it is not going to be all because we had a better message, there is also going to be a "Do we have your attention now?" factor from the right.

[Fovea]

21. Believe me Jack Rabbit

If she is on our side of the barricade, we need to cap her *STAT*!

[Kurovski]

3. Trouble in paradise for Peg & W?

Well, I always knew the woman was not a complete and utter imbecile. She can at least come to accept reality and muster some honesty about it. Howdy Ms. Noonan! :hi:

K&R.

Check out this thread with a very interesting response to Noonan's ship-jumping.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2498997

[Fovea]

23. Now you know why KKKarl and ** were playing confident

They were trying to stave off being thrown under the bus.

But it has already happened. The old guard has cut and run from the Straussians.
Can they fight back and retain power?
They think so, but the part of the Repuke coalition that was not
interested in cults of personality has cut them off.

There is no more Straussian NeoCon revolution. This salvo
is part of a struggle between the ideological right, and the old conservatives.
Bushco has left the reservation, and it is now obvious to the paleocons that they
have been played by a bunch of totalitarian resource oligarchs who have more in common with Stalin than Goldwater.

Can the old guard take power back without losing all legitimacy?
That is up to us. But for the forces of equality, fairness, tolerance, and sustainability it is the best opportunity we have had since JFK.

They are not our allies, except in the sense of that old adage about the enemy of my enemy. Only in this case, they are not our friends.
We might count on them to keep the current gang busy for awhile. But I count neither on them to be in it for the long haul, or to be our friends.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. Is there more than one Peggy Noonan?

I'm not sure I know this one.

[Kurovski]

5. Lol!!

:rofl:

[foo_bar]

10. for real, I thought her job was to make * Reagan-esque

A little late for Leni Riefenstahl to canter off the bandwagon, did Nancy get to her on the stem cell thing? Here we go:

[DURHAM D]

6. This bitch has an ego the size of Ethiopia.

Quite an accomplishment for such a dumb hack.

About a year ago I saw her on a panel (C-Span) asserting over and over again that partisanship is not as bad in D.C. now as it was during the Nixon era and she was, of course, blaming the Dems for the problems.

[AlamoDemoc]

8. LOL.....you are given her too much credit

Situated in the horn of Africa, Ethiopia covers a land twice the size of France, Kenya or Texas & four and half times the size of Great Britain and Italy.

http://us-africa.tripod.com/ethiopia.html

[Demeter]

7. Maybe Lightning Struck--Like Saul of Tarsus!

It is possible Ms. Noonan had a change of heart (unlikely, but possible--maybe she took it out of cold storage?)

Or maybe she thinks Bush is defiling St. Ronnie?

Most likely though, her economic situation, like that of the rest of the world, has suffered under this fool.

[Stephanie]

11. A flock of pigs just flew right past my head!

And I hear Satan is wearing snow boots.

[Solly Mack]

12. Oh, she has a motive

She's part of the Bush isn't a real conservative movement to distance conservative policy from Bush. If Bush isn't a real conservative then conservative policy didn't fail, Bush did.

But she makes a good point. The people can't fire (impeach) Bush - they can only fire (elect or not) those who can.

it's a not so subtle threat to Republicans by Noonan - Bush can go down or you can.

[boston bean]

16. ...

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Stephanie]

24. They are ganging up to throw George Bush under the bus?

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

[Solly Mack]

26. Same as they did with his father when they called him a liberal

and Bush Sr. took the label and the insults for the good of the party - and so will Shrub. It's more coordinated than it is anything - Noonan just letting Congress republicans know they can go along or get along down the road

[Dr Fate]

13. As they say- even a broken watch is right twice a day. n/t

n/t

[Fovea]

14. I wonder if she treats all her ex-boyfriends like this.

This is the same woman who was so breathless about manly George.

I have to say this to you, Peggy. Here is how it is, you post menopausal bitch. Dubya is exactly what you asked for.
He is an amoral malignant narcissist (that is to say, Ayn Rand's wet dream), a sculpture of Zeus carved from pure crap by Karl Rove,
bastard turd-baby of Donald Segretti and Lee Atwater.

Your boy has dragged you, the GOP, and America across the shit-and-blood stained floor of Abu Ghraib--
and smirks about it to your face. And here is the kicker. George W. Bush is the logical conclusion of
everything you asked for when Ronnie Raygun, in an Alzheimer's fog smiled and said "There he goes again."
His smirk is the same as Newt Gingrich's when he served his wife divorce papers in the hospital. His moral fiber is a full
chasm lower than Jeff Gannon's, because as far as I know, despite his military fetish, Gannon has never killed anyone and certainly never made a bad joke about it.

So Ms. Noonan, it comes to your bleat of buyer's remorse at long last. I hope it hurts a lot.
I say-- Suck it up bitch, because you belong to the party of personal responsibility,
and you are one of the pissants I hold personally responsible.

As my parting comment, I don't think they are firing congress because they cannot fire George.
I think they are hiring a new congress specifically TO fire George.

[badgerpup]

19. Oh, now that's BEAUTIFUL!

:loveya::thumbsup: :thumbsup: :applause: :yourock:

[Catrina]

22. That's an excellent post! And I agree totally with

your last sentence. Peggy's support for a new Congress is to get George fired. I wonder what changed her mind?

Like you, I hold everyone who chose to be blinded by partisanship, responsible for what has happened to this country. I'm glad they're jumping ship, but I'm not ready to welcome them aboard ours. Being called a traitor isn't something you forget easily.

Maybe George will learn that no matter how many laws you pass to give yourself the powers of a king, if the country turns against you, you may become a victim of the very laws you created. One day he might be named 'an enemy combatant' himself.

[Fovea]

25. Thank you.

Check my response to Kurvoski above.
There *is* trouble in Republican paradise.
And for the next two election cycles, we will be in a
fight that surprizingly, will resemble in the abstract,
the situation in Iraq...

We will have a three way struggle between the paleocons (who include to a large extent the third way Dems), the progressives, and
the One Party Rule Cult of Personality.

Our fight will be against McCain/Lieberman as much as Rove.
If we want to return to the glory days of the cold war,
with state based enemies and the same old huge military budget, they are the ticket.
If we want to make a new paradigm-- one where we are a vital part of a new
world economy that moves toward sustainability, we will leave what I call
the future lotto winners of America behind.

Our goal will be the creation of a global middle class. I hope you enjoy the struggle.

[Ms. Clio]

28. damn I wish I could recommend a reply

suck it up, bitch, indeed. Although I can't help wondering if this particular worm's turn isn't one of the true bellwethers of a mighty sea change ahead.

[eppur_se_muova]

34. I think you are spot on here...they are turning on Bu**sh** to make themselves look better.

It's as if they're saying "Hey, who knew he'd turn out that way? Not our fault."

Well, lots of us knew, and we knew better than to give this stick figure of a man the authority to run a lemonade stand, much less the highest office of the most powerful nation on Earth. This is just a way to try to ward off blame, and hope to put one of their guys back in the WH soonest.

[proud2BlibKansan]

35. LOL That is wonderful

[mhatrw]

15. Jumping off the sinking ship. n/t

[pa28]

17. She's admitting our worst fears about *'s ineptitude.

Many of us suspect that W has walked us over the cliff of financial insolvency. I don't see how we can avoid the reckoning she talks about. The only question is how bad it will be.

[quiet.american]

18. You know, though, she's still sipping on the Kool-Aid --

There remains a broad, reflexive, and very Republican kind of loyalty to George Bush. He is a war president with troops in the field. You can see his heart. He led us in a very human way through 9/11, from the early missteps to the later surefootedness. He was literally surefooted on the rubble that day he threw his arm around the retired fireman and said the people who did this will hear from all of us soon.

Images like that fix themselves in the heart. They're why Mr. Bush's popularity is at 38%. Without them it wouldn't be so high.

He is a war *criminal*, not a war president. The troops are in the field because Bush's lies and deceptions put them there and still keep them there. As for the bullhorn moment, it's the B.S. moment, completely hollow, empty and meaningless. A washed-up, psychotic cheerleader on a pile of rubble and bodies that his negligence and incompentence (at best) created just didn't do it for us thinking folks. The only sure-footedness came in Bush's moments of "just trying to stay out of harm's way" on 9/11. Puhhlease, Peggy.

[upi402]

27. We must say the word REPUBLICANS, as * is over with by now

I get uneasy seeing Bush being bashed.
But only because it's a lost opportunity for future good change.
We need the R's out. Bush is a lame duck and R's would love us to target him, not them, and keep their power.

[Disturbed]

29. Conservatives and Libertarians are against the

Neocons and RW Fundies that hijacked the Rethug Party. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfailed are Fascists, not Conservatives.

[Wednesdays]

30. Okay, it is definitely OVER for them

I was reading other threads from the last couple of days, threads filled with glowing comments about an inevitable Dem victory. At first I thought celebrating was a bit premature. But then I came across this one. Peggy Noonan? In a WSJ op-ed? Calling for the GOP to be defeated?

It's all over for them. No matter what the outcome--even if the Repubs Diebold the election to death--it's all over for them. Because no one wants them anymore.

[mitchum]

31. It's YOUR party and you'll damn well cry...

even if you don't want to.
Now, back into the dayroom with your crazy self

[happydreams]

32. When will these people learn???? BUSH IS A PSYCHOPATH!!

Psychopaths cannot listen or change they must be put behind bars!!

[coco77]

33. I just know this isn't the same bitch ...

who was writing his speeches and doing everything to get him elected. She was actin as though butter wouldn't melt in his ass...