Commentary
I once admired the wordsmithing talent of Peggy Noonan, who was a speechwriter for President Reagan, often reminding my readers of her words in the former president’s “these are the boys of Pointe du Hoc” speech during the 40th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1984.
“For sheer oratorical elegance,” historian Douglas Brinkley wrote, it would become “one of the most inspirational presidential speeches delivered.”
What most people don’t know is that Noonan only learned just days before the day of the speech that a number of the survivors of the Pointe du Hoc climb would be sitting directly in front of the president during the speech.
“I was indignant,” she said later, “How could you not tell me?” She crossed out a line in the original draft and inserted the line about “the boys of Pointe du Hoc.”
But that was then …
Checking my archives, however, I have been critical of her east coast elite commentary as a columnist in the Wall Street Journal on political personalities and issues 20 times in the past nine years.
Here are a few of my headlines, “Noonan disappoints,” “Noonan fantasizes,” “a naïve Noonan,” “Noonan an embarrassment,” “Noonan would disappoint Reagan, “Noonan snookered by James Clyburn,” “Noonan calls Andrew Cuomo a folk hero,” and “Noonan becomes an anti-Trumper.”
Perusing the Journal’s letters column, as I frequently do to get a feel for opinions of other readers of the paper’s columnists, I assume they don’t write for a living, but they deftly do get their points across.
Here are brief excerpts from two writers who commented on Noonan’s August 3, 2024 piece, “The Fight of Trump’s Political Life:”
“First, we were assured that Mr. Biden was still competent. Now we’re told by Ms. Noonan that Ms. Harris is an exciting revelation because she’s ‘new’(when she has been the incompetent VP for the past three and a half years; ‘bold’ (because her recent, vacuous words apparently count for more than her record); a ‘born performer’ (she imploded in the 2020 primaries), and ‘beautiful’ (we are just now noticing?). When will all this bamboozling ever end? – Fiamma Truuvert, London
Then there’s this …
“According to Ms. Noonan, the Democrats’ newly anointed candidate for the presidency has several virtues – factors that are major pluses. Among them: ‘She is new.” On policy she is ‘bold’ to the point of shameless. She too is a ‘born performer.’ She is ’beautiful.’ She has a “wave of pent-up support behind her.’
“Really? Which of these alleged strengths qualifies Ms. Harris for anything more than president of her junior-high-school class?
In 2019 she ran competitively for the privilege of representing the Democrats as our presidential candidate and was soundly rejected by the voters of her own party. Now after three plus years of lampooning her way through the vice presidency, and lying to the public about Mr. Biden’s mental acuity, we are supposed to allow the political elite to preselect her to compete for the highest office?” – Seth Taylor, Chatham, Massachusetts.
Noonan isn’t finished …
In the Journal’s weekend edition, Noonan writes of Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, devoting most of her column to what others are saying. “We are being instructed that he is ‘Minnesota Nice,” she writes, “but I think what I am seeing is Midwestern smoothie …. a gifted actor plays the part of the affable Midwesterner really well.”
It just goes to show you that the east coast elites simply don’t know the folks of flyover country. Having been brought up in the Midwest, I couldn’t disagree more; especially watching him bounce around the rally platform, frantically waving his arms and pointing. Picture Mike Pence. He’s a Midwesterner.
I found it humorous, that she wrote of Obama advisor David Axelrod, another east coast elite, telling CNN that Walz looked like someone who dropped out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Wrong. I know a bit about Rockwell’s work from countless Saturday Evening Post covers, on which figures of Americana were featured.
Commenting further on Walz, Noonan writes, “He looks as if he likes Trump voters, but listening to him this week I thought: He doesn’t, not at all.”
I guess nobody’s told Walz how you campaign for voters who aren’t in your tent. Obviously, he’s been given the Democrat talking points to paint MAGA supporters as “mean” and “weird.”
So far, Noonan is on record that Harris is “new, bold, a born performer and beautiful,” but she hasn’t come up with a word to describe her failure to meet with the media (“afraid?” “ill-prepared?”) and her reason for including no policy plans for the future (“still thinking about them?” “waiting for her handlers?”) in her website.
Noonan has a way with words. It’s just too bad she’s using her talent in support of the opposition, in a publication with readers greatly exceeding my meager blog following.
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
