That's interesting coming from a person who helped re-elect the Bush/Cheney team and in my eyes is just as responsible for the GOP "soul" problem as anyone else. It was Peggy that said back in 2000: "we can’t afford another famous liar in the White House." Lying a country into war hasn't seemed to bother her all that much. Noonan carefully frames her criticism of BushCo starting in 2004 ---as if they suddenly changed after that election.
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Download Noonan: The Republican Party is trying to re-find its soul.
Robert Elisberg called Peggy out on HuffPo:
Unfortunately, Ms. Noonan, there is little hidden intelligence that Democrats haven't been yelling about publicly for years. There publicly were no WMDs in Iraq when we went to war - yet you made your "grand bargain" and still supported George Bush. The budget deficit and national debt were massive - and public - yet you and your Republican party made its "grand bargain" and supported tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. It was public that there were no links between Iraq and 9/11, but you made your "grand bargain" to support George Bush and blast as traitors and cowards anyone who dared say otherwise. And when an agent whose job was specifically to know more than others - and tell her superiors about that deep inside intelligence - was outed by people even George Bush last Thursday acknowledged were "probably" in his Administration - you Republicans had long-since made your "grand bargain" and defended the White House.
And then she complains about dynasties. Once again she forgets her role in perpetuating the Bush family dynasty. Peggy, if you think the Republican party does indeed have a soul problem, then I'd suggest you lead the way and if it's possible find your own soul first.
MS. NOONAN: May I just throw in here that I think the Republicans have a tough time this year. The Democratic Party is trying to figure out of two candidates which one will take them to success, take them to the White House. The Republican Party is trying to refind its soul. And in looking at each state, at each of these guys, they're thinking "is this the guy who reflects what conservatism is--what modern conservatism is, what this party is, and the next day they think, "maybe it's this guy." It is a much tougher thing to find your soul than it is to find success. So I think the Republicans are really going to be struggling for a while.
I also think, Jon, I must say, I think what has happened with the conservative coalition is that it has been sundered. I think it was sundered by this administration from 2004 on through a series of decisions that were not just at odds with, but deeply defined of and rejecting of the feelings, thoughts and views of Republicans and conservatives. And to make it even worse, the Congress, when it was under Republican hands and now Democratic hands, was just as defiant, just as at odds with the feelings of so many people about what it is that is most reflective of conservatism in the Republican Party. So I think Republicans have taken a beating in a way and they--I mean, almost a psychic beating, and they are trying really hard to redefine and come back. It's going to be a tough job.
MR. BROKAW: Republicans and Democrats alike. I have never heard as many Republicans, gold-star, born and bred Republicans, so unhappy with the management of this country by a Republican president now.
MS. NOONAN: Totally true.
MR. BROKAW: And I think that when she played the competence card and the experience card, it's measured against that.
MS. GOODWIN: Right.
MR. BROKAW: We don't want to go back into an unknown again. Here is somebody who does know what she's doing. That does pop up in the polls. But the counterweight to it, of course, is still not entirely comfortable with her. I have questions about her character and concern about whether she can win.
MS. NOONAN: May I say, dynasticism is part of this, too?
MS. GOODWIN: Oh, yeah.
MS. NOONAN: We haven't mentioned it, but there is this Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton--I've called it a sickness. It is an odd way for a great democracy to comport itself in this strange--we have dynasties now backed by lobbyists, backed by machines and machinery. The fact that America's doing this is giving so many people pause. It us unlike us. And I cannot help but think, as some people come forward and endorse on the Democratic side Mrs. Clinton, they must be thinking stop the dynasty. I know Republicans are thinking stop the dynasties.
MR. BROKAW: But on NBC, you'd be happy with Russert, Brokaw, Russert, Brokaw. That would be OK?
MS. NOONAN: Forever, Tom. Forever.
