July 29th, 2011
Today, Noonan says this about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
[The Republican establishment] spent the first decade of this century backing things a truly conservative party would not have dreamed of—careless wars . . .
Without engaging on the larger question of whether the wars were careless, here she is on Jan. 30, 2003:
This, truly, is a good man. And that is a rare thing. Agree with Mr. Bush’s stands or disagree, there can be no doubting the depth of his seriousness and the degree to which he attempts to do what he is convinced is right, and to lead his country toward that vision of rightness.
And finally, here’s Noonan on Feb. 10, 2003:
At this point Iraq is, for each of us, a gut call. We probably have as much information and hard data as we’re going to get. There are different ways to interpret the evidence, to understand the peril. No one can prove containment will work in the future, for instance, and no one can prove that it won’t. There will be a price to pay if we invade. There will be a price to pay if we don’t. And ultimately you have to go with your instinct, your gut sense of the world and of men.
George W. Bush looks at fact patterns, as they say, and does not shrink from coming to conclusions if he thinks the facts demand them. This can’t be said of all political leaders. Coming to a conclusion means having to take a stand. Taking a stand is dangerous. They would rather observe the drama from a distance (a distance that may not hold, for the drama may come to them) and, if it ends happily, come forth to say this is indeed what they hoped for, what they quietly helped. The success of the American operation was, we feel, partly the child of our criticisms. But it would be wrong to take credit, let us simply say we are pleased. If it ends in disaster they will say: Ah, that is why I could not support it.
That’s politics. President Bush in this respect isn’t a politician. He’s an actual leader. He has come to conclusions and taken a stand.
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Emily Litella 2.0
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She kinda lost me when she endorsed Obama.
Dave Bowman July 29, 2011 at 5:58 pm
She is like David Gergen crossed with David Frum. I call her… Frergen