Peggy Noonan: At This Point You Either Understand The Problem With Hillary Or You Don't

Wall Street Journal :

I think we've reached a signal point in the campaign. This is the point where, with Hillary Clinton, either you get it or you don't. There's no dodging now. You either understand the problem with her candidacy, or you don't. You either understand who she is, or not. And if you don't, after 16 years of watching Clintonian dramas, you probably never will.

That's what the Bosnia story was about. Her fictions about dodging bullets on the tarmac -- and we have to hope they were lies, because if they weren't, if she thought what she was saying was true, we are in worse trouble than we thought -- either confirmed what you already knew (she lies as a matter of strategy, or, as William Safire said in 1996, by nature) or revealed in an unforgettable way (videotape! Smiling girl in pigtails offering flowers!) what you feared (that she lies more than is humanly usual, even politically usual).

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[dajay]

Another woman obsessed with hating Hillary. Break out the band. This is News? Let me guess. THe OBama supporters love Peggy Noonan now, right? I thought so.

[zendem1]

'Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

[degjack]

Noonan only talks bull.

She does it here again.

[plutorage]

Why shouldn't Noonan weigh in? The dems are inviting everybody to put down a dollar for three rotten tomatoes and enjoy pasting the democratic presidential candidate at will as they sit helplessly in the stocks.


Maybe democrats just don't deserve power. If they can't handle wealth and fortune, how will they handle adversity??

[ChiGuy]

What a substantive rebuttal.

[NewRiver]

rebuttal's like deg's are the norm here

[TiffShelton]

Wow! Great column.

[TooLooze]

Ouch! One one hand, it is hard to disagree with most of what Noonan says. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal doesn't have a shred of insight about 99% of the time.

[debwarot]

That was one powerful article and I am in complete agreement. An honest, accurate and compelling assessment. The tone of the piece was, at times, almost wistful in wishing it just wasn't so.

I have to admit I don't know all that much about the author. I know that Peggy Noonan worked in the Reagan White House, so I am assuming she is Republican. Strange, isn't it , how a Republican made the complete & perfect assessment of something all of us Democrats have all been discussing and arguing about.

[GoLeftGoDeep]

-- "Many in the press get it, to their dismay, and it makes them uncomfortable, for it sours life to have a person whose character you feel you cannot admire play such a large daily role in your work." --

now, Peggy, you know how progressives have felt for the last 8 years of Bush

[chendri887]

Sadly, I agree with Peggy Noonan. What has this world come to?

[sleepless]

Me too. Don't like Noonan but the title intrigued. Read it. Agree totally.

[Mesaywar]

Goodness, I had the same reaction. What is the world coming to when I agree with just about everything Peggy Noonan has to say on an issue? After reading her entire article, i must say she most certainly crossed her "T"s and undoubtedly donnted her "i"s. Try as I might, I could not fault her logic on this one. Peggy pegged it precisely. Realizing she was right left me a little saddened, for many reasons.

[shinybear]

At least she is a grown up and not a some rabid maniac hyping "Operation: Chaos".

Is she coming out for Obama?

[Meggie]

do they "come out" at the washington post?

[Ranta]

The best part is that Hillary can't just "make stuff up" anymore. Every thing she utters will be scrutinized.

[candlewax]

I doubt it. The Bosnia thing was on the net for about 2 weeks before the media picked up on it. It was pretty impossible to ignore the footage.

[Memorye]

This has been out on Obama for a month and the media has not pick this up.

[Memorye]

2nd time This has been out for a month media has not pick up http://hotair.com/archives/2008/03/26/no-paper-trail-on-obama-judicial-watch/

[ggmome]

Unlike the non scrutiny of Bush. I say, finally these liars are being exposed! What the hell is up with her husband though?

[Bobbygoode]

OK. The campaign has officially jumped the shark. I'm agreeing with the awful Peggy Noonan as she trashes a Clinton. And that's just sad. And yeah I get it.

[HeadScratcher]

serendipity

[ldvisavis]

Hillary does not appear to have a firm grip on reality, which is either contagious or her apologists (enablers) are knowingly contributing to her illness. I saw Jamie Rubin making the excuse that she was simply and understandable confused. After all, he has travelled and found it hard to track trip details, too.

I could buy this excuse if she were confusing WHICH trip she was on when she got shot at. If it were Sarajevo a couple of months prior, it would be a misstatement. What her supporters INEXPLICABLY fail to recognize is the that no one in their right mind would confuse running from snipers and strolling around an airport with children and entertainers. The excuses and denial are what makes this a story and gives it legs.

The Clinton's can't even manage good excuse-making anymore. I am starting to be offended by the lack of effort! I have come to expect a higher caliber of lying from them, but I'm starting to be offended by the lack of effort!

Hillary finally blamed sleep deprivation--again, goofy given we are discussing the difference between being shot at or being welcomed and kissed by a little girl--but can that possibly explain the other times she told the story over a period of months in various iterations?

And then there is little Chelsea, standing by her mother's version of the story. Is sleep deprivation genetic?

Apparently it is true you can fool some people ALL of the time.

[intuition]

Never cared for Noonan so much, particularly her great effort in getting Bush elected, however, in this piece, she's nailed it.

[simplify]

Its only a matter of time before we see more lies come to the fore. She cant help it, she lies whenever it suits her . To be truthful Its kind of psychotic .

[DesertLight]

I have one word, "accurate."

[sockman]

Since when was Peggy Noonan opposed to "tuggishness and Heavy-handedness"? This is a woman that had no problem with GW Bush staging a phony landing on an aircraft carrier with a Daisy Cutter stuffed down his pants to help enhance his manliness and virility......qualities that Noonan so admired in Reagan. Who cares that 4000 US soldiers died in a senseless war along with countless innocent Iraqis. At least G.W Bush acted like a "father figure" and was "decisive". Peggy Noonan for one will be quite dissappointed if Hillary loses the White House because Noonan would dare not employ that condescending tone that she is known for when speaking of our first black president. So keep circling you starved hyeana, Hillary Clinton isn't quite dead yet.

[shinybear]

And Hillary has great support from Rush Limbaugh (who is not starving).

[HeadScratcher]

And McCain has great support from Bill and Hillary

[olivia]

Noon is a kinder and gentler version of Karl Rove.

[GoLeftGoDeep]

Rove in drag ... she's part of the FOG ... friends of Bush ... she supporterd the disastorous invasion of Iraq and said Bush was brilliant

If Noonan wants a gander at genetically predisposed liars she need look no further than her own little den of vipers ... the conservative Repubicans have elevated lying and dissassembling into an art form ... Clinton is a rank amatuer compared to them ...