Bush's faith-filled speech stirs both friend and foe (Peggy Noonan: it was "God-drenched")

Houston Chron ^ | Jan 22 05 | Houston Chron

[churchillbuff]

Presidents as far back as Washington frequently invoked faith and religion in their public statements. Some scholars have said President Clinton made more frequent mention of Jesus Christ than has Bush, who is more closely associated with devout Christianity than his predecessor.

Even so, Bush's lyrical and at times defiant knitting together of religion and American democratic principles was widely noted, to mixed reviews.

Peggy Noonan, a conservative author and former speechwriter to former Presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan, on Friday in the Wall Street Journal criticized the president's speech as "God-drenched."

[avenir]

FR's fair-weather goon squad is on the prowl I see. Miss Noonan's gone and criticized President Bush, so now she has no class, is self-reverential, and her writing sucks.

Zombies.

[churchillbuff]

I read the piece Krautheimer is bashing Gibson for making the Jews look bad in the movie. """

Strictly speaking, this is an accurate description of Krautheimer's theme. But it's a pernicious theme - - because it basically says you're not allowed to put the Christian Gospels on film, because certain groups of people (the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees) don't come off well in the Gospels. (Well, the Romans don't come off well either, but that's apparently not a reason to suppress the Gospels). It's impossible to do an accurate depiction of the Gospel narrative and make the Pharisess and the the Sanhedrin look good (or the Roman soldiers look good). so Krauthammer is essentially saying that the Gospels shouldn't be depicted on film. He's saying that the Gospels are a "blood libel." That amounts to slamming Christianity, slamming the Gospels - and calling for their censorship, at least in films and public portrayals. Never mind, apparently, that nearly all the Gospel's heroes (from Jesus to MAry to Peter) happen to be Jewish.

[churchillbuff]

Noonan's gone and criticized President Bush, so now she has no class, is self-reverential"""

Hey, I thought Noonan was too self-absorbed long before this latest piece of self-absorption.

[loveliberty2]

The first President Bush was criticized for not "getting" the "vision thing."

His son "gets it," in the tradition of the great visionaries who laid the foundations of our liberty in that bold statement, the Declaration of Independence--and he gets criticized for that!

Not only does President Bush (43) grasp the Founders' concepts of the Source of the individuals life and liberty, but he insists on speech writers who will incorporate those concepts into his speeches! Perhaps he should have quoted Jefferson's "The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." Bet that would have shaken them up.

Perhaps the "politically correct" pundits may not approve, but the majority of Americans do, and we applaud this President.

[ladiesview61]

She's too prissy and it takes her too long to say something. What I love is that George Bush couldn't care less what anyone says about him, conservative or liberal. He's a religious man who happens to be president (or the other way around). That's a lot of reason why he was elected. So if people don't like all the references he makes to God, too bad, he ain't changing.

[highflight]

In Dr. Krauthammer's article - he cited several gospels and noted that Mel Gibson had selected accounts of the crucifixion that were more virulently "Jews as Christ-killers" than others.

Dr. Krauthammer, as a student of both the Old and New Testaments does not appear in any way to be anti-Christian. The thrust of his article, I believe, was his regret that Mel Gibson's portrayal of the Jews in Jesus' crucifixion was biased.

[Jack Deth]

President Bush gave an Inaugural Speech. And a damn fine one, too.

I like Peggy Noonan. She's far from washed up and over-the-hill. She's expressing her opinion.

I work in a uniform so she and many, many others may express those opinions. Come to think of it, that's what FR's all about. Some agree. Some disagree.

I'm willing to cut Peggy some slack. Though I have no problem with the word "God" in an Inaugural Speech. Maybe Peggy does, but that her opinion.

Jack.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

I've always thought of Jack Wheeler as a straight shooter......so I believe what he says re Noonan, surprising as it seems.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

".....Charles was vigorously defending public displays and Christmas celebrations on Fox."

I saw him do that at least twice, also...

[Eva]

I have read articles by Noonan, Buckley and some other former speech writer and what I have deduced is that these guys over critical of the semantics of the speech and can't resist offering their supercilious, pedantic, opinions. The fact is the speech got across what the President had to say to the American public and the rest of the world. Bush was speaking to people of all faiths and telling them that the true God is a just God, not a God of hate and murder and that there is such a thing as a "just war."

[highflight]

Peach

I missed your posts - because I was so busy responding to others.

Loved your gentle approach - and it is a shame that some people make the mistake of spelling Dr. Krauthammer's name as Krautheimer. Freudian slip? You make the call.

^5

[ckilmer]

not unless you figure freud wore a dress.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

I'm with you on Krauthammer........whatever else he may be, he is first and always an American spirit, astute, fair, and well-spoken.

[highflight]

touche

[Peach]

Hi, highflight.

LOL re some Freudian slip.

Will check in later.

[ckilmer]

On the left: The devil in the Seventh Seal.
picture of the devil in the Seventh Seal.

[Reagan is King]

Wow, he really ripped her in that article. Thanks for the link, I'll listen to what she says with a lot more skepticism from now on.

[cyncooper]

You forgot to ping the poster you decided to make a comment about.

Oversight or deliberate?

The poster made a fair and informed contribution on that particular subject. Having seen the movie and being dramatically moved by it, I must agree with his observation. Note I am not making comments about Krauthammer's column at this point, but I will now say I think he's in grievous error, though I understand where he's coming from.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" Worth a look for an opinion of one who "worked" with the gracious lady. :-)

I had forgotten about the controversy over that column and if memory serves, during the campaign she also wrote a column that was off the wall.

Jack Wheeler excoriates Noonan :

"Peggy wasn’t a part of this ( major Reagan speeches ) and now, so many years later, she allows her resentment to trash her tribute to Chief Speechwriter Ben Elliott and disgracefully use President Reagan’s funeral service to do so...
Her cheap, inexcusable, and completely gratuitous insults of her fellow speechwriters –
describing one as a “malignant leprechaun,” another as more concerned with getting a haircut than speechwriting, and yet another as an illiterate hack
-- expose a small and petty side to her character that will permanently blemish the reputation she has worked so hard to achieve."

Within the first few minutes of Friday's World News Tonight, Jennings was out of the box bashing President Bush's speech and he used Peggy's column as the battering ram.
Jennings showed Peggy's picture and put her quote " over the top " in bold letters on the screen.
Something is not right when her column is beloved by the liberals and loathed by conservatives.
I reread the speech and reread Noonan's column and her column is so nasty and petty, you would think Maureen Dowd wrote it.

[mountainfolk]

Yours is the first post I've seen likening Noonan to Dowd. I had a thought along those lines when I first heard of Peggy's remarks about the Pres speech. Like she and Dowd were once opposite sides of a coin and now Peggy has let cynicism blur the lines. Maybe she is just being contrarian so she can stand out from the hordes of Bush admirers. Or maybe this is her honest opinion, which seems to be at odds with her past writings about God and noble purposes and such.