Annie
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- Nov 22, 2003
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Not so long ago she was comparing the Tea Party to John Birch Society, umm that would have been the Paulists.
Peggy Noonan: Try a Little Tenderness - WSJ.com
Today, a different tune:
Peggy Noonan: Why It's Time for the Tea Party - WSJ.com
Peggy Noonan: Try a Little Tenderness - WSJ.com
JULY 30, 2010
Try a Little Tenderness
Chris Christie, not the Tea Party, is the model for the Republicans.
By PEGGY NOONAN
Back when the rather radical and ill-thought-through movement known as the John Birch Societythey thought, among other things, that Dwight Eisenhower was perhaps a communistwas still famous and controversial, conservative Ronald Reagan was running for office. A group of Birchers, surveying the field, said that of all those running his stands seemed most congenial, so they would support him. This set off Drudgelike sirens among journalists: Aha! Reagan unmasked as a radical! Why else would radicals support him? So they rushed to demand that he respond to this embarrassment.
Well, he said pleasantly, they said they support me, I didn't say I support them.
He said it mildly, as if the reporters had misunderstood the story. This left them scratching their heads, and the story went away, as stories do. But his feint worked because it was grounded in truth. Reagan was neither extreme nor a Bircher, but there were areas in which he agreed with the Birchers, such as the threat of communism. He also had to function as a practical politician: He wasn't going to tell them to take their votes elsewhere. So he made it clear they were for him, while suggesting they'd bowed to his views, not he to theirs.
This might be a good template for how Republicans approach the Tea Party as 2010 approaches. No, the Tea Party is not the John Birch Society. To note one difference, it does not coalesce around the idea of conspiracy so much as antipathyto the increasing size, role and demands of government. As this is in line with general Republican thinking and philosophy, Republican candidates should happily accept its support while sticking to their own views and stands, whatever they are. Reagan didn't say he was so grateful for Bircher support that on reflection Dwight Eisenhower really was a communist. He just nodded and kept walking.
For those candidates who are themselves Tea Party, and who identify more with a rebellion than an organization, some advice: Get conservative, quick. Which is another way of saying: Get serious. Conservatives are not fringe and haven't been accused of being fringe since they got themselves a president, in 1980. He cared about reality, about the facts of the world, and bothered to know them. He bothered to think about them. He respected process, or rather respected the reality of it and learned to master it...
Today, a different tune:
Peggy Noonan: Why It's Time for the Tea Party - WSJ.com
SEPTEMBER 17, 2010
Why It's Time for the Tea Party
The populist movement is more a critique of the GOP than a wing of it.
By PEGGY NOONAN
This fact marks our political age: The pendulum is swinging faster and in shorter arcs than it ever has in our lifetimes. Few foresaw the earthquake of 2008 in 2006. No board-certified political professional predicted, on Election Day 2008, what happened in 2009-10 (New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts) and has been happening, and will happen, since then. It all moves so quickly now, it all turns on a dime.
But at this moment we are witnessing a shift that will likely have some enduring political impact. Another way of saying that: The past few years, a lot of people in politics have wondered about the possibility of a third party. Would it be possible to organize one? While they were wondering, a virtual third party was being born. And nobody organized it.
...