Marjorie Campbell, marjorie@marjoriecampbell.com
Deal, Your insightful post in Nov on Christine Todd Whitman brought another out-of-touch conservative woman to mind. I think Peggy Noonan was a big loser in the 2008 election. She gambled her credibility as a conservative, Catholic commentator – and she lost. I wish I had a nickle for every person who has said to me, "I am so disappointed in Peggy Noonan." I posted on Ms. Noonan’s remarkably vacant comments on Sarah Palin. But a lengthier recap seems in order.
I tested the sentiment toward Peggy Noonan at a Catholic chat room women like me frequent and was shocked how consistently negative the comments about Peggy Noonan were. Really, I should not have been. Here's why. Ms. Noonan’s attacks on Governor Palin reflect an unattractive, even bitter, attempt to oust Sarah Palin from the national public forum – a result Ms. Noonan continued to favor as recently as November when she wistfully noted that the election loss and “power of silence” might yet still the Governor’s impact.
But Ms. Noonan's November brooding followed weeks of vicious attack on Sarah Palin. After shamefully expressing her disapproval of Governor Palin into a nationally broadcast “hot microphone” – using “vulgar” epithets for which she later apologized – Ms. Noonan nevertheless used her precious space at the Wall Street Journal to go after the Governor.
Ms. Noonan deployed a 3-prong attack trying to bring Governor Palin down. First, Ms. Noonan trivialized Governor Palin by repeatedly referring to her as a “girl” – “a warrior girl”, a “beautiful girl”. Now, “girl” is a loaded word that all feminists recognize as a belittling, backhand slap across the face, akin to the white male establishment referring to Senator Obama as “boy.” Why did Ms. Noonan blast Sarah Palin – a woman whose family, experience and values literally touched the hearts of Catholic women across the nation – with similarly demeaning language?
Ms. Noonan’s second point of attack on Sarah Palin was not the Governor’s policy positions, approval ratings, accomplishments or, even, ethical judgments. No, it was the “bimbo” ploy – which, without basis, Ms. Noonan tried to make stick through sheer repetition. Wrote Ms. Noonan of Governor Sarah Palin; “She doesn’t think aloud. She just . . . says things.” Again, “She does not speak seriously but attempts to excite sensation.. . . She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber.” Again, “She is not a person of thought . . . " " There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics.” And, one more time, “She doesn’t seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.”
Ms. Noonan then moved to cinch, hang and silence Ms. Palin with the girl-bimbo caricature. As thousands upon thousands of Catholic women turned out to hear the Governor, as Team Sarah appeared online and thousands registered (over 64,000), as Catholic bloggers praised the Governor’s values, and the Governor’s membership in Feminists for Life became national news, Ms. Noonan wrote of Governor Palin “This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base.” (emphasis added.) And, in case anyone missed Ms. Noonan’s purpose to silence the Governor, Ms. Noonan added, ““[T]his beautiful girl… Hope that Mr. McCain stops campaigning with her and spins her off into her own orbit.”
Is it any wonder that Catholic women have expressed distress with Ms. Noonan’s comments? Is it puzzling that many conservative Catholic women have lost interest in Ms. Noonan’s commentary? What was this formerly well-respected, conservative spokeswoman thinking as she scraped together scathing words tethered to so little sense in an undisguised fit of disgust? This old feminist (me) suspects that old feminist (Ms. Noonan) of envy, short and simple –
What do you think, Deal?
