by Frank James updated at 9:00 pm
Peggy Noonan has written an explanation to her "It's over" comment which can be found on the Wall Street Journal site. Bottom line: she wasn't referring to Sen. John McCain's presidential aspirations in the wake of his selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
Noonan says that when she, Republican political consultant Mike Murphy and NBC political analyst Chuck Todd were caught by an open microphone criticizing McCain's campaign, her "It's over" comment had a different context.
She was referring to the linkage between what the Republican base thinks and what the American people think.
Here's a lengthy snippet of her explanation:
Well, I just got mugged by the nature of modern media, and I wish it weren't my fault, but it is. Readers deserve an explanation, so I'm putting a new top on today's column and, with the forbearance of the Journal, here it is.
Wednesday afternoon, in a live MSNBC television panel hosted by NBC's political analyst Chuck Todd, and along with Republican strategist Mike Murphy, we discussed Sarah Palin's speech this evening to the Republican National Convention. I said she has to tell us in her speech who she is, what she believes, and why she's here. We spoke of Republican charges that the media has been unfair to Mrs. Palin, and I defended the view that while the media should investigate every quote and vote she's made, and look deeply into her career, it has been unjust in its treatment of her family circumstances, and deserved criticism for this.
When the segment was over and MSNBC was in commercial, Todd, Murphy and I continued our conversation, talking about the Palin choice overall. We were speaking informally, with some passion -- and into live mics. An audio tape of that conversation was sent, how or by whom I don't know, onto the internet. And within three hours I was receiving it from friends far and wide, asking me why I thought the McCain campaign is "over", as it says in the transcript of the conversation. Here I must plead some confusion. In our off-air conversation, I got on the subject of the leaders of the Republican party assuming, now, that whatever the base of the Republican party thinks is what America thinks. I made the case that this is no longer true, that party leaders seem to me stuck in the assumptions of 1988 and 1994, the assumptions that reigned when they were young and coming up. "The first lesson they learned is the one they remember," I said to Todd -- and I'm pretty certain that is a direct quote. But, I argued, that's over, those assumptions are yesterday, the party can no longer assume that its base is utterly in line with the thinking of the American people. And when I said, "It's over!" -- and I said it more than once -- that is what I was referring to. I am pretty certain that is exactly what Todd and Murphy understood I was referring to. In the truncated version of the conversation, on the Web, it appears I am saying the McCain campaign is over. I did not say it, and do not think it. In fact, at an on-the-record press symposium on the campaign on Monday, when all of those on the panel were pressed to predict who would win, I said that I didn't know, but that we just might find "This IS a country for old men." That is, McCain may well win. I do not think the campaign is over, I do not think this is settled, and did not suggest, back to the Todd-Murphy conversation, that "It's over."
Well, Noonan is usually a very precise thinker and writer who deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Perhaps the audio of her conversation with Murphy and Todd is edited to distort the true meaning of what she said. I've seen plenty of instances of that kind of trickery on the web from the right and the left.
Still, it's clear she was critical of the Palin pick. How else to interpret this part of the exchange?
Todd: Is she really the most qualified woman?
Noonan: The most qualified no. I think they went for this excuse me political bullshit about narratives..
Todd: Yeah, they went to narratives.
Noonan: Every time Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.
Hardly sounds like an endorsement.
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Original post
Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy, two Republican insiders who have shaped the images and messages of presidents and presidential wannabes, really don't like Sen. John McCain's selection of Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
And Noonan evidently believes the choice of Palin means the presidential race is "over" and presumably not in a way that would favor McCain.
We know this because Noonan and Murphy were on MSNBC today and pulled a "Jesse Jackson," which means expressing one's true feelings when you believe the microphone is off.
Murphy, who's consulted McCain in the past, referred to the Palin pick as "cynical" and that it clashed with McCain's reputation as a non-cynical politician. He also said he didn't think the McCain campaign's strategy was going to work.
Noonan, who wrote important and memorable speeches for Presidents Reagan and Bush the first, used an earthy word to describe the Republican strategy.
Here's a transcript I've produced of what the participants thought was an off-air exchange.
Murphy: You know, I come out of a blue, swing-state governor world. Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, I mean, and these guys, this is all like how you win a Texas race, you run it up. it's not going to work.
Noonan: It's over.
Murphy: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.
Todd: Don't you think the Palin pick was insulting to to Kay Bailey Hutchison?
Noonan: I saw Kay this morning.
Murphy or Todd: She's never been comfortable about that.. I mean
(Someone says something unintelligible.)
Todd: Is she really the most qualified woman?
Noonan: The most qualified no. I think they went for this excuse me political bullshit about narratives..
Todd: Yeah, they went to narratives.
Noonan: Every time Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.
Murphy: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism
Todd: and this is cynical. And as you called it gimmicky.
Murphy: Yeah.
Tood: Thanks guys.
Murphy: See you later.
What makes Noonan's comments over the open microphone so fascinating is that in her column which appeared in the today's Wall Street Journal she certainly seemed a lot more supportive to Palin than she did on the NBC set when she thought the mic was turned off.
Because she jumbles up so many cultural categories, because she is a feminist not in the Yale Gender Studies sense but the How Do I Reload This Thang way, because she is a woman who in style, history, moxie and femininity is exactly like a normal American feminist and not an Abstract Theory feminist; because she wears makeup and heels and eats mooseburgers and is Alaska Tough, as Time magazine put it; because she is conservative, and pro-2nd Amendment and pro-life; and because conservatives can smell this sort of thing -- who is really one of them and who is not -- and will fight to the death for one of their beleaguered own; because of all of this she is a real and present danger to the American left, and to the Obama candidacy.
True, Noonan seems ambivalent about Palin in much of the rest of what she wrote about the Alaska senator. She describe's McCain's choice as a "Hail Mary" pass that will either succeed or fail spectacularly. But she doesn't come close in the piece to saying what she said on the unexpectedly open mic.
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Comments
Peggy Noonan can't you be jealous without showing it? I used to think you were really top notch but your inability to REALIZE WHAT A GEM SARAH PALIN IS. I can see her running for president when her VP JOB is done. We have another Margaret Thather or Goldie Maiaer. Sarah tells it like it is and John McCain showed a stroke of brilliance when he picked Sarah Palin. GO GET THEM SARAH..
Posted by: Betty Betts | October 18, 2008 2:10 AM
Peggy you are just a DC insider, you do not have any idea on how to deal with a "real" American. Sarah Palin and "Joe the Plumber" are real! People like you Peggy live in a fantasy world and would not survive real life!
Posted by: NL Ward | October 18, 2008 6:27 PM
peggy Noonan has Palin envy!!!
Posted by: Brenda Casey | October 19, 2008 9:13 PM
Comparing Sarah Palin, a hockey mom, to Margaret Thatcher is just about the most absurb thing I have ever heard in my entire life. Sarah is cool and hot, perhaps. But President of the United States! C'mon people, be realistic. McCain screwed up.
Posted by: DT | October 20, 2008 11:12 PM
Peggy noonan is an effete pompous and posturing traitor to Traditional american/conservative Ideals
If her goal is to help a left wing ultra liberal idealogue to get elected she couldn't have done better. She is a disgrace to the memory of Ronald Reagan and the consertative party.
Posted by: Martin Cholewa | October 21, 2008 10:16 AM
Sarah Palin is a woman of destiny...and Peggy just can't wrap her head around it because she is back in the 80's
Posted by: rubyrubyruby | October 21, 2008 6:54 PM
Ronald Regan!?
Please stop talking about him like he was some kind of savior, Martin Cholewa. He didn't do anything to improve the overall well being of this country. When asked to remember the things he did (you know, the unsavory stuff with Ollie North) "I don't recall" was his reply, either because he was lying or he was actually headed toward dementia, either way, not good.
Republicans look at Ronald Regan as they do because there has been no worthy republican candidate or President since, and you'd have to go back pretty far to find another.
Also, any Democrats who refer to him glowingly are only offering lip service and I find it embarrassing. I guess a politician is a politician no matter what party you serve.
My dad was a big Regan fan, but he was part of that generation. It all started with Goldwater. That's when I became a Democrat. It's almost like the father/son relationship in "Field Of Dreams". My dad's childhood hero was also "Shoeless Joe Jackson". We could enjoy baseball together, but no politics since JFK. Kennedy represented a new generation, just as Obama does now. I don't want to use the word Racist, but like I said, those were different times, and there will be many who will vote for that reason. As Bob Dylan said "The Times They Are A Changin'. That was over 40years ago, and it's never been more true than it is today.
Posted by: mutt | October 26, 2008 6:30 PM
Reagan did nothing to improve the well-being of this country?? Say what? What about being the single most important figure in the winning of the Cold War and the downfall of Soviet Communism? What about rebuilding the military from the tattered shreds carter had left it? Restructuring the tax code. Reinstilling a sense of pride and optimism in this nation. Historians all place Reagan as one of the great presidents of the 20th century.
And if the GOO hasn't had any worthy candidates since Reagan, then the Dems are even worse. Dukakis, Mondale, Gore? Ha! The GOP has won three of the five pres elections since Reagan. JFK and Clinton are two of the most over-rated presidents in history. Clinton's legacy, at least, will fade because his only accomplishment was a sound economy. A president has little to do with the economy and its soundness really only benefits those people living under it for the period that it is strong. How many future generations will derive benefit from what Reagan accomplished vis a vis the Cold War?
Posted by: Mark | November 3, 2008 9:36 AM
Peggy, For some REASON maybe just because I believe I have a sense of what a person is REALLY into by their speech, manner and presentation, I truly BELIEVE that YOU have become an ELITIST in your own mind and soul..sad to say I find you to be an excellent writer but as for judging Sarah Palin I find you to speakith with a forked tongue. Lets FACE IT YOU did not think her a GOOD PICK now come on lets be TRUTHFUL..hanging out with that MSNBC crowd is way tooooo much for me to bear and yet you fit in quite nicely.
Ya know the SNARKY KNOW it ALLISM of good ole CHRIS MATTHEWS and WHO COULD PASS UP on self loving KEITH OLBERMAN, MY GOD in HEAVEN you hang with loosers LADY!
Back to the SARAH PALIN PICK, you did not think HER GOOD enough , maybe not BRIGHT enough for your LIKING ..maybe too down to earth..too many dang kids all that chatting that just isnt in the ELITE world ,she carrys with such a SWEETNESS and GOODNESS. Too bad your HERO[mine as well] JOHN PAUL II did not live to see an AMERICAN younger fresh faced woman WHO is SMART and who is capable of LEADING!!! PLUS has 5 OH DEAR OH DEAR and HORRORS of HORRORS 5 children! PLUS a DOWNS SYNDROME BABY!!!!! JPII would have ADORDED this gal and prayed for her WIN!!! For the top ELITES all that in itself is and was enough to disqualify HER!! SHE DEAR LADY is more a woman then yourself, any and all news anchors, politicans and many others in the fem nazi movement that call themselves FEMALE and the JEALOUSY FACTOR WAS and STILL is SO RADIANTLY CLEAR now that she is being BEATEN to DEATH by THE very ASSES that FAILED at their JOBS in the MAC campaign and in fact have an enormous amt of JEALOUSY in THEM for SARAH. THANK GOD for GRETA VAN SUSTEREN..when she smells a skunk in the field she goes after it and she will find the "SLIMEBALL LIARS" who have chosen to slander SARAH......I guess Peggy when we reach ,,,,,meaning you of course....certain levels of SUPERIOTY we can expond on the weaknesses of others with such CLEAR and PRECISE EYES even though they may in fact hold some valid STUPIDITY in them there eyes!
I think YOU OWE SARAH PALIN an article of great APPRECIATION to what she brought to that lagging half DEAD mac TRAIN WRECK!!!
PEOPLE LOVE HER and SHE will BE BACK and when she is back she will return STRONGER and BOLDER then ever and ready to CHAMPION THE CAUSE "TO RESPECT HUMAN LIFE" which YOU ditched by ditching HER!
Posted by: Maryclaire Ventura | November 8, 2008 3:35 AM