OPINION: The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan Needs A Lesson On Conservatism

Peggy Noonan has spent a lot of ink lately fretting over the events of January 6. As one who has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal where she runs a column every Saturday, I certainly respect her writings in many areas. Reagan’s speech she crafted after the Challenger explosion, for example, was right on the mark. Yet for years now — the Trump years to be precise — Ms. Noonan has morphed into one of the more eloquent representatives of the staid old white-shoe wing of the GOP. That group of noble politicians who never get their hands dirty out of “principle” and are perfectly content to “lose with dignity” to those willing to play in the mud to win elections… and with them shape policy. She has been a voice of that DC establishment so well represented by the Bush family she served through two administrations. Indeed, had Ms. Noonan had her way (as I would be shocked if she voted for Donald Trump) the person taking the oath of office in 2017 would have either been the wife of a former president or the son and brother of former presidents.

Thus has her spate of recent columns disparaging conspiracy theorists, waxing tragic over the Capitol Hill riot, labeling Republicans who ousted the war-mongering DC legacy Liz Cheney “cowards”, or lamenting a GOP in disarray, not surprised me. Her latest is “Why We Can’t Move On From Jan. 6.” Perhaps a more accurate title should be “Why I Can’t Move On From Jan. 6.” I think part of the reason is that, unlike the arson, the looting, the violence and murder that for eight months consumed dozens of American cities over which she seemed to lose little sleep, what occurred on Jan. 6 was just a tad too close to home for the Washington group-think insider and columnist. It’s one thing to watch on TV from the comfort of your DC office or townhome someone else’s small business go up in flames in Minneapolis, a bleeding police officer pelted with rocks in Chicago, or a genuine insurrection in Seattle wherein an actual new faux country is declared. But it is something else entirely when a screwball with a horn hat sits in your friend’s office chair.