From a sharp reader (emphasis is his):
I also read KJL’s interview with Noonan today. In addition to your points, here is the part that leapt off the page (screen) at me, in light of her earlier commentary that Palin is a symbol of the “vulgarization of our politics.” Speaking about the coming revisiting of conservative principles, and what needs to happen, Noonan says:
“What I have been reminding people in speeches lately is America is not made in Washington. America is made in America. So this is step three, and will happen concurrently and for a long time with step two: look to the states and the counties. Briefly: I don’t believe in political saviors — I don’t think life is as a rule that dramatic, clear cut, resolved, or necessarily heroic. But what is happening in the states, and who is leading in and rising in the states, is going to yield up the leaders of the future. The great story of the next few years, and maybe longer than a few, will be what is happening there, and what is happening in the American culture. The McCain-Palin moment will pass; America will continue. Conservatives have to stop looking to Washington, it cannot solve our lives. And it’s not a very conservative impulse, to always be looking at and to the federal establishment.”
Um, okay, Peggy. I guess I am still missing how Palin is such a problem. It sounds like McCain was two steps ahead of Peggy in recognizing where “real change” had to come from.