W: ' the triumph of the seemingly average man'

[bobbieinok]

Who said this?? Noonan in WSJ

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110004712


"....But there will also be their sense of who the candidates are as men, in terms of character, personality, gifts and predilections. And that will factor in too. I was asked this week why the president seems so attractive to the heartland, to what used to be called Middle America. A big question. I found my mind going to this word: normal.
Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He's normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him. He's not exotic. But if there's a fire on the block, he'll run out and help. He'll help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, "Where's Sally?" He's responsible. He's not an intellectual. Intellectuals start all the trouble in the world. And then when the fire comes they say, "I warned Joe about that furnace." And, "Does Joe have children?" And "I saw a fire once. It spreads like syrup. No, it spreads like explosive syrup. No, it's formidable and yet fleeting." When the fire comes they talk. Bush ain't that guy. Republicans love the guy who ain't that guy. Americans love the guy who ain't that guy.

Someone said to me: But how can you call him normal when he came from such privilege? Indeed he did. But there's nothing lemonade-on-the-porch-overlooking-the-links-at-the-country-club about Mr. Bush. He isn't smooth. He actually has some of the roughness and the resentments of the self-made man. I think the reason for this is Texas. He grew up in a white T-shirt and jeans playing ball in the street with the other kids in the subdivision. Barbara Bush wasn't exactly fancy. They lived like everyone else. She spoke to me once with great nostalgia of her early days in Texas, when she and her husband and young George slept in the same bed in an apartment in Midland. A prostitute lived in the complex. Barbara Bush just thought she was popular. Then they lived in a series of suburban houses.

George W. Bush didn't grow up at Greenwich Country Day with a car and a driver dropping him off, as his father had. Until he went off to boarding school, he thought he was like everyone else. That's a gift, to think you're just like everyone else in America. It can be the making of you."

Ms. Noonan

[sinkingfeeling]

1. One word....barf!

[BradCKY]

10. Average?

Wasn't he the grandson of a Senator/Congressman (not sure). Then his father was president which give him a LOT of name recognition. To call GWB a triumph of the average man is an insult to those who never had his political connections and can't get their voice heard.

(Responded to the wrong post sorry)

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

2. Can she go back to her own planet now?

I don't know what planet she's from, but it isn't earth.

[JoePizz]

3. I wouldn't insult "normal" and "average" people like that

"Normal" and "Average" people wouldn't be denied entry into the Texas School of Law because his test scores and grades were too low and then get into an Ivy Leauge university.

[Avalux]

4. Ha Ha Ha!

Thank you, Ms. Noonan, I really needed a good laugh today. :crazy:

[Lisa]

5. if there's a fire on the block, he runs away!

And afterwards, he emerges and strolls around, getting his wife to take pictures of him posing on the burned foundations.

There are guys like him in every neighborhood, regardless of income.

[htuttle]

6. She's never been to the Midwest, has she?

There has been only one president that I can think of who's truly embodied most of what is meant by demographic 'The Midwest'. That would be Harry Truman.

Bush is the anti-Truman.

Bush is sunk in the Midwest.

[StClone]

7. What is this Journalism? Op-ed? Fiction?

All three! Junior is nothing if not unaverage. Her cue is that he is stupid and that makes him average? Beyond that he is an privileged loser.

[Stephanie]

8. All I want to know about her is, why does she wear those leather outfits??

She looks freaking ridiculous. She's gotta be past sixty and the black leather jacket isn't fooling anyone.

And every word out of her mouth is like fingernails on chalkboard.

[ComerPerro]

9. Bullshit

He only doesn't seem like a snooty, elitist asshole because he is such a fucking moron.

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

11. imagine: she gets paid good $ for this drivel!

Dear Pegster: There was a huge fire, a country-combusting blaze, going on in Southeast Asia about 30 years ago. Where was your hero the fireman? Sucking down suds with his Alaba ... er, Texas NG buddies?


It's obvious that Rove has given her the campaign m.o.: paint Kerry as a pampered elitist.

The Pegster & Co. will glaze over the fact, of course, that Kerry is a war hero, and spit out the "Kerry insulted the National Guard" RNC-talking-point manifesto.

[Stephanie]

12. LOL! Girls who knew Peggy in High School rat her out as a dweeb!

http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical/peggy.htm

[PsN2Wind]

13. I thought Bush was from Conn. by way of Texas

now I find out he's from Lake Woebegone. Where everyone is above average, he's average.

[EV1Ltimm]

14. what a crock of horseshit!

We don't want none them dang-ole smurt fellers be prezdent. Alls them 'know-it-alls' do is be up to causin' them troubles! Shoot, iffin' theres a fire, them smurties talk bout it and dubya puts it out with his bare feets! I tell you whut!

[NJCher]

15. Yoo hoo, Peggy, Earth to Peggy

"put food on your family" does not = "plainspoken"

getting selected for president is not "normal"

the "average man" does not twist the language to the point that entire books are written about the circumlocutions

Also, the words "character" and "bush" do not belong on the same page, let alone the same paragraph.


Cher

[Skittles]

16. gawd, what a f***ing whore Peggy is

she embarrasses herself frequently, panting after that dipshit.