Peggy Noonan is more concerned about fraternizing politely with the internal enemy than she is with the fate of the country:
I was once in a small joust with Roger Ailes about violence on television. I was worried about it. He responded, I paraphrase: But there’s comedy all over TV, and I don’t see people breaking out in jokes and laughter on the streets. True, I said, but depictions of violence are different. Violent images excite the unstable. Violent words do, too. This is why, I think, so many people—I include, literally, every person I know, from all walks of life, and all ages—are worried that our elected leaders are not safe, that this overheated era will end in some violent act or acts. Stop reading this and ask whoever’s nearby, “Do you find yourself worrying about President Obama’s safety?” I do not think you are going to get, “No.”
Some conservatives feel umbrage when this is said. “The left equates criticism with violence in order to squelch dissent.” In some cases that of course will be true. But this isn’t debate, it’s more like incitement. And it comes from both right and left. Democracy cannot healthily endure without free and unfettered debate. It’s our job to watch, critique and question, and, being us, to do it in colorful terms. But knowing where the line is, matters. Seeing clearly the lay of the land, knowing the facts of the country and your countrymen, matters.
Which gets us back to Safire and Cronkite and Novak and the rest. They knew where the line was. They were tough guys who got in big fights, but they had a sense of responsibility towards the country, and towards its culture. They, actually, were protective toward it. They made mistakes, but they were solid.
This is an astounding glimpse into the mind of a Washington conservative, which is to say someone who is nothing more than a left-wing accomodationist. The Washington elite actually thinks that the average American gives a damn about the lives of their elected officials, when I’ll bet that not more than a third would even bother to piss on them if they were on fire. And another third would spray gasoline instead. Like many Americans, I regret that AGW/CC is a sham, as I think the nation would be much better off with Washington and New York City deep underwater.
And citing Cronkite as some sort of defender of the country is monstrously false, considering that the man was a strong advocate of ending American sovereignty in favor of global dictatorship. I don’t know if Noonan is poorly informed or a sell-out, but either way, her call for national unity and etiquette merits nothing but a pair of silent, but eloquent fingers.