A thousand points of fright?

So that was Republican cheerleader Peggy Noonan, who has pretended for years to be even-handed when it comes to doling out criticism in bipartisan political corners, attending yesterday’s Inauguration. And guess what? Bush 2 left her unsatisfied, she wrote today in the Journal, which sounded like Confession (don’t worry, Peg, Fishbowl is Fallen, too). The reason: His speech had “no moral modesty” and overshot the mark even more than wearing that flight suit on a carrier deck.

Now, forgive us for rewinding the tape to an earlier era not unlike our own, in which a slightly blonder Ms. Noonan lent Bush 1 the whole “Thousand Points of Light” phrase (aka. The Vision Thing) that was the hallmark of his 1988 presidential campaign. But now, apparently, Noonan has turned on the very ideas she espoused back then, finding Bush 2′s “freedom”-induced address a case of “mission inebriation.”

Peg, do us a favor and remember you were the chief architect of that kind of tinny simile. You took the check when your sunny rhetoric didn’t hurt anybody, and the Reagan magic still shone on the white Capitol dome. Be a sport and don’t abandon it now, even if the party looks like it’s been over for a while.

Hypocrisy factor (1-10): A healthy 8.

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