How America Fell for Peggy Noonan

(NEWSER) - With Arlen Specter gone, it’s time for the "latest round of What Should the Republican Party Do," writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. Call Specter an opportunist if you want, “but opportunists tell you something: which side is winning.” The Republican party is losing, seemingly bent on self-destruction. Yes, a big tent needs ideological tent poles, “but also, the people inside can't always be kicking people out of the tent.” More»

Peggy Noonan says there's a 'wound' in the Republican party

(NEWSER) - Republicans are in the midst of "the most volatile and tumultuous presidential primary race of our lifetimes," and it's exposed an "age-old split between the grassroots and the perceived GOP establishment," writes Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal . "Actually, it's more a wound." The only person to ever heal that wound was Ronald Reagan, and so naturally, Reagan has become an issue, with Newt Gingrich claiming to be the Gipper's successor. He's not, Noonan assures us. More»

Candidates might just scare off the electorate: Peggy Noonan

(NEWSER) - In the latest Republican debate, we saw the candidates showcase their hawkishness, each trying to play it tougher than the next. (Except for Ron Paul, of course.) That may work in “Republo-world,” where theoretical discussions on, say, bombing Iran, are commonplace, but it won’t play well outside such circles, writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal . “Should we be discussing those things so blithely and explicitly in such a public way? You have to wonder what the world thinks when it hears such talk—and the world is watching.” More»

Supreme Court allowed groups to spend freely

(NEWSER) - Conservative groups operating outside the public eye are carrying much of the water for Republican campaigns, the New York Times reports. Thanks to a Supreme Court decision that uncaps contribution limits, right-wing organizations like Americans for Prosperity and Karl Rove's American Crossroads are spending hundreds of millions of dollars—on television ads, social media, and grass-roots outreach for next year's federal elections. More»

Peggy Noonan: The party had lost its values, become the Establishment

(NEWSER) - Republicans made up “a party that didn't remember anymore why it existed” until “the tea party, with its energy and earnestness, restored the GOP to itself.” Tea Partiers rejected George W. Bush’s “spending, overreach and immigration proposals,” writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal . And they could have gone third-party—but, lucky for the GOP, they went Republican. More»