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Loyalty Consists Of Many Things, Including Being Truthful With Our Friends. When You Really Disagree, You Have To Say So.

-Peggy Noonan

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Loyalty Consists Of Many

Peggy Noonan

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Loyalty Consists Of Many Things, Including Being Truthful With Our Friends. When You Really Disagree, You Have To Say So.

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Morals Are Concerned With What Aids Or Impedes The Fulfillment Of Basic Human Needs.

Don't Fall In Love With Politicians, They're All A Disappointment. They Can't Help It, They Just Are.

If You Join Government, Calmly Make Your Contribution And Move On. Don't Go Along To Get Along; Do Your Best And When You Have To - And You Will - Leave, And Be Something Else.

It's Better For The Country When Each Party Looks Like It Stands For Something Serious, For Some Big Things, But They're Not Narrow And They're Not Bought.

Ted Sorrenson, Jfk's Presidential Speech Writer, When Asked How It Came About That He Wrote The "ask Not What You Can Do..." Speech, He Would Answer 'ask Not.'

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We Must Try Again To Be Alive To What The People Of Our Country Really Long For In Our National Life: Forgiveness And Grace, Maturity And Wisdom. ...our Political Leaders Will Know Our Priorities Only If We Tell Them, Again And Again, And If Those Priorities Begin To Show Up In The Polls.

Cynicism Is Not Realistic And Tough. It's Unrealistic And Kind Of Cowardly Because It Means You Don't Have To Try. ---in Good Housekeeping

I Guess The Second-term Team Is Not Quite As Adoring As The First.

The Battle For The Mind Of Ronald Reagan Was Like The Trench Warfare Of World War I: Never Have So Many Fought So Hard For Such Barren Terrain.

The Democratic Party Is That Amazing Thing, Out Of Power For Six Years And Yet Exhausted. They're Pale, Tired, And Unready. Too Bad, Since It's Their Job To Be An Alternative, Not An Embarrassment.

I Think Miracles Exist In Part As Gifts And In Part As Clues That There Is Something Beyond The Flat World We See.

What Conservatives And Republicans Must Recognize Is That The White House Has Broken With Them. What President Bush Is Doing, And Has Been Doing For Some Time, Is Sundering A Great Political Coalition.

The Democratic Party's Complete Obeisance To [the Abortion] Lobby Makes Democrats Look Bought, Frightened And Craven.

Speeches Are Not Magic And There Is No Great Speech Without Great Policy.

Abortion Is Either Ok Or It's Not.

The Democrats Had Long Labeled The Impeachment Debate A Distraction From The Urgent Business Of A Great Nation. But The Republicans Argued That The Pursuit Of Justice Is The Business Of A Great Nation. In Winning This Point, They Caught The Falling Flag, Producing A Triumph For The Rule Of Law, A Reassertion Of The Belief That No Man Is Above It, And A Rebuke For An Arrogance That Had Grown Imperial.

Naps Are Nature's Way Of Reminding You That Life Is Nice, Like A Beautiful Swinging Hammock Strung Between Birth And Infinity.

Inspirational Life

I Should Say Here, Because Some In Washington Like To Dream Up Ways To Control The Internet, That We Don't Need To 'control' Free Speech, We Need To Control Ourselves.

Politicians, Please, Think Of Yourselves! Move To Help Terri Schiavo, And No One Will Be Mad At You, And You'll Keep A Human Being Alive.

Speeches Are More Important In Politics Than Talking Points, As A Rule, And Are Better Remembered.

I Do Not Know What The Democratic Party Spent, In Toto, On The 2004 Election, But What They Seem To Have Gotten For It Is Barack Obama. Let Us Savor.

We Are All Afraid. That's The Thing That Unites All Truly Successful People: Fear, Fear Of Failing, Fear Of Criticism, Fear Of Letting Down The Team In Some Way. That Why They Try So Hard, That's Why They Pay Attention To Detail And Try To Get Every Possible Duck In A Row. It's Fear

The Democratic Party Should Say, "thank You Very Much, But You Know What, We're Going Back To Be A Big-tent Party. Broad On Social Issues Like This, We Are Declaring, Go With Your Heart If You Truly Feel That You Can Be, That You Are Pro-life, And You Wanna Be Pro-life, And A Democrat, Go For It." The Democratic Party Has I Think Been Hurt Very Badly In Terms Of Its National Reputation With This Narrow, Sort Of, You Can't Be In Our Party If You Don't Hold The Right Views On Abortion. It Would Be A Brilliant Political Move If They Opened Up.

Let's Cause Some Senators Distress.

Some Of The Stupidest Brilliant People Who Ever Lived.

Our Patriotic Fervor Was The Result Of The Old And Widespread Belief In The Idea Of American Exceptionalism, The Idea That America Was A New Thing In History, Different From Other Countries. Other Nations Had Evolved One Way Or Another, Evolved From Tribes From A Gathering Of Clans, From Inevitabilities Of Language And Tradition And Geography. But America Was Born, And Born Of Ideas: That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Have Been Given By God Certain Rights That Can Be Taken From Them By No Man, And That Those Rights Combine To Create A Thing Called Freedom.

Here Is An Old Tradition Badly In Need Of Return: You Have To Earn Your Way Into Politics. You Should Go Have A Life, Build A String Of Accomplishments, Then Enter Public Service.

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Mr. Bush Has Squandered The Hard-built Paternity Of 40 Years. But So Has The Party, And So Have Its Leaders. If They Had Pushed Away For Serious Reasons, They Could Have Separated The Party's Fortunes From The President's. This Would Have Left A Painfully Broken Party, But They Wouldn't Be Left With A Ruined Brand,- As They All Say, Speaking The Language Of Marketing. And They Speak That Language Because They Are Marketers, Not Thinkers. Not Serious About Policy. Not Serious About Ideas. And Not Serious About Leadership, Only Followership.

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If You Commit A Big Crime Then You Are Crazy, And The More Heinous The Crime The Crazier You Must Be. Therefore You Are Not Responsible, And Nothing Is Your Fault.

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The Democrats Often Seem Like The Not Republican Party, No More And No Less.

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Beware The Politically Obsessed. They Are Often Bright And Interesting, But They Have Something Missing In Their Natures; There Is A Hole, An Empty Place, And They Use Politics To Fill It Up. It Leaves Them Somehow Misshapen.

What I Got Was Not So Much Gifts And Whishes Come Trues But A Feeling Of Peace. I Got Peace Itself, Actually. And When You Have Peace, You Can Be Strong; And When You Are Strong, You Can Get Through What You Have To Get Through, And Not With Exhaustion And Frown Marks And Slumped Shoulders But With Relative Happiness, And Humor, And Sometimes Even Gaiety.

The Core Of The Concept Of A Bribe Is An Inducement Improperly Influencing The Performance Of A Public Function Meant To Be Gratuitously Exercised.

Loyalty Consists Of Many Things, Including Being Truthful With Our Friends. When You Really Disagree, You Have To Say So.

Most People Aren't Appreciated Enough, And The Bravest Things We Do In Our Lives Are Usually Known Only To Ourselves. No One Throws Ticker Tape On The Man Who Chose To Be Faithful To His Wife, On The Lawyer Who Didn't Take The Drug Money.

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Do Not Be Afriad! I Can See That Americans Are Not Afraid. They Are Not Afraid Of The Sun, They Are Not Afraid Of The Wind, They Are Not Afraid Of 'today'. They Are, Generally Speaking, Brave, Good People. And So I Say To You Today, Always Be Brave. Do Not Be Afraid. Do Not Be Afraid. God Is With You. Do Not Be Afraid To Search For God-then You Will Truly Be The Land Of The Free, The Home Of The Brave. God Bless America.

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In The 1950s And '60s The [democrat] Party Included Many Obviously Earnest And Thoughtful Liberals Who Supported Goals That Were In Line With And Expressions Of Serious Beliefs. They Believed That America Was An Exceptional Country.

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The Democratic Party Will Now Stick With Its Guy Forever, No Matter How Harmful He Is. Perhaps You Call That Loyalty, And Perhaps There's Something To It, But A Bigger Part, I Believe, Is That You Have Come To Think That Winning Is Everything-that Victory Is The Purpose Of Politics.

[on President Clinton's Address:] It Was The Worst Inaugural Address Of Our Lifetime, And I Think The Only Controversy Will Be Between Those Who Say It Was Completely And Utterly Banal And Those Who Say, 'well, Not Completely And Utterly.

I Love Eulogies. They Are The Most Moving Kind Of Speech Because They Attempt To Pluck Meaning From The Fog, And On Short Order, When The Emotions Are Still Ragged And Raw And Susceptible To Leaps.

Remember The Waterfront Shack With The Sign Fresh Fish Sold Here. Of Course It's Fresh, We're On The Ocean. Of Course It's For Sale, We're Not Giving It Away. Of Course It's Here, Otherwise The Sign Would Be Someplace Else. The Final Sign: Fish.

There Should Be A Name For This, For The Process Whereby One Knows One Is Being Yanked And Concedes It Has Been Done Successfully - That One Is Grateful To Have Been Spun. In The Theater, It Is Called The Willing Suspension Of Disbelief. That's What Allows The Play To Make An Impact On The Audience: They Have To Be Able To Make Believe That What's Happening On The Stage Is Really Happening. Maybe To A Degree It Is A Requirement For All Political Participation, All Effective Political Communication, Too.

The Tea Party Saved The Republican Party. In A Broad Sense, The Tea Party Rescued It From Being The Fat, Unhappy, Querulous Creature It Had Become, A Party That Didn't Remember Anymore Why It Existed, Or What Its Historical Purpose Was. The Tea Party, With Its Energy And Earnestness, Restored The Gop To Itself.

The 2008 Election Settled Nothing, Not Even For A While. Our National Politics Are Reflecting What Appears To Be Going On Geologically, On The Bottom Of The Oceans And Beneath The Crust Of The Earth: The Tectonic Plates Are Moving.

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[democrats] Have Become The Party Of Snobs. You Have Become The Party Of Americans Who Think They're Better Than Other Americans.

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The First Snow Always Startles. It Covers The Tricycle In The Driveway, Turning Its Frame Into An Abstact Sculpture That Says: See How Quickly Yesterday Turns Into Today.

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Great Speeches Have Always Had Great Soundbites. The Problem Now Is That The Young Technicians Who Put Together Speeches Are Paying Attention Only To The Soundbite, Not To The Text As A Whole, Not Realizing That All Great Soundbites Happen By Accident, Which Is To Say, All Great Soundbites Are Yielded Up Inevitably, As Part Of The Natural Expression Of The Text. They Are Part Of The Tapestry, They Aren't A Little Flower Somebody Sewed On.

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No News Conferences? Interviews Now Only With Friendly Journalists? You Can't Be President Or Vice President And Govern In That Style, As A Sequestered Figure. This Has Been Mr. Bush's Style The Past Few Years, And See Where It Got Us. You Must Address America In Its Entirety, Not As A Sliver Or A Series Of Slivers But As A Full And Whole Entity, A Great Nation Trying To Hold Together. When You Don't, When You Play Only To Your Little Piece, You Contribute To Its Fracturing.

My Generation, Faced As It Grew With A Choice Between Religious Belief And Existential Despair, Chose Marijuana. Now We Are In Our Cabernet Stage.

We Don't Need To 'control' Free Speech, We Need To Control Ourselves.

Freedom Of Speech

In A President, Character Is Everything. A President Doesn't Have To Be Brilliant... He Doesn't Have To Be Clever; You Can Hire Clever... You Can Hire Pragmatic, And You Can Buy And Bring In Policy Wonks. But You Cant Buy Courage And Decency, You Cant Rent A Strong Moral Sense. A President Must Bring Those Things With Him. He Needs To Have, In That Much Maligned Word, But A Good One Nonetheless, A Vision Of The Future He Wishes To Create.. But A Vision Is Worth Little If A President Doesn't Have The Character - The Courage And Heart - To See It Through.

By Trying To Do Too Much, You Risk Not Doing Enough.

But One Immediate Thing Can Be Done Right Now, And That Is: Lower The Temperature. Any Way You Can, And Everybody. Just Lower It.

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