Noonan and her, er, former colleagues
Another strange thing in Noonan's (rather beautiful) piece on the death of Reagan: she took advantage of the occasion to criticize, in rather harsh personal terms, some of her former colleagues in the Reagan White House speechwriting shop.
It was to be expected that Reagan's critics would try to spoil the occasion by dropping some rather noisy farts; but Noonan? In some ways the person who continues to present the best possible face of the Reagan administration to the world?
She says one writer wrote only two good speeches, about six years apart, and seemed to spend his time getting haircuts. "Haircut boy" has written a book about his time at the White House, but without properly crediting Ben Elliott, who was the head writer and, according to Noonan, protected the incompetent. "Hack" couldn't really write at all, and hasn't written a book, but he has always been a great shmoozer.
Who could she mean, being mean?
She has disappointed some of her fans. She has been criticized by Jack Wheeler, who says he "worked closely" with Reagan's speechwriters, and is willing to report that Peggy was never part of the team and, er, we guys never really liked her.
Wonkette seems pretty certain that "haircut boy" is Peter Robinson, who now writes for The Corner. "Hack" seems harder to identify.
Could this really be about ensuring that Ben Elliott gets proper credit, as Noonan suggests? She admits that once she praised him, everyone present joined in applause for him, if not an ovation.
("At that great gathering of unsung heroes of the Reagan era, I got to speak of Ben. I got to sing him.
"And when I said his name the crowd burst into the biggest applause of the day. Because they knew who Ben Elliott was. Becky Norton Dunlop, who had taken her own hits for RR, took to her feet for her own standing ovation.")
So perhaps Elliott's reputation doesn't need Noonan's help.
Is Noonan rubbing it in that she is by far the most successful of them all? (The names Wheeler mentions are: Tony Dolan, Ben Elliott, Clark Judge, Dana Rohrabacher, Josh Gilder, and Peter Robinson. Wonkette mentions David Gergen and Ken Khachigian.) Is she getting revenge for the way they treated her 20 years ago?
Noonan and Wheeler agree on one thing. As clear as Reagan was on his own message, he had trouble getting the bureaucrats, and even some of his own fossilized senior appointees, to write and approve the appropriate speeches. It was up to the young politicals to polish the required text, and Ben Elliott played a big part in this.
Wheeler says that without these speechwriters, "there would be no Reagan Doctrine."
There's something funny and unsettling about this reliance on speechwriters--especially when it is said that unless the right wordsmith is found, the leader's own personal message won't get through.
Update: Maybe there's a fair contrast with Thatcher's eulogy for Reagan--pre-taped because of her frailty. It is truly both thoughtful and beautiful, with some details that sound true to Reagan, and some "big picture" comments on what it all means. No one has asked who wrote that for her.
There is an old joke that the Brits speak well even if they have nothing to say, whereas the Americans have difficulty speaking well even if they have a great deal to say. Maybe.
A stark contrast has often been drawn between W and Tony Blair, both defending the same actions at the same time. There is a temptation to wait for Blair's speech and then say "Oh, so that's what W meant."
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