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Peggy Noonan Credit: Getty Images

#13 Peggy Noonan

The Wall Street Journal

Peggy Noonan has been an op-ed columnist for The Wall Street Journal since 2000 and was a speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. More information


Long a high-ranking member of conservative power circles, Noonan deftly expresses the Republican establishment voice’s. As a result, her occasional criticisms of the GOP, and such luminaries as Sarah Palin and George W. Bush, carry considerable weight. Noonan is known for her baroque prose and patrician worldview, inviting readers into the posh world of country-club conservatives.

Noonan’s writings on American values are among her most celebrated work. Long before she became a columnist, she had a gift for placing elegant prose into the mouths of politicians: she authored, for example, the eloquent address that Reagan delivered after the Challenger explosion. Noonan has turned her forceful speechwriting into columns that are both substantive and lyrical.
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Peggy Noonan on GOP Identity Crisis

Displaying 4

July 31, 2009
GOP Identity Crisis

What if Washington Were a Ghost Town?

“Before departing ... FDR just might add, 'A second option, though lacking that special spark of deviousness, is the Wyden-Bennett bill. it’s cost-neutral, it’s not single-payer, but everyone gets coverage.'”
June 12, 2009
GOP Identity Crisis

The Case for Getting off Base

“Everyone is looking to the base, the sliver, their piece of the pie, their slice of the demo. You wonder sometimes as you watch: Who's looking out for the country?”
May 1, 2009
GOP Identity Crisis

'Shrink to Win' Isn't Much of a Strategy

“Someday years hence, when books are written about the Republican comeback, they may well begin with this low moment, and the bolting of Arlen Specter to the Democrats.”
February 6, 2009
GOP Identity Crisis

Bracing Ourselves

“[Republicans] should not revert to the triumphalism of the Bush era, when they often got giddy and thick-necked and spiked the ball. They should 'act like they been there before.'”