Peggy Noonan Raw, MSNBC Style

I've grown to like Peggy Noonan over the years. She has a soft, feminine veneer that disguises a hard-edged thinking that sometimes sneaks out in her writing.

Her open open mic comments where she seems to declare the the McCain-Palin campaign "over" are all over the internet. And they've given the lefties an excited case of the giddy red-hots: Lying Repugs revealed! One of their own has slipped up!

Here's what was reported:

After a segment with NBC's Chuck Todd ended today, Republican consultant Mike Murphy and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan were caught on a live mike ridiculing the choice of Sarah Palin.

"It's over," said Noonan, who then responded to a question of whether Palin is the most qualified Republican woman McCain could have chosen.

"The most qualified? No. I think they went for this — excuse me — political bullshit about narratives," she said. "Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it."

Well, it seems someone (could it be an MSNBC employee?) selectively edited the tape before blasting it to the world. Why do arguments from the left so often involve some deceit or distortion, like the John McCain joke about what he considers rich?

Anyway, Peggy issued a clarification today. She is still critical of the Republican ticket, but she credibly maintains that her "it's over" comment was snipped and taken out of context. I believe her. She's a conservative, but she's no knee-jerk party cheerleader. She says what she thinks, upsetting the party faithful in the process. If she really thought it was "over" she would have said so in one of her columns. Her criticism of President Bush recently is a good example.

You can read her full response Here. Here's an excerpt:

In our off-air conversation, I got on the subject of the leaders of the Republican party assuming, now, that whatever the base of the Republican party thinks is what America thinks. But, I argued, that's over, those assumptions are yesterday, the party can no longer assume that its base is utterly in line with the thinking of the American people. And when I said, "It's over!" -- and I said it more than once -- that is what I was referring to.

In the truncated version of the conversation, on the Web, it appears I am saying the McCain campaign is over. I did not say it, and do not think it. That is, McCain may well win. I do not think the campaign is over, I do not think this is settled, and did not suggest, back to the Todd-Murphy conversation, that "It's over."

Now, on to the next press-manufactured scandal...