How America Fell for Peggy Noonan

Peggy Noonan begged Women's Wear Daily to can its feature article on her, saying she "winced at things I'd said." But Jacob Bernstein's piece ran, revealing how the anti-Clinton, pro-Reagan pundit turned on President Bush and won a huge crossover audience with her Wall Street Journal column. "She's come face-to-face with what happened to the Republican party," lefty pundit William Greider said. "I think she's terrific."

A warm, New Agey conservative, Noonan broke with Bush over Iraq and his autocratic style. "I am astonished that the Bush people are so robotic," she said. "I am astonished that if you ever criticize your guy, he will banish you from the kingdom." Despite her Democratic fan-base, Noonan says she still longs for the GOP's return to conservatism—which "has ended the past eight years." (More Peggy Noonan stories.)