There’s a certain point of negativity where it ceases to affect me negatively. When someone is as utterly depressed as Noonan, I don’t so much share her depression; I’m more inclined to wish she’d take some Prozac, since her problem is clearly not political but medical.

The same goes for Buchanan and others like him. At a younger age, I tended to think that they were Cassandras who were bravely telling people what they didn’t want to hear. Now I just think of them as tired old men.

Back to Noonan: she was raised a Democrat, but was so disenchanted by the New Democrats–elitist and anti-American–that she switched parties. At some level I think that she realizes that she’s become one of them culturally, and that it drives her to literally near-suicidal depression.

Oh, and as a side issue: I realize despise that writing tic of hers in which she always talks about how “we” feel about everything. It’s fine to talk about “America united” and all that barnyard epithet, but integrity as a writer demands that you state your opinions and impressions as YOURS, not some widespread vague feeling.