This morning on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, while agreeing with Bill Kristol's assessment that the indictment against Texas Governor Perry "seems ridiculous," Peggy Noonan pulled a typical Republican tactic: say something false and then when called on it back off in the most perfunctory way and move on quickly to mostly irrelevant jibberish in hopes nobody will notice.
NOONAN: I think, yes, it was local Democratic overreach. It's just a dumb case. I don't think it should have been brought. Naturally he looks like someone who is...
STEPHANOPOULOS: But the prosecutor is a former Republican, I think.
NOONAN: That may be. But when you look at this case, it just looks crazy. Everything that Perry is accused of doing, he apparently did publicly. He said, oh, my gosh, this woman should step down.
Italics are mine.
Noonan puts it out there knowing full well it isn't true, but it sure sounds like it should be true to people who don't know any better, especially when delivered in her calm, condescending tone. Good for Stephanopoulos for a least mentioning that the prosecutor is Republican but he qualifies it with a weak "I think." Come on George--you think?
Noonan then skillfully retreats with "That may be." No, there is no "may be," there is only yes the prosecutor is Republican and a Grand Jury, not the Democratic Party, decided there was enough evidence to go to trial.
If Noonan wanted to be truthful she should have blamed Republicans. But then that would have brought the obvious comparison to other examples of Republican overreach like the fake IRS and Benghazi scandals.