Of course, Noonan is entitled to vote for whomever she chooses. After all, it's a free country. But, based on her own admission, I think it would now be appropriate for political TV shows -- which usually attempt to "balance" their panel discussions by including at least one token conservative (how nice of them!) -- to refrain from using her as the token conservative.
After all, if the topic of discussion on a given night is the presidential election, how is it fair to include journalists who obviously favor Obama -- but not a single person who, at least, leans toward McCain?
Clearly, Noonan no longer helps provide balance for that sort of show ...
(Note: While it is clear that John McCain is not a perfect conservative, in my estimation, the notion that any conservative could be confused over whether or not to support McCain or Obama -- based on their policies -- is pure folderol.)
... Consider what passes for equal time on most of the big political shows: A few weeks ago, I wrote about the panel on ABC's This Week, which pitted Paul Begala (liberal), Jay Carney (liberal), Claire Shipman (liberal) -- and, of course, host -- George Stephanopoulos (liberal) -- against George Will (lone conservative).
It is common for one conservative to go up against several liberals. More concerning, perhaps, is that the one conservative is often not very conservative ...
Consider the folks you see most often on NBC and MSNBC (I'm thinking of the big shows like Hardball, etc. here). The list consists of David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, and Mike Murphy (don't forget about Noonan and Murphy caught on tape). These are all intelligent folks, but I wouldn't confuse any of them for conservatives. The one thing they have in common is that they genuflect at the altar of the mainstream media elite. Brooks has long ago left the fold, Noonan -- who is known to evince distaste for Palin by grimacing -- doesn't even know whom she's voting for, and Mike Murphy is more of a Republican strategist than a philosophical conservative. What is more, Murphy obviously has a bone to pick with the folks running McCain's campaign.
Pat Buchanan is a regular MSNBC contributor. To be sure, Pat is decent man, a skilled raconteur, and a brilliant commentator. But he has long abandoned any pretense of being a mainstream conservative.
... I won't even go into CNN and whether or not David Gergen counts as a Republican or a Democrat.
My point is that conservative viewpoints are not being represented -- at all -- on many of the big network and cable political shows. Thank goodness for talk radio, blogs, and Fox News ...
Update: Watch the clip again and notice how they praise Noonan as a "great columnist" as soon as she says she's not sure for whom she will vote.