The smell of used bookstores. . .

. . .always comes to mind when I read Peggy Noonan, because that's where I found her work for the first time. And there's just something about the discovery of great writing on the cheap.

"I think the people tended toward Mr. Bush because they saw him as a good American man, a man they know--an imperfect one with an imperfect past who turned his life around with grit and grace. That's a very American story. It's one we all know, and respect. There are Democrats--Chris Heinz was reportedly one, at the end--who amuse themselves referring to President Bush as a former cokehead. I don't know about that, but I know America went through the 1970s, and America is still in recovery. When nice people hear things like 'former drunk' they tend to put the internal emphasis on the word former."