'Ssssshhhhhhhh'

Nothing like sitting down to a read from Peggy Noonan. And she doesn't disappoint here....ssssshhhhhhhh, time to read.//JW sends

One night during the past campaign I made a speech at an annual county GOP meeting in Pennsylvania. I can't remember the name of the county or where it was exactly; I was there at that moment of early darkness when Pennsylvania is New Jersey and New Jersey is Ohio: it all looks the same. There are trees and highways.

I walked into the hotel ballroom and what I saw startled me. There were a thousand people milling about, making quite a din. They were all standing and talking and eating chicken fingers from hors d'oeuvres tables dotted around the room. There were no chairs. Normally when I speak it's to people in chairs in a hall.

I was introduced at a little podium and began to speak and the people in the back continued their racket. I made some jokes to get them laughing and draw them in to my remarks, but the roar continued. People up front started telling them to be quiet back there. They got louder. I looked out at them and said if they didn't simmer down I'd start to sing, which would be terrible for them. The roar continued. All I could think to do at that point was talk through it and over it and do my best and say what I had to say and introduce the next speaker, a U.S. senator.

He--it was Arlen Specter--understood the room.

He took the podium, readjusted the mike, smiled and said, "Ssssshhhhhhhh."

He said it very softly, drawing it out, then letting the sound gently disappear. Then he said it again, even softer.

And the crowd began to quiet.