by I don’t always agree with Peggy Noonan, former Reagan speechwriter and current columnist for the Wall Street Journal. However, she does have a way with words.
In her column yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, part of the discussion was about the other woman in David Petraeus’ life – Paula Broadwell. After pointing out all the attributes that Broadwell ascribed to herself including author and biographer, Noonan has this to say.
She calls herself a biographer, but biographers actually do something arduous—they write biographies.
Broadwell, for those that aren’t aware, used a ghostwriter for the book All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. If you think about it, Paula Broadwell was nothing but a highly-rewarded research assistant while Vernon Loeb, the ghostwriter, is the actual biographer.
I have been a research assistant. I have known research assistants. Ms. Broadwell is no research assistant.
Her role more accurately might be described as an embedded liaison.