Noonan is an ASS, right from the title, "The Democrats' Soft Extremism" -- soft?  SOFT?! -- through her "love" for Joe Bite-me, to near end, "... maybe a sense the Democrats were extreme will take hold."
*Were* extreme?  They ARE extreme.  Noonan's not going to say it outright, though.  She's one of the Republican Party's "tone" people.