Pat Buchanan: Slavery Best Thing Ever to Happen to Blacks

[TexanDem]

Pat Buchanan: Slavery Best Thing Ever to Happen to Blacks
I saw this thread in the GP
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3046118&mesg_id=3046118

Since this is spurred from the Race Speech, I figured it should be appropriate to post it in the GDP.
This needs to be widely spread and we all need to voice our outrage no matter which candidate we support!
____

Pat Buchanan: Slavery Best Thing Ever to Happen to Blacks
by D Wreck
Sat Mar 22, 2008 at 06:52:12 AM PDT

Barack Obama's speech this past week illuminated aspects of the racial divide in this country in a nuanced and respectful manner. This speech offered an opening for dialogue. Pat Buchanan has offered his response.

http://buchanan.org/blog/?p=969


America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

No people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.


Buchanan amazes with a tone deaf defense of white resentment by claiming slavery is the best thing that ever happened to black people in a posting on his website yesterday. Buchanan's contribution to this dialogue is as appalling as Obama's contribution is appealling.

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/22/83758/9895/...

________________
My response:

PLEASE WRITE TO MSNBC -- DEMAND PAT BUCHANAN BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!!
I just wrote mine!


[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Subject: Fire Pat Buchanan Immediately!

Dear MSNBC:
The following statement was issued in Pat Buchanan's blog yesterday:

"America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

No people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream."


Pat Buchanan MUST GO IMMEDIATELY! For your network to continue to allow the voice of such a racist who spews that much hate and bigotry is inexcusable. You fired Imus for only making a distasteful joke when everybody knew Imus was not a racist. But Buchanan is NOT JOKING! How long do you think you would keep him around if he gloated that the Holocaust was a "good thing" for the Jews because without it they probably never would have built their own country -- or some such vile foolishness.

MSNBC is my preferred news source and I'm sure Buchanan does not speak for other reporters and correspondents and that this loathsome remark, hopefully, made them shutter as much as it will the world. But I promise you -- as soon as Buchanan appears on any show -- I will immediately change the station to CNN. Let Fox News have him! He will be right at home there!

As one who identifies more with the Progressives, I still kind of liked Buchanan and gave him credit for some things. I was disappointed that he was so strongly opposing Senator Obama, but just chalked it up to his "Conservative" nature to choose the more Conservative candidate, Hillary Clinton. But obviously it was much more sinister than that. The motivation for his venomous opposition toward Barack Obama is now quite clear. He is a 1st Class Racist Bigot!!
FIRE PAT BUCHANAN!!

And for the record, I am a senior white female who was born, raised, and will die in the south. I've seen the horrors of discrimination in my youth and still some of it continues today. That in itself has been bad enough. But there's no way for anyone with any facsimile of of heart to be able to fully comprehend what slavery must have been like! For Buchanan to tout that they should be grateful about it is far too far over the line!!! Do not allow your network to be associated with his poison!!
FIRE PAT BUCHANAN!!


(signed)
(city/state)

[leftofcool]

1. So this was on Buchanan's blog but not on MSNBC?

While I don't agree with ole Pat, how do you propose to get him fired for what he writes on his own blog? If he can be fired for writing what he pleases in his own blog on a site he pays for, can anyone else? What happened to freedom of speech? Better be careful what you wish for.

[K Gardner]

2. Because he's spewing hate and racial division on MSNBC. Constantly.

[leftofcool]

9. Did he say these things on MSNBC?

I have heard him say racially divisive things before but did he make these actual quotes on TV?

[Joe Bacon]

41. Olbermann would have punched his teeth out!

Buchannan is such a sorry sleazy sack of shit

[Unsane]

3. Freedom of speech doesn't prevent a private employer from firing an employee

[leftofcool]

5. No but that would be one hell of a lawsuit

won by Buchanan

[Unsane]

11. won on what grounds?

It wouldn't be constitutional grounds. He would have to argue that MSNBC breached his employment contract.

[leftofcool]

19. You are correct

Buchanan is a doddering old fool who has as much cred as a head of lettuce. Why Obama supporters are concerned with what he writes on some dumb blog is far beyond me. MSNBC is probably laughing their asses off over the flood of emails. We probably don't want to start firing people for what they say in blogs

[TexanDem]

16. I suppose it's MY freedom of speech to call for it!

Alas, there is hypocracy afoot, isn't it? Obama has held accountable and crucified for things that Wright said by all the media. Now that one of their own speaks out in such a vial way, you suggest they hide behind freedom of speech! I'm sorry. Blog for public consumption or on the air, he is speaking for what he believes in. Would any channel hire David Duke or Farrakan, even if they didn't voice their opinions on the air? I think not!

[leftofcool]

23. If you want to get some doddering old fool fired for what he writes

be my guest. Buchanan is an idiot. Why waste your time?

[ariesgem]

31. If it were say, Roland Martin of CNN who wrote a blog advocating

the scenario in reverse and folks started writing the station screaming BLACK RACISM, his ass would be fired in a New York minute.

[VolcanoJen]

39. Well, I'm not sure Al Campanis made his comments while on the pitcher's mound at Dodger Stadium.

He made them to Ted Koppel on "Nightline." Yet, the "totally unfair" Dodgers Organization fired him.

And, Jimmy the Greek made his comments about black athletes being superior because "the slave owners would breed their big black women so they would get a big black kid" to some reporter in DC, not while analyzing football for CBS. Still, and I know it's shocking and patently "unfair", CBS decided not to give him an open microphone on Sundays anymore.

So, you know, there's a precedent. And it's one I happen to agree with.

[Monty__]

4. Simple response

Pat Buchanan: Worst thing ever to happen to whites

[buff2]

6. Oh please..

Get over yourself.

[PM7nj]

22. So you agree with Buchanan?

Wow, you are a piece of work.

[leftofcool]

24. The poster didnt say that

Why waste your time on some old fool with half a brain. Who cares what Buchanan thinks?

[Window]

38. Perhaps some black folk, like me, cares.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

42. He's an old fool with a national audience

[Coexist]

7. he should not be a panelist when discussing race:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5207181&mesg_id=5207181

Can we all PLEASE take a moment to respectfully ask MSNBC to seriously consider not having Pat Buchanan on to discuss the issue of race in America?

He just compared Rev. Wright – again – to David Duke. And he has the nerve to say this as if he thinks Duke is a bad guy. Well, Pat, we know you don’t like that he ”steals” from you, but other than that, you seem to think that Klansman Duke is a pretty cool guy:

Here is Buchanan on Duke:


Consider Buchanan's own words on the former Klansman: "David Duke is busy stealing from me," Buchanan said in 1991. "I have a mind to go down there and sue that dude for intellectual property theft."

In a column sympathetic to ex-Klansman David Duke, Buchanan chided the Republican Party for overreacting to Duke and his Nazi "costume": "Take a hard look at Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, reverse discrimination against white folks." (syndicated column, 2/25/89)


This is not a man whose thinks like “Joe American”. MSNBC, perhaps in its desire to show “both sides” constantly gives a proud bigot a microphone. Unfortunately, the ideals of this country on race do not fall in the exact middle of Buchanan and Obama. They fall much closer to the Barack Obama we heard in his historic speech. And although Buchanan may be an effective commentator on other issues, the race issue is one MSNBC needs to keep him away from – he is hateful.

How can they , in good conscience, have a man who said, in a September 1993 speech to the Christian Coalition, that multiculturalism as "an across-the-board assault on our Anglo-American heritage."


And:

On race relations in the late 1940s and early 1950s: "There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The 'negroes' of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours." (Right from the Beginning, Buchanan's 1988 autobiography, p. 131)

And:

White House adviser Buchanan urged President Nixon in an April 1969 memo not to visit "the Widow King" on the first anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination, warning that a visit would "outrage many, many people who believe Dr. King was a fraud and a demagogue and perhaps worse.... Others consider him the Devil incarnate. Dr. King is one of the most divisive men in contemporary history." (New York Daily News, 10/1/90)

And:

In a column sympathetic to ex-Klansman David Duke, Buchanan chided the Republican Party for overreacting to Duke and his Nazi "costume": "Take a hard look at Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, reverse discrimination against white folks." (syndicated column, 2/25/89)

And:

Trying to justify apartheid in South Africa, he denounced the notion that "white rule of a black majority is inherently wrong. Where did we get that idea? The Founding Fathers did not believe this." (syndicated column, 2/7/90) He referred admiringly to the apartheid regime as the "Boer Republic": "Why are Americans collaborating in a U.N. conspiracy to ruin her with sanctions?" (syndicated column, 9/17/89)


Giving a man like this air time, as though his thoughts on race and unity in this country are valid and important is offensive to me. Buchanan's views are offensive to most decent Americans.

If you feel the same way, please Contact MSNBC and let them know.

Thank you.

[kwenu]

8. If I'm understanding this correctly...Pat Buchanan must be right if Jeremiah Wright was wrong.

This is what you call a "Come to Jesus" moment for those who believe Pastor Wright's indictment of America was just a racist tirade. Thing I will never understand is why Wright's brand of preaching is compared to white supremacy teachings. Wright's condemnations never state or imply that Black people are superior to anybody rather it is a comment on the sins of the people put in power to run this country and how they've treated minorities historically.

This is why the Obama/Wright is a racist is so off the mark.

[Political Heretic]

84. .

wrong spot

[Catherina]

10. Along the lines of the racism we saw here that was going after Obama

for letting his grandmother live in a "hut".

I don't think Buchanan should be fired. I like to seem him up there making an ignorant fool of himself and providing a good yardstick to measure the stealth racists by. When you hear Buchanan's talking points and then see them repeated on Democratic forums, it only helps.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

12. My e-mail

The following was spoken by Pat Buchanan yesterday: "America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

"No people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream."

This is loathsome commentary. That you allow this racist, GOP, talking point a forum to express this diatribe is unconscionable. I will no longer tune in to MSNBC to catch myself up on the news. I suggest your producers and programming directors get their act together. Consumers will no longer tolerate such behavior.

With abject disgust,

[meow mix]

71. thanks for writing them i do every day

im amazed they are ok with having a racist commentator.

[guyanakoolaid]

13. "No people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans."

...but of course this is only because other white Americans did so much to put them down. Had they not been relegated to a class just above working animals, there would have never been the need to "lift them up".

[surfermaw]

17. Considering their own people captured and sent them here

[Solon]

30. That's both dumb and ignorant...

Do you have any idea how fucking dumb you sound? Their own people? By whose definition? Not by the definition used by African tribes who participated in the slave trade. They captured people from OTHER tribes, not their own, in various wars and skirmishes, in addition to raids, all to get money and trade goods from Europeans.

That's as stupid as saying that all those European wars were wars against "their own people" after all, pretty much all Europeans are white, are they not. They all look the same to me. :eyes:

[Bongo Prophet]

61. Of course! Europe invaded itself to start WW2! so clear now...

Amazing what clarity can come from such thinking! ;)

[Window]

32. Nice. And why, pray tell, did they do that.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

33. That's like blaming all American Indians for their own genocide

because a few Indians were made scouts, given uniforms, and paid a paltry sum to hunt down their own people. It's like blaming the Nazi collaborators for the enslavement of Europe under Hitler. The fact is, large sections of west Africa were stripped of people during the slave trade; sometimes even the ones who collaborated with the slave traders ended up slaves themselves. Without the existence of the large slave economies in North and South America and the Caribbean, there would have been no slave trade.

[TahitiNut]

35. Spoken exactly like a CCC member.

:puke:

[Whisp]

55. you disgusting pustule.

[ORDem]

64. Thanks! I hadn't put another bigot on the Ignore list for a while.

:eyes:

[BeyondGeography]

14. Pat speaks for that whole bunch of white people who lack the empathy gene

[floridablue]

26. Unfortunately I think he speaks for a large amount of voters.

[BeyondGeography]

28. Like I said, it's a whole bunch

Unfortunately for me, I'm related to a squadron of them.

[TexanDem]

40. I'm afraid you're right! We haven't come as far as we'd like to think

[sandnsea]

70. Not west of the Mississippi

I don't know what the fuck is going on in the eastern part of this country but I have NEVER heard anybody speak that way in my fifty years of living. Racism, sure, lots. But slavery was a lucky thing??? So much for that whole "Freedom" thingy. :crazy:

[muntrv]

15. Ah Pukecannon!! The one that wanted to be ambassador to South Africa

because "he thinks just like the South African government."

BTW Pukester, if slavery was so "great," then why don't you pick a bail of cotton for free?

[skepticscott]

18. I suppose that doesn't include

the uncounted thousands of slaves who died on the way over and were tossed to the sharks, and the uncounted thousands who were whipped or beaten to death in front of their families, for the amusement of their benevolent masters, or the families who were sold away from each other...etc., etc., etc. Is Pat Buchanan saying that HE would choose the life of a slave for himself, his children and his children's children rather than freedom under any conditions?

[C_U_L8R]

20. And take his little dog Joe Scarborough too

MSNBC (and every media outlet) plays an important role in society and pop culture.
They have the ability drag us down to the depths of banality, prejudice and bigotry
or help raise us up to more enlightened atmosphere where ideas, openness,
and mutual regard create better harmony and understanding among us all.

MSNBC has got a very defined choice to make... and so far, they've chosen poorly.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. I wonder how all of the black people who died on the slave ships coming over

or the ones worked to death in the fields or had their lives considerably shortened, or those thousands who were hung in the South for no reason, or the ones who were reviled during Jim Crow and never were able to fulfill their human potential, or the thousands who died during child birth because of the deplorable lack of access to doctors or health care over the decades ... would feel about these comments, if they could come back.

[JoFerret]

25. The only other time I heard that said

was by a gay black man - a dear, much missed friend (now dead of AIDS these many years) who said it seriously.

I think it is one of those topics on which white people - or those with no connection to have been enslaved - would be best to listen to and wait until asked before jumping in with ignorant commentary. Pat Buchanan being one such person.

[Endangered Specie]

27. Sadly enough, those words coming out his mouth...

don't suprise me.

[Window]

29. Excellent letter.

What about an online petition using your letter as the body? Or do you think bombarding them with e-mails would be better?

Something must be done to reign this racist in.

[TexanDem]

46. Thanks! Don't know abt petitions, don't think they do much.

[Window]

50. Well, we'll just have to get these fingers typing away.

Peace:thumbsup:

[City Lights]

34. I did my part. I wrote MSNBC *again* this morning. Twice.

I seem to be writing MSNBC multiple times a day lately. I know others are doing it too, but we're not getting anywhere. I'm beginning to wonder if MSNBC agrees with Pat.

Did you notice what a weenie he is? He wants this to be a two-way conversation rather than a lecture, but won't let anyone post comments about his latest masterpiece on his little blog.

[TexanDem]

93. ha -- guess he knows he's a racist! lol

[SeattleGirl]

36. Apparently, Buchanan went to the same school of empathy that

Babs Bush did. :eyes:

[struggle4progress]

37. Be sure to catch Pat next week as he discusses: "Those ungrateful Injuns"

[JVS]

And then continues with "Israel is lucky the Holocaust happened, or they be part of Jordan today"

what a shithead.

[Vinca]

43. I emailed MSNBC last week after about the 20th consecutive

Buchanan appearance as an expert on racial issues. I told them it was like having Liz Taylor on to talk about marriage.

[nxylas]

44. Don't fire him!

I think those comments should be played over and over again the way Jeremiah Wright's more incendiary comments were, in order to remind everyone of why they should vote for Obama in November, rather than a Republican.

[PetraPooh]

45. If you actually look at the history of African nations, the genocide against themselves, oppression,

tyrants in charge, South African apartied, and the like; I fear that as bad as it has been here, he may be right that it was better than what they would've expected there. (Putting on flame suit)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

47. I think he could have made that point

without seeming to endorse slavery as a wonderful institution to which American blacks owe their current freedoms. Buchanan amazingly just overlooks the centuries of inhuman treatment and oppression that black people in this country had to endure, until very recent times. Reading further down on his blog, he blames black people alone for their high crime rate and incarceration rate. He doesn't even give the briefest mention to the fact that black people had no access to education, voting, jobs, or a host of other social benefits until very recent times. You just don't get rid of deep social imbalance in a generation or two, after centuries of devastation visited on a people because of slavery and Jim Crow. There are now hundreds of thousands of black people alive today who lived through the days when they couldn't even stop a motel in the south or eat at a lunch counter or send their kids to a good school because of their color.

[PetraPooh]

51. Perhaps he could say it better, or perhaps we could interpret it better.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

52. I don't see how anyone could possibly interpret his complete lack of condemnation

of slavery in a favorable way. Or his convenient lack of memory of the centuries of oppression that black people have had to undergo, which continues to affect their social problems today. How can he entirely blame black people for their incarceration rate, when they are given longer sentences than white people for the same crimes and when crime is greatly influenced by economic disadvantage? He could have made the point you made. But he didn't. He chose to be disgusting.

[PetraPooh]

54. Of course you don't, but others might be able to.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

56. People who see slavery and its legacy as a thoroughly positive matter?

One that can be alluded to without condemnation? I don't even think Freeperville has many who would feel that way.

[PetraPooh]

57. But it is your interpretation the he is touting slavery, I don't read that in any quote of his.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

60. He's ignoring slavery - that's the point

In his blog, he says that America has been the best country for black people. He's using the past tense. He's saying that in the absolute. He isn't mentioning slavery and its legacy that continues until today. Was America the best country for blacks when they weren't treated like human beings? Was it the best country for blacks when they weren't given civil rights? He's making absolute statements without qualifying them.

He quotes Obama:

"...The “white community” must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with “ladders of opportunity” that were “unavailable” to Barack’s and the Rev. Wright’s generations. ..."

And in his next sentence, he calls this a con job and a shakedown. In other words, he doesn't think America has anything to answer for. He doesn't reference why black people have social problems today, and the fact that the past has everything to do with it. He then blames black people uniquely for their crime problems. How else can someone interpet a post by Buchanan on his blog that doesn't reference at all the impact of slavery and its legacy in the way it has affected black people? To ignore this centrally important fact is to condone it. I see no other way to interpret Buchanan's words.

[PetraPooh]

62. I see your point, but it is still interpretation of his words, I don't share your interpretation.

[ellacott]

63. The only problem is that Africa has gone through centuries of colonization

by the Europeans. They took over the country and pillaged it of it's resources. It was only recently that some countries have become independent of European rule. Europeans also stole many of Africa's intellectual property also and claimed they originated it.

I think those things have to be taken into consideration.

[PetraPooh]

65. Consideration, sure; but it doesn't change that the USA is one of the best places for blacks to live

[ellacott]

69. It's one of the best places for anyone to live

Considering that blacks helped make this country such a great place is not missed by many people. Blacks literally planted and picked the seeds of capitalism that made this country great. If blacks were left alone in their own country(continent) it's no telling what Africa might be like today.

[PetraPooh]

73. Uhm, you make it sound like there are no blacks in Africa. They were sold by their own tribesmen.

And judging by the news reports of the continuing bloodshed in so many African nations, well, they sure appear to be primarily black on both sides of those issues.

[ellacott]

75. "Left Alone", those are the operative words

Context is also important. Those tribesmen had no idea the horror that was in store for those people. This form of slavery was the most inhumane and brutal in history.

You have no understanding of how centuries of colonization and mistreatment can destroy a people. You have no perspective. What's happening today is not in a vacuum. If you really want to understand you would consider what brought them to this point. Africa had a rich history prior to slavery and colonization.

[PetraPooh]

76. Are they not being left alone now? Aren't the still killing each other in droves in many African

countries?

[ellacott]

78. I think you are purposely missing the point, Wow

Are you saying that Africans are naturally violent and savages? I understand now why you may relate with Pat's position. I'm just surprised to read this on DU. You guys keep surprising me. Wow

It would be very helpful to you if you did some independent study on the history of Africa. Do you feel that centuries of abuse can be swepted away with no residual effects?

[PetraPooh]

80. "Centuries of abuse" doesn't justify what they are doing to each other in my mind. I was

severely abused as a child, akin to that little girl Riddley in Houston that died of her injuries. But that doesn't give me an excuse to abuse others or my own children, now does it? I'm sorry but you are trying to preach to a woman who more than understands the history of abuse and will NOT ever consider it an excuse to harm ones own or anyone else.

[ellacott]

81. I'm glad you were able to overcome your abuse

But one thing you should have learned is that everyone deals with it differently. I also was horribly abused as a child but it caused me to have more empathy. Also, you should have been able to identify those who still have not overcome those issues of abuse and who have indeed abused others along with themselves. Everybody didn't come out of it just fine.

As I said, you need to so some independent study on Africa. There are lasting consequences when a country has been pillaged and the people don't get a share of the economic bounty that was taken from them, just ask the native American Indians.

[PetraPooh]

85. I am not ignorant of African history. And NO, prior abuse is NEVER an excuse for anything except

self defense against those that are specifically and currently abusing.

[ellacott]

88. I believe you are

You wouldn't be presenting this argument if you weren't. Whether you think is an excuse or not doesn't change the fact that it happens. Just in the U.S. statistics have proven that most of the people who are abusive have been abused themselves.

What's going on in Africa is not a question of just abuse. It's a lot deeper.

[PetraPooh]

89. Then your belief would be wrong. 'nuff said. g'night.

[ellacott]

90. cya

[tabasco]

68. What a stupid thing to say. Revolting and stupid.

How would you feel if your grandmother had been a slave? If your father had been lynched? If your mother had been treated as an inferior form of life?

You are a sorry excuse for a human being to think "it's worked out well for them." I really hate to share the planet with people like you. You don't even understand freedom. You need to work on your humanity, if you are able.

Of course, you've never been to Africa. I have been to Africa and I guaran-fucking-tee the people I met there were glad their ancestors had not been shipped off on a slave ship.

Dumbass.

[PetraPooh]

74. I never said that, you are strawman'ing my stance. I said that it is, not it was.

And even at that, I never said it was perfect here now for them or for that matter for most anyone who isn't part of the corporate elite. All I said was that it sure seems better here for them now than it does in so many of the African countries right now.

[MS Liberal]

48. Pat is Right

Obama's speech put the blame for Wright's speech on white America. We will never know if blacks would have been better off in Africa or America. Weak blacks did not survive the voyage. If the strong blacks had remained in Africa maybe there would be an African nation as strong as America. We will never know. We do know that African-Americans are the most well off blacks in the world. America is as much ours as any white person. In that sense Pat is right. I thank God I am an American.

[kevinmc]

53. Was Pat right about women staying at home and out of the workforce?

And how womans lib ruined America?

[PetraPooh]

59. Wow, talk about changing the subject.

[McCamy Taylor]

49. Pat Buchanan created the dirty tricks strategy Nixon used to win in 1972

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/watergate/stories/buchananmemo.htm

"COVERT OPERATIONS -- We should have as many of these down there as needed to conduct harassment exercises, and embarrassment exercises for the Democrats. They should have no connection at all with the GOP Observation Post, and should be directed out of here, as they have been in the past.

"They should be able to help put demonstrations together, get leaflets out, start rumors, and generally foul up scheduled events -- and add to the considerable confusion and chaos that will inevitably exist."

It continued:

"The preparation of attacks on one Democrat by another -- and 'endorsements' of one Democrat by another, which has to be repudiated, are examples of what can be done. Nothing should be done here, incidentally, which can seriously backfire and anything done should be cleared by the highest campaign authority. The Secret Service, it should be noted, will be all over Miami; and any activity will have to take into consideration their capabilities.

He lied to Congress about the existence of these dirty tricks memos (and about the dirty tricks operations which were horrible things see what was done to Muskie to drive him out of the 1972 race here

http://www.woodstockjournal.com/elections.html

And he "Ghettoized" Obama in January (from an article Buchanan wrote for his own American Conservative magazine)while pretending to be writing about the Clintons doing this, making repeated comments about Obama in relation to ghettos, drugs, crime etc in his role as a consultant on MSNBC. He got away with it the same way that Tweety got away with having a full one hour show about Obama and cocaine (in which Tweety kept asking "Do things really go better with coke?"). He said that he was talking about the Clintons. But it was always Buchanan bringing up the issue of not race but negative stereotypes associated with race. It was so bad one night that Joe Scarborough told him to stop it with the race baiter politics while on air.

And MSNBC has the nerve to allow this veteran dirty trickster from 1972, the author of Nixon's CREEP attacks, the man who wrote the book that Karl Rove is following this year in his attempt to re-create the 1972 election---MSNBC allows Buchanan to comment on the Democratic Primary and to influence journalists like KO and Todd and Fineman and even Maddow. Because no one at MSNBC is anywhere near as smart as Buchanan. Buchanan is a friggin' genius. Do not be fooled by his "I'm just a bumbling old coot" act. He is the real Goebels, not Karl Rove.

I wrote more about Buchanan a couple of months ago in this journal

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/129

if anyone is interested. He is well respected by other journalists so good luck. Even Hunter S, Thompson said that he was 79% bullshit free which was high praise coming from him.

[ithinkmyliverhurts]

58. Have a little sympathy: Buchanon's father died in the Holocaust.

He fell off the watchtower while on patrol.

[TheWatcher187]

67. Good One lol

Good one lol

[tabasco]

66. Pat Buchanan is what is known as a piece of human garbage.

The world will be better when he is gone.

[anonymous171]

72. Yes. He's MSNBC's newest "Race Expert"...

That's like having Giuliani as a marriage counselor.

[sampsonblk]

77. Pat Buchanan has a point.

What he says is pretty accurate, even though its distasteful. In fact, having traveled to Africa, one of the things I noticed right away is that many Africans think we black Americans are stupid for continuing to complain. Our ancestors had it bad here. Real bad. But we in the USA are the richest, best educated black people on earth. This is our time!

So while Pat Buchanan is no friend of ours, he still has a point. If he told the rest of the story, maybe we'd be more willing to listen. We can argue whether the cost was worth it or not. (I think not). But its true that we are better off than any black people anywhere on earth.

[oviedodem]

79. My family is from jamaica, ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT FROM AFRICA!!

What point!!

Pat is basically saying that the US government has built up the black race in America with all kinds of government programs. My family came here and NEVER used a government program ever. I hate to break this to you but the BIGGEST users of government programs are not black people.

[sampsonblk]

92. I am not defending all of his comments

Only the ones about the current state of black Americans vs other blacks in other countries.

[berni_mccoy]

82. Wow. That guy is truly a racist.

[Political Heretic]

83. Wow that is just unbelievable.

[Political Heretic]

86. POINT OF ORDER, MR. SPEAKER! Most of the social welfare programs Pat mentions were for whites

"welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs"

These programs, many of which emerged out of the 1964 Economic Opportunities Act and the War on Poverty, benefited predominately whites. Just like today whites make up the largest ethnic group in poverty. In the 1960's the combination of a climate of Civil Rights struggles, and the organization and mobilization of urban blacks to participate in government through CAPs that started to threaten mayors and other local politicians helped to turn sentiment against the War on Poverty in the public...and conservatives began to characterize it as "black aid."

I'm sorry to keep posting this over and over, but someone should point out to Pat the number of things he will never have to worry about:

Daily effects of White Privilege:

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598ge/Unpacking.html

[NoBushSpokenHere]

87. Best thing that could happen for America is for people like

him and limpballs to be removed from the media! I am so tired of turning on the TV to hear his Republican biased comments! PEOPLE LIKE HIM should have NO BUSINESS being on ANY TALK SHOW OR NEWS SHOW!

[ShortnFiery]

91. Newsflash for Pat Buchanan: Why Obama Stands With His Church by Colbert I. King

Washington Post Online
Saturday, March 22, 2008

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102539.html

snip

Buchanan and his ilk look at Trinity's slogan with horror. They label the church's theological values "Afro-centric" and "racially exclusive." Trinity is beyond the pale of Christianity, at least their version of it.

Psst: Trinity has plenty of company, coast to coast. Many black congregations, from storefronts to mega-churches, are in sync with the Trinity slogan. <"Unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian.">


They, too, see no need to apologize for their African roots. Nor are they ashamed of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But hey, what's with this newfound concern about African Americans worshiping among themselves in their own way?

More important, who forced that separation?

/snip