It's just incredible that MSNBC still puts Pat Buchanan on the air. About an hour ago on Hardball he said:
What were the African-American community in Philadelphia that gave him 90% voting on if not the fact that Barack Obama was one of them. West Virginia, Hillary, was one of us. That's the same thing. But West Virginia gets trashed, and Philadelphia is wonderful.
And:
If Barack Obama were not an African American he would have been beaten by John Edwards. He would not be the nominee. It is far more of a positive for him, not only in the African-American community, but with the Chris Matthews' of the world and in the liberal suburbs far more than it is a negative. (Edit: I inadvertantly omitted a couple of words in the initial transcript, "by" and "for".)
Late update: View the full ten-minute segment here.
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As a reminder, about two months ago, Buchanan wrote this on his blog:
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.
When is MSNBC going to fire this guy? It's long overdue.
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Update: I'm looking for MSNBC contact information. For now the best thing I've found is this link to contact Tim Russert and Meet the Press. (Russert is head of NBC's political coverage, which I think means that he is ultimately in charge of the roster of panelists hired by MSNBC.)
Link to Russert's contact page: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Also: Lava20 provides some more contact information: viewerservices@msnbc.com - letters@msnbc.com - hardball@msnbc.com
Also, again: MasterSitsu provides the MSNBC phone number: 212 664 4444