On Saturday mornings, alas, I work. So I'm up early and having breakfast, and for some odd reason this time of day is when they frequently do segments with Pat Buchanan on MSNBC. And I turn the damn thing off, instead. Sheesh. I'm having breakfast here. Blasted east coasters.
I was reminded of this today when I received word of a petition, to tell MSNBC to fire Pat Buchanan already. Because he is entitled to speak, as per the 1st Amendment; but he is not entitled to be paid handsomely for it, and MSNBC is likewise culpable for their choices in punditry.
An excerpt from the email from Color of Change that I read today:
Buchanan has just published a book which says that increasing racial diversity is a threat to this country and will mean the "End of White America."1 This weekend, to promote his book, he went on a white supremacist radio show whose host has said things like "MLK's dream is our nightmare," and "interracial sex is white genocide."2
During the day, lo and behold, I heard Pat making the rounds hawking his new book. Now that it's a bit later in the day, I found a transcript of the interview on Diane Rehm's show.
I was interested in checking out the transcript, because during the interview, the white supremacist radio show was mentioned, specifically, by a listener. Buchanan's response was ridiculous. I wanted to see it again. What can I say? Sometimes an idea gets in my head and simmers, all day, and I can't let it go. Hence this post. Bolding some bits for emphasis:
REHM
11:32:43
...Here's an email from Pat who says, "You recently received criticism for appearing on the Political Cesspool Radio Program which describes it's ideology as pro-white and has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League as being anti-Semitic and white supremacist . Do you regret appearing on the program? And does MSNBC, where you're employed, approve of your appearance there?"
BUCHANAN
11:33:36
Well, this is -- Abe Foxman runs the Anti-Defamation League. And I think he's called me even worst names than he's calling this radio station. So I really don't credit -- I think there's an awful lot of smearing being done by the Anti-Defamation League frankly over the years of individuals who simply disagree maybe with a U.S. policy towards Israel, and a lot of name calling.
BUCHANAN
11:34:00
Now, on the radio shows I've been on, Diane, 100 radio shows directly and probably thousands through Shawn Hannity and Laura Ingram. Am I supposed to go and vet all the people on these shows and get the list from Abe Foxman on what shows I can go onto? ...
There's some irony in Pat Buchanan complaining about smearing while smearing Abe Foxman. Perhaps he senses that his ad hominem is insufficient, however, so he complains that he apparently can't vet the shows he goes on. He's in such demand that they keep sticking him on MSNBC on Saturday mornings to ruin my breakfast.
This is how hard it is to vet the aptly named Political Cesspool...
The Political Cesspool is a weekly talk radio show founded by James Edwards, and syndicated by Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network in the United States. First broadcast in October 2004 twice a week from radio station WMQM, it has been broadcast on Stormfront Radio, a service of the neo-Nazi Stormfront website,[4] and as of 2011 is broadcast on Saturday nights on WLRM, a Christian radio station in Millington, Tennessee. Its sponsors include the white separatist Council of Conservative Citizens and the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial group.[5]
I plug the name of the show into Google, bring up Wikipedia and there it is. Stormfront, white separatist, Holocaust denial. A veritable hat trick of racist depravity. Granted, Pat Buchanan is a Republican. And he may not have strong Google-fu, but come on. Plug the name in. Done. Simpler than Rick Perry's flat tax plan. And that's so simple, even Rick Perry thinks he understands it.
So Buchanan would have us believe that he doesn't have time to vet these shows. Begs the question of adequate staffing in support of his efforts, of course. I am left somewhat incredulous at this prospect, however. That he has no staff and no time to vet his prospects for interviews and impotent Google skills, insufficient to even check two sentences in on Wikipedia,
What about an alternate explanation? He simply went on a show full of ideas he agrees with?
Reminds me of another quote picked up by Color of Change:
"[Former KKK Grand Wizard] David Duke is busy stealing from me. I have a mind to go down there and sue that dude for intellectual property theft."6
It's a good thing I can find references for that, because I have trouble imagining Pat Buchanan calling anyone a dude. I'm gonna leave the intellectual property jokes alone for now. Anyway. The petition might be worth a moment of the reader's time. I never expect much from these things, but if nothing else it registers displeasure with the powers that be at MSNBC. Lean backward!
8:37 AM PT: 8:34 am: Nice to hear Stephanie Miller pick up on Pat Buchanan's racism, and she mentioned Color of Change and the white supremacist radio show, as well. In particular, she played this piece of the interview with Diane Rehm to pick on it:
"Take Barack Obama's own mother. I think she was an alienated individual just as Susan Sontag -- what I would call an ethno masochist in this sense. Her Indonesian husband wanted to know why she refused to meet with the American businessmen coming to Indonesia. And he said, please come and meet with these businessmen. These are your people. She said, they are not my people. In other words, her ideology had alienated her from her own country. "