What the hell happened to Pat Buchanan? He used to speak awkward truths that other Republicans kept to themselves. By contrast, tonight was just embarrassing, like somebody replaced my usual coffee with Sean Hannity. Either Buchanan genuinely loves Sarah Palin or else he has some deep-seated problem with Barack Obama that he’s not coming to terms with. I think we can rule out choice #1.
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Chuck Butcher
Since Pat knows little shame, I’m embarrassed for him.
tripletee
Yeah, his Darkie in the White House Early Detection System is blaring at DefCon 5.
As entertaining as Buchanan can be at times, it’s good to be reminded that he’s a fucking troglodyte on a lot of issues.
Splitting Image
Actually, I wouldn’t rule out Door No. 1. Buchanan may be feeling puppy love after finding out that a pretty, perky beauty pageant contestant was a door-knocker for his campaign. He’s acting like a guy who thinks his Hooters waitress really likes him.
However, since there is a pretty easy guess as to what’s behind Door No. 2, I wouldn’t rule that out either. All year long Buchanan has raved about things Obama has actually done (like his convention speech) and railed against him for what he "represents".
Balconesfault
Didn’t see tonight, but I’ve seen "Uncle Pat" argue before on Palin’s behalf, and he’s a huge fan. A few shows ago he was insisting that Palin was the most successful VP pick of all time, because of the size of the bounce she gave McCain when his numbers were faltering pre-convention.
El Cid
He went all weird as soon as McCain introduced his northern culture warrior gal. I think Pat’s all a-fluttery for somewhat pretty white women who sneer at community organizers and uppity coloreds and what not.
NonyNony
Actually, I don’t think you can rule out #1. He’s been a giddy school-boy over the Palin pick since she was announced. He gets totally stupid trying to defend her on Maddow’s show on a regular basis (I haven’t seen tonight’s episode yet, so I don’t know how bad he got tonight). It’s really been embarrassing to watch him when the subject turns to Palin.
That said, I’m fairly positive that #2 is probably also an issue with Buchanan. He was down in the dumps about Obama winning the White House for a long time until the Palin pick came along.
Jazzi
He just referred to Palin as "this lovely, attractive woman." I guess now we know her qualifications, according to Pat. Why in heck does Rachel invite this arse on the show?
Screamin' Demon
It’s # 2. Pat’s not likin’ him some Obama. He’s a darkie, ya know..
dmsilev
It’s a combination. He’s been despondent for months about the likelihood of Obama winning the White House, undoubtedly due in large part to that race thing. Palin, and specifically the brief bounce she gave to the McCain poll numbers, gave him hope of avoiding that. So, he clings to the memory of that hope, even after the choice boomeranged back.
-dms
Comrade Jake
My favorite Buchanan story is one that’s not widely known. When he was running for President a long time ago, around the time of the NH primary some people raised the charge that he was anti-Semitic. He protested that he wasn’t, and made sort of a big deal about having a lot of Jewish friends.
A local Rabbi was asked what he thought about Buchanan’s response. He said he knew what Buchanan was talking about, because the Rabbi also had a lot of friends who were anti-Semites.
So I suspect ol’ Pat has a lot of black friends, too.
August J. Pollak
Yes, whatever could that be. I know it’s something; I just can’t put my negro on it.
demimondian
Really, I don’t think it’s deep seated. He knows that beauty is only skin-deep.
DannyNoonan
I’m pretty sure it has to do with Pat Buchanan waging a one man culture war in his pants.
kommrade jakevich
My lasting opinion of Pat was formed when I watched his Kkkulture War speech.
Need I say anything more?
OK, maybe you had to be there, coming off two terms of Reagan with a Bush I term chaser, but take it from me, listening to this buffoon get people worked up was more than a tad alarming.
Go watch the speech (if you can stand it) or read the transcript. Not only will you know that he’s a raving bigot, you’ll know he doesn’t have a crush on The Blood Countess. He feels a paternal pride when he watches her whip the hordes into a frenzy.
zak
I dunno, PaBu was remarkably gracious after Obama’s convention acceptance speech & praised it to the skies.
jdw
Oh no, pat loves sarah. for real. bay is even worse.
these wingnuts are so far gone they think she’s the next reagan.
demimondian
@kommrade jakevich:
I was there, too. Thank you for reminding me.
Now I need to find a mind-brush to comb the memory back down.
Dennis - SGMM
For most of the past four decades the president has been a Republican. Just a few years ago they were talking about a permanent Republican majority. The Republicans’ fall from grace has to be tough to take for them, particularly because they have no one but themselves to blame. Buchanan may stray off of the reservation from time to time but he remains a Republican. His loyalty to the tribe trumped whatever latent common sense that he may have had.
SamFromUtah
@kommrade jakevich: My lasting opinion of Pat was formed when I watched his Kkkulture War speech.
Mine too. Surprising how well he’s received after he let the loony hang out so long ago. I mean, does this screed sound like anything but wingnut?
Then again, a bunch of people still think Reagan was non-evil.
Comrade Jake
@DannyNoonan:
Win.
mgordon
More than likely he’s been asked to take these positions to make for good t.v. I doubt he really has much love for Palin and he certainly doesn’t like the current GOP or McCain. They just need someone at MSNBC to play devil’s advocate and I’m sure Pat doesn’t mind pissing off the average Rachal Maddow viewer.
It could be worse. You could have to watch his sister with her ridiculous glasses.
Clio
Honestly, i really think its more #1 than #2, even though i am sure that the thought of a black man in the white house is not pat’s dream scenario. He has been gaga for palin ever since the day of the announcement and his increasingly unhinged defenses of her in spite of all evidence to the contrary has been incredible to watch. Pat usually has reasons for his opinions even if i disagree with them, its one of the reasons he is an entertaining commentator. He has nothing that remotely resembles sense in his palin lovefests. I think that he just can not believe that most of the american public is not as taken in by her as he is. He is totally in denial that silent majority, nixon style politics is dead.
Comrade The Other Steve
Pat Buchanan doesn’t much like McCain, but he loves him some Sarah.
He’s convinced the stripper is in love with him.
Leo
In addition to everything else that’s been said, it’s quite possible that Buchanan actually likes Palin as a candidate. After all, he helped devise the whole anti-elite/populist strategy that the GOP has used for the last 40 years. Palin’s candidacy is that strategy distilled to its purest wingnut essence.
Far Left American Hater Incertus
It was better in the original German.
kth
It’s not #2 because Buchanan’s Palin-love doesn’t transfer to McCain.
I guess Pat sees the same thing that Kristol and the neo-cons see: an attractive tabula rasa with a built-in base of support, that can be molded into [paleo/neo]-con form without much back-talk from the subject herself. And really, going the Buchanan/Dobbs route would be a smarter play for Palin than trying to sew up the AIPAC endorsement and such like.
demimondian
Much win.
Stuck in the Funhouse
A Leopard by any other name is still the Leopard especially when the Dark is near. Or What @tripletee: said.
On the other hand Larry O’donnell disemboweled Mr. Buchanan on Gregory earlier in the evening on the subject of the Socialist canard.
Captain Comeback
The whole Alaska Independence Party thing doesn’t really mean much to me, but the AIP being an Alaskan version of the Constitution Party does. If hardcore right-wingers are going gag-gag over her, like Buchanan, you know something is up. Throw all of the competence and experience arguments out for a moment and just consider how right-wing she is.
Jorge
I’ll take door number 2. Pat B. sounded like Ed Rendell he was so pro-Hillary/anti-obama during the primary.
Let’s not forget this guy was a speech writer for Nixon.
henry
Yeah, I don’t like Pat, but his odd preoccupation w/ Palin is weird.
Maybe his old willy is doing the thinking for him and he’s holding out hope that when she breaks up w/ McCain he can be her new Old Spice.
tripletee
@zak:
That was bizarre – he was so excited and moved by the MUP that he could barely get his words out. Would have been interesting to see what he’d be saying now if Palin hadn’t come along and shot swastika-shaped starbursts out of the TV at him.
Comrade Jake
This is apparently off-topic, but can I just say how awesome Rachel Maddow is? I guess her ratings have been through the roof as well, which is all sorts of win.
jrg
Either Buchanan does want tens of thousands of militant, inbred Palin supporters after him, or he realizes that the bloodshed at the top of the GOP ticket will cost them more Senate seats.
To hell with Republicans. If every Dem gets out the vote (early if possible), we won’t have to put up with this level of moronic bullshit for a long time.
Pooh
+1 vote for #1.
boonagain
Can I say that I’m gonna see Obama tomorrow in Indianapolis?
It’s at the War Memorial where I saw Bobby Kennedy in ’68.
I’m pumped. I’m taking our 14 yo and our 7 yo out of school to see him even though they already heard him speak in Terre Haute earlier.
ppcli
I think it’s 1. Replay the over-the-top rave that Buchanan gave to Obama’s convention speech. I thought he was ready to endorse him for prez right there. He completely changed his tune about when Palin was nominated and gave her version of his "culture war" speech.
Brian J
Because, for better or worse, they seem to get along fairly well despite being polar opposites on pretty much everything. They have this wonderful awesome-professional-woman-takes-her-crazy-drunk-uncle-out-to-lunch act going on.
nicethugbert
Maybe he thinks the White House is his lawn?
Sadly, some people become more themselves as they age. This is especially true of cranks.
Dennis - SGMM
You can say it and I’ll envy you for it. Living in California means that there is little presidential campaigning here.
Brian J
On the news that McCain is buying (more) air time in Indiana, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Indiana is lost for the Republicans.
Or perhaps Obama campaigning in the state is just more good news for John McCain.
demimondian
Heh. Then you can be jealous of me, too — I was at the Biden rally last Sunday.
Standing ten feet from Biden.
At stage center.
(Yes, if you know what to look for, you can find me and the rest of the demi-brood in some of the on-line shots.)
Brian J
Why would either campaign visit the state? McCain has already assured his supporters that he’s going to win the state. That settles it.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Elsewhere, noIQ has formally outed himself as the Republican ratfucker we all knew he was.
iluvsummr
I think he genuinely loves Sarah Palin — I mean he was happy to have Ezola Foster as his VP running mate in 2000. Crazy.
Rick Taylor
I was also appalled when Buchanan tried to say Colin Powell only endorsed Obama because he was blacks. Can you imagine if someone said Liebermann only endorsed McCain because he was white? Disgusting.
Soylent Green
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/declarations.html
I don’t think it’s fair to pin these labels on Buchanan and let the labels define him. He is a professional pundit for the right, playing this part for his living. If he strayed too far from the reservation, they would take away his tribal membership card, and there goes his job description as a garrulous but often insightful commentator for the right.
Some of other pros are running scared and hedging their bets, unsure which side will employ them in the future. Peggy Noonan’s a good example, coming down on Palin today and immediately reaping the knuckle draggers’ wrath.
At least Pat hold his own as Rachel’s foil instead of being a pathetic co-dependent loser like Colmes.
boonagain
Seeing Dem Presidential candidates in IN during the Presidential race is a new experience for me, too.
Obama’s polls must be telling him something.
I’ve voted every time since 72 and I’ve never cast my vote for anyone who got IN’s electoral votes…not once!
kommrade jakevich
@demimondian: Dreadful sorry. Please send your therapy bills to whoever is picking up the tab for the Palins’ wardrobe. If you write "For the health and welfare of RealAmerica(TM) across the top they’ll pay it. Really!
Heh. I watched the speech with my mom. About half way through she started shouting "Seig HEIL!" at the TV. I laughed.
She was not joking.
SamFromUtah
@Soylent Green: He is a professional pundit for the right, playing this part for his living. If he strayed too far from the reservation, they would take away his tribal membership card…
Possible, but it is also possible that he really is an atavistic racist shitheel.
IncandenzaH
I think he’s a savvier media-manipulator than many give him credit for. At the end of the segment, Pat said something that was a little strange, so I rewound it. In response to Rachel’s ribbing him that he turned her entire segment about Palin into a segment about Biden, Buchanan laughed as he said, "Gotta mention Biden." Let’s face it, he sure did turn that segment from a Palin indictment into his own personal Biden screed. Old guy knows what he’s doing, I think.
Stuck in the Funhouse
Obama, Hillary and Mcsame are all going to be in NM over the weekend. Wish they’d come by my part of the state. All 26 of us would be out waving our signs — add in the Coyote and Roadrunner population and it’d be a big city Rallypolooza!
Polish the Guillotines
Normally, this is feature and not a bug. But this time it’s one of those hair-pulling edge cases.
I’m just happy I finally got my Obama swag. I’m deep in "Yes On 8" territory, so I need the Obama/Biden sign to ward off the stupid.
skippy
the thing i’ve noticed about pat lately is he totally blames the gop ticket’s bad standing entirely on the financial crisis.
i’ve heard him mention more than once that before the financial crisis obama and mcmuffin were pretty well close in the polls, which, actually is quite true.
then he bemoans the terrible luck the gop has w/that whole financial crisis doingthem in.
rather like the arsonist complaining that if that house didn’t burn down, he’d have a place to live.
The Moar You Know
@Soylent Green:
@SamFromUtah:
You’re both right, actually.
Comrade Darkness
I think Buchanan loves politics itself, and that’s the explanation for that conflicting reaction. Like a sports fan watching a player for another team make a fantastic play. It happens that one can be excited by that. I don’t see the conundrum. They guy says what he thinks without much forethought, in general. I think he breaks down politics in a unique way, even though he has some crazy talk, his viewpoint is usually interesting.
Eh, whatever. I’m not trying to fan boi here. Just sayin’ I can take listening to Buchanan and pretty much zero other right wing pundits.
The Moar You Know
@Polish the Guillotines: Christ, so am I and I didn’t even know. I’m in Bilbray’s district, and I had fucking protestors out along the main drag here in town with "Yes on 8" signs! Protestors! Nobody protests anything here. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
I usually flip ’em off, but at one intersection…this is so fucked up – they had a pair of ten-year old girls out with the signs. Ten fucking years old. They have no idea what they are promoting, of course – they’re ten! Christ, that broke my heart.
Anonny
Pat loves Sarah because Sarah loves Pat.
Sarah was a big fan of Pat’s in his earlier campaigns, although there is still an open question of whether she was co-chair of his Alaska campaign in 1999.
Also, Pat and Sarah are really both what he would call paleocons. She talks like a neocon because Lieberman has been training her for the debates, but she’s really straight out of the Dobson stable. She’s into: platitude-based economic policies; white supremacist ideology, gently disguised for public consumption; lots of Jesus jargon to replace the need to actually think; and talks non-interventionist foreign policy while secretly dreaming of nuking every brown person on the planet. In other words, she’s a soul mate for Pat.
For those who remember Pat waxing eloquently about Obama’s speech at the convention, remember that was before Palin was picked … at a time when most of us were expecting neocon Lieberman, who Pat hates. Pat wasn’t all that fond of McCain either. But once Palin was picked Pat dropped any pretense of logic.
Nellcote
Buchanan’s bitter that Obama’s ahead and is clinging to his Palin and religion.
re The Speech- He appreciated it as a professional speech writer and got a little caught up in the moment. In no way did he change his racial views.
Brian J
McCain’s now having to focus (more of) his resources on the state. That tells you he’s in trouble.
Mr. X
Buchanan’s sister works for Palin.
Dennis - SGMM
Curse that bad luck. The systematic undoing of financial regulation by Republicans had nothing to do with it. That ol’ economy just broke a mirror as it was walking under a ladder as a black cat crossed its path.
Pastafarian
Off topic, but if it’s true, this is an awesome story.
Magical Unity Pony, indeed.
(h/t Cajun Boy in the City)
Polish the Guillotines
@The Moar You Know:
I’m in Tauscher’s district, which is somewhat diverse, but I’m in the area that’s heavily military (Air Force) and law enforcement (state prison).
Today, my wife picked up my seven-year-old and his friend from school. The friend — seven-years-old, mind you — starts parroting his parents’ homophobic rant about the "disgusting gays" and how everyone should vote yes on 8. She was gobsmacked, needless to say.
Andrea
I saw them last weekend, too. But I’m halfway between San Francisco and San Jose, where the independents/decline to states outnumber the Republicans. Kids too, so I refrained from giving them the finger and just shook my head as I drove by them.
Brian J
Oh sweet Jesus H. Christ on a cross, I think I just lost an IQ point. I just turned off Fox News, because Sean Hannity is just too ignorant for words to describe. Has he never heard of the fucking Earned Income Tax Credit? It was a centerpiece of Ronald Fucking Reagan’s tax plans, which JOHN MOTHERFUCKING MCCAIN VOTED FOR IN 1986! I’m far from an expert on anything, but even I know this. I just….I just…I fucking give up. Some of these idiots are just too stupid for words to describe.
Polish the Guillotines
Fixed.
Jeff Eaton
I guess you didn’t spot his column over at Chronicles?
That’s right. There’s no reason anyone could support Obama, other than the fact that he’s black. It’s like inverse colorblindness… Once somebody’s black, that’s all they can ever be.
jbarntt
Either Buchanan genuinely loves Sarah Palin or else he has some deep-seated problem with Barack Obama that he’s not coming to terms with.
.
My guess is that you are wrong on both counts. He probably likes Palin because she is conservative, even if not his exact brand of conservatism, but compared to Obama, well of course.
I’m also guessing that he has problems with Obama, but I do think he has come to terms with them, i.e., he doesn’t like the idea of a socialist being president, esp. when Obama’s fellow travellers will control both houses of congress.
Since you give no link to whatever Buchanan apparently said, not much more I can say.
Stuck in the Funhouse
That is an awesome story. I choose to believe it is true and that it just confirms my gut impression of the man. Despite the high status he has reached in life, and all the hoopla about how smart and capable he is, putting all that aside, he’s just a good dude, not perfect, just decent on a personal level.
Comrade Darkness
I wish these pundits enjoyed governance as much as they enjoy politics. Then we could continue the news cycle with useful stuff between elections. We use politics to decide on who to hire to do the governance, but they have very little in common.
conumbdrum
Don’t forget that Pat Buchanan was a good drinking buddy of… Hunter S. Thompson. The mind reels.
How’d you like to have hit the town and taken a serious hammering with these two at the same time? You’d be dining out on that story for years.
"First Pat climbed on the table, bellowing old Father Coughlin sermons while trying to take his pants off over his head… then Hunter started tossing flaming rolls of toilet paper into the air and blasting them with his Luger…"
Soylent Green
That says it all. The conventional wisdom is that such quality of character is incompatible with being successful as a politician at his level. But my intuition tells me that what you said is true.
I’ve seen politicians come and go for about 40 years, and this man stands above them all.
Go MUP!
Ed Marshall
Has he never heard of the fucking Earned Income Tax Credit? It was a centerpiece of Ronald Fucking Reagan’s tax plans, which JOHN MOTHERFUCKING MCCAIN VOTED FOR IN 1986
The EITC was a form of Broderism where instead of voting for the minimum wage to conform to some standard of being able to live off a job, the government would step in and kick you a check. That way your sleazy low-rent employer could keep his cheap wage-slave without having to pay a living wage.
The alternative to this is…???
cain
O/T: Is it wrong to think Nancy Pfotenhauer is attractive? For some reason, I dig her. Maybe it’s the way she argues with Tweety. :)
cain
Brian J
No, she is pretty. She sort of looks like Morgan Fairchild, if Morgan Fairchild appeared to get drunk before a live television interview and then start saying really stupid, really crazy things.
I just think Nicole Wallace is prettier, but then, I have a thing for country club-style women.
eglenn
Exact opposite with me – I get a Four Horseman vibe from her. I just can’t figure out if she’s Pestilence or Famine…
Brian J
I can’t speak for the history of the EITC, but it seems like it’s a pretty decent policy. It keeps a lot of people out of poverty. I like the idea of raising the minimum wage as well, but if that’s raised too high, there can be displacement in the labor force. As Brad DeLong says, the two taken together, neither pushed too far but enough at the margins, is the way to go.
Regardless of your feelings on it, to claim that this is some sort of new socialist undertaking is absurd. The EITC has been expanded by Ford, Carter, Reagan, both Bushes, and Clinton. A similar idea is used in John McCain’s health care plan. Why aren’t more people in the media pointing out these very obvious facts?
Brian J
I always like to think that if Paul Wellstone and Jesse Helms can be friends, I and everyone else can be friends with just about anybody.
jcricket
Fuck it. I’m voting for Obama because he’s black, and to piss off Sarah Palin and Pat Buchanan.
I was going to vote for Obama because he’s got policies I agree with, but fuck that shit.
Just like my marriage, which was doing fine until all this gay marriage came along. Now it’s coming unglued. Fucking gays. With their marrying and stuff.
Ed Marshall
Is it wrong to think Nancy Pfotenhauer is attractive?
fordpowers
Classic.
Seriously though, I heart Patty B.
Brian J
I think it was on "Hardball" yesterday where Mark Green, the former public advocate and current Air America president, was describing the incident, and when he got around to talking about this woman, he said "And then we have this woman, whose name NOBODY can pronounce…" For reason, I found this insanely funny.
Studly Pantload
O/T: Is it wrong to think Nancy Pfotenhauer is attractive? For some reason, I dig her. Maybe it’s the way she argues with Tweety. :)
Perhaps, cain, you have a thing for damsels in distress?
Johnny Pez
@Doug H. (Fausto no more):
That wasn’t the impression I got. It sounded to me like he was just saying that if HRC got the nomination the media would still be in the tank for McCain. It’s actually a sane assessment (assuming he means it).
ComradeJ. Michael Neal
Ugh. No. Too scrawny.Win! I’m in.
Comrade J. Michael Neal
As for Pat Buchanan, he is a political troglodyte. However, I’m not surprised that Maddow, and others get along with him. Watching him, I get the feeling that Pitchfork Pat has a lot of very warm personal qualities. I’d bet that there are a lot of little ways that he is both friendly and supportive to those that he likes and respects.
In some ways, he’s like Antonin Scalia. Unlike a lot of the people at the top of the Republican Party, Buchanan and Scalia are self-confident and are very comfortable in their own skin. That often supports a lot of personal virtues.
Tattoosydney
I have to go and wash my brain now in order to get the nasty images out…
Joe Max
Hey, it happens – I saw Obama in San Francisco last year on the stump at a fundraiser – it was at Ruby Skye club in front of about 1000 people. In fact, I was the audio engineer for the event, and I got to pose and get a picture taken shaking his hand. Which I will post on my blog, as soon as the damned copy from the local campaign people. (grrrrr…)
Thomas Edward Theadore
Say, are you new here? What are you, like 12? Buchanan has always been a chump. You probably once thought McCain was a maverik, eh?
Goddamit, pay attention to what they say, not what they want you to believe they said.
Thomas Edward Theadore
Not really sure what we are talking about, I guess you all are watching something on the tv?
Something were Buchanan is letting you down?
He’s not quite annoying enough? He loves him some palin and you don’t?
Maybe if you’d add a video link i’d laugh with you.
But seriously, Pat Buchanan used to be cool?
Thomas Edward Theadore
ps: not quite sure who is Sean Hannity.
DR
He’s come to terms with it: He’s a racist through and through, always has been, always will be. He knows that.
But he knows it’s not politically convenient to say so.
Thomas Edward Theadore
Duh. Interesting you kids finally caught on.
But seriously, anyone got a link to whatever it is we are talking about?
Cuz that would be cool.
El Cid
Late Austrian fascist leader Joerg Haider’s 2nd in command admits he was Haider’s gay lover, then forced to step down as party leader.
satby
RIP Molly Ivins!
And wouldn’t she have loved to write about this election?
kommrade jakevich
And the beast said ‘Come and see.’
@El Cid:
I can hear Jonah Pantenlöaden screaming "See! See! Homosexuals did too help Hitler!" Or maybe thinking that the modern-day ghey can be a disgusting thuggish shithead will scare him into shutting up for a little bit.
A question though: When a paper prints that two people of the same gender are lovers, what’s the point of throwing in "gay" or "lesbian"? If I thought my readers were that stupid I’d switch to an all cartoon format. Not that your average Brit Tab is that much more complex.
boonagain
@satby:
Absolutely. Can you imagine the material McCain and Palin have given her? I regret that we don’t have Molly to read this perfect (so far) election season.
Lavocat
Patty Boy is ascaired o’ dem darkies!
Why this fucking reptile has a place in our national media is waaaaaay beyond me.
liberal
Buchanan isn’t a principled paleocon. He’s a politician at heart who’s pro-Republican.
One of the guys running antiwar.com had an editorial on the eve of the 2004 election. Even though he was libertarian (IIRC), he said he was going to vote for Kerry, because the 2004 election was a plebiscite on the Iraq war. (And even though Kerry was at best vaguely anti-war.)
And I’m pretty sure in 2004 Buchanan endorsed Bush. So he’s not a true principled paleocon.
DaveA
Pat always "comes home" to the GOP every four years. He endorsed Kerry four years ago, no surprise he goes for McCain now. Buchanan may stray as a pundit, but when the election arrives, he’s a loyal Republican lackey. I have a soft spot for him, anyhow.
Svensker
Yup, as DaveA says, Pat always comes home to the GOP. I think this year he was really torn, because he didn’t like McCain and he had to admit the MUP was good. Palin gave him the OK to be enthusiastic about the GOP again.
The old doods in the GOP love them a purdy gal (aside from the wetsuit crowd, acourse).
Fulcanelli
@henry: Eternal WIN. Damn, I loved Thompson.
eglenn: "Exact opposite with me – I get a Four Horseman vibe from her. I just can’t figure out if she’s Pestilence or Famine…" Agreed. I’ll take apocalyptic gop females for $800, Alex…
IMHO, from the start Palin was to picked to be the McCain campaign fluffer. Keep him hard for the crowd and stimulate the "base". Campaign Viagra to carbonate the testosterone of the Young Repub’s and maybe a few "lipstick" pumas for good measure. Also good for relating to, and acting out the the frustration of the home-bound gop stepford wives.
Sufficiently vapid and thoughtless, and more attractive than the other rabid right she-wolves, she struck me from minute one as a hybrid of Phyllis Schlafely, Aunt Peg and "Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS". An eager, malleable political product for right wing consumption.
Window dressing, nothing more. McCain’s campaign never gave a second thought about her views, because they know she would never have to think. She’d eagerly fall into towing the neo-con party line. Buchannan’s got a chubby for Sarah, fo’ sho’.
Comrade Glocksman
Buchanan is a paleocon at heart.
As such, he despises neocon foreign policy and really doesn’t like the modern GOP’s fondness for ignoring the budget, but isn’t enough of a ‘Goldwater republitarian’ to openly embrace the GOP’s small social libertarian wing either.
If I had to guess, he’s probably feeling lost right now and whether or not she’s aware of it, Maddow is helping Buchanan work these issues through.
Rachel is one of those rare people in talk radio who is intelligent, civil, and fairly honest.
As such, even when I disagree with her, I don’t find myself wanting to yank the radio out of the dash in anger like I do when listening to Randi, Sean, or Rush.
Personally I’d love to have both Rachel and Pat over for dinner and drinks.
The post-dinner conversation would probably be interesting, to say the least.
Laura W
Ha.
I turned the tee vee off and went to bed when Rachel said he was about to appear. Why she has her Fake Uncle Pat on so frequently is beyond me. It’s always the same shtick.
To that point…someone somewhere made the point a while back that she needs to stop repeating most of the stories we’ve just seen on Olbermann. She’s had some excellent guests on so far…guests I don’t see over and over on MSNBC all day (refreshing!)…but there is often a sameness to her segments that is starting to bore me.
Like Pat.
BruceK
@Thomas Edward Theadore:
You, sir, are the envy of millions who do know who he is. Let’s leave it at that.
phil
Pat must have a contract with MSNBC that dictates he gets a certain amount of air time per week. He keeps popping up on different shows there (except for Keith’s).
hmd
Pat is such a tool. It’s hard to tell where the parochialism leaves off and the racism begins. (Not to mention the anti-intellectualism.) He’s got so many reasons to dislike Obama, why settle for just one?
shane
"Yeah, his Darkie in the White House Early Detection System is blaring at DefCon 5."
Funniest thing I’ve read yet today! Thanks, Tripletee.
DaveA
@Myself
Bush, not Kerry.
need to finish my first cup of coffee before posting…
liberal
@Comrade Glocksman:
No, he’s not, as I posted above—not a real one. A real paleocon would have never endorsed Bush in 2004.
If you want to see real paleocons and libertarians, not the fake ones that support the imperial project in Iraq or at pay lipservice only to opposing it, go to antiwar.com.
flywheelgrinding
If Pat Buchanan was some kind of crazy uncle that you had to watch out for because he might spit some tobaccky juice on you, or scratched his nuts in polite company of even farted in church, my family would tolerate him.
But this cranky, mean SOB, the one who campaigned with the pilgrim hat and the muzzle loader, the speechwriter for Tricky Dick, the last real criminal in the White House, the deviser of the Southern Strategy, he, that Pat Buchanan can take a long walk off a short pier as far as I am concerned.
I don’t listen to a thing he says. Would you listen to Goebbels and say that he made some good points? Fuck him.
Spitting Image had it at #3. He thinks his waitress likes him.
harlana pepper
Quite simply, Pat has Starburst Pantload Syndrome and he completely fell off his lunch cart last night with Rachel. I think it’s because she let’s him babble on more than the other pundits, thus allowing him ample room to dig his own grave. Nice goin’, Rache!
harlana pepper
henry @ 31: LMAO
David Tinney
Pat Buchanan is an old man full of hot air. Way to far to the right. Actually, so far right, he’s off the chart. Thats what I think.
David Tinney
David
Pat Bucchanan does not like black people. that’s all it is. he is overwhelmed with angst about the fact that a black person (well, at least half-black, which, for a person of Bucchanan’s ideology is the same thing) is about to become President. Everything else pales in comparison for him. That’s all it is.
Once-ler
I can’t believe that in this whole thread, no one has mentioned abortion. I think that’s the issue most important to Buchanan. He got a little weird four years ago, too. He didn’t like Bush, but he couldn’t bring himself to vote for someone who was pro-choice.