Reply With QuoteI never liked or cared for Pat Buchanan. The guy not only lives in past like Ron Paul, but also comes out as a racist bigot.
Narrowing of the American mind?
Article on BBC
MSNBC, a cable news channel with a leftish slant has parted company with Pat Buchanan, the veteran conservative who ran for president in 2000 on a third party ticket and tried for the Republican nomination twice before that.
He had been a commentator on MSNBC for a decade.
The channel says he has been fired because of views expressed in his book, Suicide of a Super Power, which contains chapters on "The End of White America" and "The Death of Christian America".
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There is a grave danger for American democracy that the two parties not only can't agree, they can't even discuss.
Left and right live in their little ghettos of the mind, unwilling to listen to anything that doesn't reinforce their own views. If you only hear what your opponents are thinking through the warp of second-hand caricatures, then there is no chance of understanding their point of view.
Thinking gets trapped within a very narrow box - one that often bears little relation to problems in the real world.
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I never liked or cared for Pat Buchanan. The guy not only lives in past like Ron Paul, but also comes out as a racist bigot.
He was fired because he is a political hack. You have to tow the line in media these days.
I'm with Shadow on this. I can revel in George Will, but could never stomach Buchanan.
Question is... why did they hire such a dynosaur in the first place? His views haven't changed at all.
Good question. Was he the Right wing response or something?Originally Posted by NPFF
Make the other side look bad?
But generally the author hit the nail on the head, american politics seems a dysfunctional white trash family quarrel to me.
My grandfather bought that book last week and is almost done with it. He told me yesterday he thinks Mr. Buchanan is spot on, and he wants me to read it...
"There is a grave danger for American democracy that the two parties not only can't agree, they can't even discuss.
Left and right live in their little ghettos of the mind, unwilling to listen to anything that doesn't reinforce their own views. If you only hear what your opponents are thinking through the warp of second-hand caricatures, then there is no chance of understanding their point of view.
Thinking gets trapped within a very narrow box - one that often bears little relation to problems in the real world."
This is absolutely true. Without naming names, I even see this attitude on these forums. Anything the left/right says is pure lunacy and can't be taken seriously at all, environmentalists lie, businessmen steal from the poor, Obama/Bush is Hitler, etc. People are viewing Democrats or Republicans as the literal enemy, a force that needs to be destroyed. It's very worrysome.
I still think the "Left" or more acurately the CENTER is less rabid then the right, the rethoric is a lot more balanced. The Democratic fringe is just that, where as in the Republican party the fringe has taken over.
That's the super-polarization of American politics, something party-affiliated activists thrive upon and that probably turns average Joes away from the whole electoral process.
While the Democratic party has it's fair share of douches (OWS, Kuchnich, coffee house revolutionaries), by and large most of the Democratic voters I have had experience with and mainstream politicians are fairly moderate. Regardless of whether or not you think Obama is doing a good job, the mudslinging against him is ridiculous. "He is a Muslim, he hates America because he doesn't wear a flag pin, he is a terrorist lover, he is a Commie, he was born in Kenya," blah blah blah. Criticizing him based on what he has actually done is one thing, but character assassination is just pathetic.
Meanwhile, Republican candidates like John Huntsman are shoved aside in favor of the Palins, Santorums, and Gingriches who take anti-science, anti-education, anti-environment, and anti-compromise stances. They call for fiscal discipline and small government (both understandable and respectable views) yet at the same time call for intrusive social policies like banning gay marriage (because gays are destroying "family values") or stopping evolution from being taught at school. The GOP is being overrun by extremists. Pundits like that fat POS Rush Limbaugh actively rally Americans against each other, making it seem like anything other than a pure right wing approach is treason. Hell, there's even this scary trend of revisionism where historical leaders like FDR are painted as "Marxist" scum who never did anything good. It's a troubling trend that doesn't appear to be running out of steam any time soon.
And again, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people on the left that perpetuate this circus, but they aren't very influential. Occupy Wall Street isn't becoming a platform that very many Democratic politicians are running on. If Obama or Clinton were ever seen expressing admiration for Che Guevara they would be booted out in the snap of a finger.
@ Atlantic Friend. Yes, many of the more reasonable voters are throwing their hands up at all of this saying "I'm done, my choice doens't make a difference." Which does make a difference in that it cedes the voting process to the extremist electorate that the extremist politicians wallow in.
Last edited by Dankster; 02-22-2012 at 05:53 PM. Reason: grammar
I wish POTUS had been more successful in his original plans of compromise and cooperation. He didn't quite factor in the unlikely occurance of a brick wall being built by a brand-spanking-new extremist splinter group that became the tail wagging the dog... And then failed to hit it with a hammer.
I don’t see what the big deal is with so many people hating on Pat as I see him being fairly accurate often with his assessments. Although, I don’t agree with him all the time, I do find his mild prejudices tolerable. Further, Pat being someone who pushes the Paleocon mantra bashing the “Managerial State” makes it hard for me to see him as the average right wing party hack. The much maligned and misunderstood center right would be more applicable to his roots. He’s often praised the likes of Francis and Gottfried.
In my opinion, Pat has ended his usefulness as the token voice of paleoconservatism at MSNBC. It has been decided that his kind are irrelevant, too much of a philosophic threat, and that there is no need to communicate with his substantial listeners, let alone bother exposing the masses to such dangerous thinking. I’d have to agree with Mr. Mardell, it’s a pity the American media is becoming so closed minded but he’s dead wrong thinking there’s a left and right involved working this so called free press travesty in the US.
Dammit, you took what I was gonna say
Pat, he's always been a mixed bag but that doesn't mean he was always wrong - he has that gift of saying the unsayable, even if you dont agree. It actually reminds me of the Michael Savage firing - and it also reminds me of the circumstances. Even though the incident that got him fired was from a known crank caller, I doubt he would have been able to stay in the end. And it also brings issue to what IS the audience? Because both of these firings have been audience-demanded - in MS's case, the network head still hoped they could have him on in some form. But in the end, the crowd would have none of it.
I think Mardell's line, as others have pointed out before, is very poignant:
"It probably isn't good for democracy if these people feel their views can't be expressed in public. "
Indeed so...
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