Poor Pat Buchanan. A failed political career born out of a platform that only appeals to other grumpy white men, Buchanan is stuck in an endless circle of self induced rage and irrational fear.
The MSNBC commentator actually believes being white in America puts you at a disadvantage, and feels a life dedicated to bemoaning 'reverse discrimination' and the rise of 'unqualified' minorities is an honorable use of his time.
Buchanan's projecting of his own massive insecurities and deeply held prejudices is painful to watch, and it is simply breath taking that no one at MSNBC wants to pull the plug on him. Exactly what is this man's appeal? The MSM's penchant for a tear up is one thing, but a man dedicated to furthering the cause of the white race is another.
Buchanan is technically right about discrimination -- it shouldn't be done to anyone, white, brown or black. But some historical context puts Buchanan's views in a completely different light.
I remember hearing a story from a friend (who is Jewish) about his German boss complaining to him that the German government was giving too much to the Jews. "It's those damn reparations for the Jews that is hurting Germany," he moaned. "Haven't they taken enough?"
When you consider the 6 million people the Germans managed to wipe out, there's not much the Jews couldn't take from Germany to make things right.
White Europeans committed perhaps the biggest genocide in history when they came to the Americas. The native population was literally wiped off the land to make way for white settlers, and for those who managed to survive, a few crumbs were passed off to them decades later for their troubles.
White people transported millions of African slaves to the United States, subjected them to horrific treatment, murder and cultural annihilation. Blacks have only been treated as equal citizens in America since the 1960's, and the notion that centuries of enslavement, degradation and economic disenfranchisement could be reversed in a few decades is just laughable.
Every minority in America has suffered at the hands of white people. It is a country founded by white people, built by white people and controlled by white people. To pretend otherwise is akin to holocaust denial. It is a fact.
For Pat Buchanan to suggest otherwise is disingenuous at best, and down right racist at worst. And the latter is probably the most likely.
Buchanan is part of a vocal minority that prey on white people's fear. In economically tumultuous times, people like him a particularly dangerous, as they lay the crimes of the wealthy on the backs of minorities. It's a dangerous game, and history tells us the consequence are often none too pretty.
There is a climate of fear gripping America as it comes to terms with its new self. There is a black man in the Oval office, an economic crisis unparalleled in magnitude for 80 years, foreign wars that are not being won, and a massive intellectual vacuum created by the corporate press (or lack thereof).
After years in power, the Right is unused to playing the role of the minority. They are coming out to bat, and they are pulling out every trick in the book. Buchanan is a cheerleader for the cause, flanked by Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. The embattled white man is angry, and he's not going to go down without a fight.
The talking points are as follows: Obama is responsible for the economic mess. It's about entitlements for minorities and socialism. Use the notion of reverse racism to explain the economic slump -- Latina women are taking jobs white people should have, just because they are Latina.
O'Reilly, Hannity and Beck aren't brave enough to say those things outright (they just imply them), but Buchanan is in a league of his own. When Barack Obama suggested that white America must do more to ensure blacks are treated equally, Buchanan responded with the following:
It is the same old con, the same old shakedown that black hustlers have been running since the Kerner Commission blamed the riots in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities on, as Nixon put it, "everybody but the rioters themselves."
There's no debating with ingrained racism like this. It's time for Pat to go, so please MSNBC, get him off the air. And do it now.
Ben Cohen is the Editor of TheDailyBanter.com, and founder of BanterMediaGroup.com