Uncle Pat: MSNBC’s Knowing Promotion of White Supremacy and Racial Hatred

[babylonsister]

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/6410#more-41896

Uncle Pat: MSNBC’s Knowing Promotion of White Supremacy and Racial Hatred
By: Scarecrow Thursday July 16, 2009 11:43 pm


Pat Buchanan is a racist, white supremacist intent on stoking racial hatred. There has never been any doubt of this, and throughout the confirmation process of Judge Sotomayor, he has repeated his unvarnished white supremacist views at every opportunity.

This is not about his anger at affirmative action, a policy that seeks to rectify past, persistent and continuing patterns of racial discrimination. You either agree on the need for this rebalancing or you don't.

No, Buchanan's argument is different, because he believes that non-whites are, as a matter of sheer, unadulterated prejudice, not entitled to equal treatment. He made that clear last night in this exchange with Rachel Maddow.

He starts with the opinion that Sotomayor is not qualified and that Obama's choice of her was "affirmative action," just as the promotion of other non-whites could only have occurred, which he sees as "reverse discrimination against white males." Apparently, there are no qualified non-whites. But then this exchange occurs:

Maddow: Why do you think it is that of 110 Supreme Court Justices we've had in this country, 108 of them have been white?

Buchanan: Well, I think that white men were 100 percent of the people who wrote the Constitution, 100 percent of the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence, 100 percent of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100 percent of the people who died at Normandy.

This is been a country built basically by white folks in this country who were 90 percent of the nation in 1960 when I was growing up, and about 10 percent were African Americans who had been discriminated against.

It's hard to find a clearer statement of white supremacist racism, even though Buchanan tries to argue he only wants "the finest minds you can get" on the Supreme Court.

snip//

There is no escaping the conclusion that MSNBC has a deliberate policy of promoting racism and white supremacy and that it thinks it's just fine that Buchanan is deliberately agitating racial hatred by white males against all non-whites (and apparently all women), especially when those non-whites succeed in achieving political power.

Buchanan's views and the media's blatant promotion of them are a big part of the reason why racism and racial hostility persist. But legitimizing such attitudes is precisely why we get 5 to 4 Supreme Court decisions pretending the problem doesn't exist.

What is MSNBC's excuse for aggressively promoting such hateful views? And why should we continue to watch them?

[LeftishBrit]

1. k&r against racism and bigotry wherever they are found

PS why would anyone unrec *this* post?!

[City Lights]

2. K&R.

I'm disappointed that msnbc still pays pat to spew his hatred.

[stranger81]

3. While they gave Pat a forum to speak, Rachel so eviscerated him --

in her own calm, rational way -- that I can't imagine anyone watching thought MSNBC was promoting that point of view. If anything, they were delegitimizing it.

[GoCubsGo]

Agreed.

Uncle Pat's equally-nutty and equally-racist sister, Bay, was on Carlos Watson's show today. Carlos called her out throughout the interview. She was on the verge of hyperventilating by the end of it.

[Catshrink]

33. As bad as Pat Buchanan is..

Bay is far worse. She's a horrible person.

[Bumblebee]

21. He should be let go, no matter how effective Rachel is.

[Fla Dem]

32. Let's see if KO has him on his "Worst People in the World". Buchanan's remarks

certainly earn him a place there. Keith has had people on his list who have been less offensive. A true test of MSNBC's fidelity to their racist commentators.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

23. I agree

The airing of Buchanan's antiquated, antebellum opinions on MSNBC is not going to convert many people to his point of view. If anything, he's been the object of ridicule on MSNBC. Remember how upset he was at Obama and Biden during the debates that he kept claiming oratory victories for McCain and Palin and how the other panelists made him look bad? The majority of Americans were laughing at him and demonstrated it in the voting booths across the country. The racists, anti-semites, and misogynists are still out there and airing their ridiculous views through Pat Buchanan's forum will continue to expose them for the illegitimate anachronism that they are.

[Bonn1997]

4. I wonder what Rachel thinks of him? Probably "I can't believe I have to talk to this jackass on air"

[FrenchieCat]

5. Shit, I could have told everyone that when MSNBC had

Chris Matthews on during the primaries pondering every single damn day whether "regular" White Working voters would vote or not vote for Barack Obama!

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and not recommended for trashing the word "Uncle."

I didn't un-recommend, I just didn't recommend.

[Cha]

8. I know, huh?

I was thinking..that sounds way too benevolent for that heinous harridan.

[Uncle Joe]

10. Exactly, Cha It never ceases to amaze me when people take an object of scorn

and apply a familial title to them?:shrug:

[Cha]

16. I've seen that before applied to pat

buchannan so I'm wondering where it came from?

[Uncle Joe]

20. I don't know who started it; probably a play off of Uncle Tom.

Speaking of Uncle Tom there is currently a play; making the rounds where "Uncle Tom" takes issue with Harriet Beecher Stowe's characterization of him, I haven't seen it yet.

[Catshrink]

34. Rachel used to call him "My Fake Uncle"

when her program first started. They seemed to have a warm, if adversarial, relationship.

[babylonsister]

11. Uncle Joe, you took that personally?

I'm so sorry. I didn't write it, but surely don't want to insult you. Some uncles are just so much better than others.

[Uncle Joe]

18. I know you didn't babylonsister and I didn't take it personally.

You're one of my favorite people here.:) :pals:

[Cha]

7. Yes, is msnbc hurting so much that

they need the bigot racist buck? What about the rest of the bucks they're losing from Decent AMericans who want no part of their racist-bigot shit?

A part of me..can't even believe we're having this conversation..but, the part that cancelled cabal news in 2002 because of the fascist bias certainly can.

[laureloak]

9. Is what he's saying true? n/t

[babylonsister]

12. You have to ask? nt

[GardeningGal]

13. Why don't you tell us your thoughts on it? nt

[BlooInBloo]

14. BWAHAHAHAAHA!!!

[K Gardner]

15. History books are your friend. n/t

[Bucky]

27. Hopefullly I won't offend anyone with a factual response to your legitimate question

Das Buch tells us

Well, I think that white men were 100 percent of the people who wrote the Constitution, 100 percent of the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence, 100 percent of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100 percent of the people who died at Normandy.

One item at a time...

• Every man at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and Second Continental Congress in 1776 were white
  
  
• I doubt precisely zero nonwhite people died at Gettysburg & Vicksburg (particularly since Vicksburg was in the south), but that's close enough to true to ignore the exceptions
  
  
• I honestly don't know too much about Normandy, but I believe most of the segregated "colored" units (some were black, some were Asian-American, but Indians and Hispanics were generally integrated into white units at this time) were deployed into Europe in the follow up waves of personnel in the weeks after D-Day.
  
  
• Mr Buchanan is studiously avoiding the ridiculously obvious point that this racial trend he's describing is based entirely on a history of racial segregation and exclusion from opportunity that existed for most of the country's history. Drawing any other conclusions from his close-enough-for-horseshoes facts is absurd. He noticeably doesn't even try to actually attach a point to it.
  
  
• I think he's wrong in his conclusion that the country was only 10% non-white when he was born. For one thing, until fairly recently Hispanics were universally counted as white (despite the fact that most Hispanics in the western hemisphere come from a blend of European and Native American stock). Today a majority of Hispanics do not count themselves as white--and there's strong enough of a generational split. But he's discounting the millions of Asian Americans and Native Americans who were all part of this country from well before his date of birth. By Buchanan's own freakish standards, Sotomayor should count as white anyway.
  
  
• Buchanan is not really worth your attention. Nor mine, so I'll quit writing.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

29. The all-black 320th battalion landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day

Their job was to set up barrage balloons to obstruct the vision of strafing German fighter planes and protect incoming American GIs. There are at least three black Americans buried in the American cemetery on the bluffs overlooking Omaha Beach at Coleville-sur-Mer.

As for Gettysburg, I don't know about any black units there for the North. But very strangely enough, seven black prisoners were taken by the Union in that battle, all wearing Confederate uniforms. Even though it was against the law, supposedly the aides and servants of Confederate Officers would participate in combat and some were given honorary rank. Apparently, there were more than we would anticipate.

[BlooInBloo]

17. And he was just back at it with Andrea Mitchell. Good times.

[elehhhhna]

19. white men were also responsible for the rise of Hitler, ergo...

they, collectively, are also all war criminals.

But seriesly -- dementia is a horrible condition. Poor Pat.

[WhollyHeretic]

22. I sent a letter today to the Rachel Maddow show stating that I would no longer watch her show

or anything else on MSNBC as long as they paid that filthy racist to spew his hatred.

[nolabear]

24. Let him stay! It strengthens our base and might make some

marginal thinkers who have been deluding themselves that the GOP isn't the party of hate sit up and say WTF?

[KharmaTrain]

25. Of All People, Bob DLC Schrum Just Hit Him Hard...

Shrummie got in a couple of nasty shots oat Pitchfork Pat...so much that Mrs. Greenspan had to "separate" the boys.

He was hitting on the fact the more Buchanan race baits, the worse it will be for rushpublicans, and I hate to admit it, but I agree. Putting him out there is also exposing the ugly, the dirt that needs to be cleaned out before we can truly move forward. Light always makes a great disenfectant...banishing Buchanan to the shadows just lets his bile build and passed along where it isn't seen...right into the right wing parallel universe.

[redqueen]

26. K&R

[Bluenorthwest]

28. Pat has a long track record of bile

It was back at the Republican National Convention in like 92 or something that he declared cultural war on the GLBT community in a speech that Rachel Maddow has said made her cry from the hatred and helped motivate her to take the path in life she took, out and political.
For some of us, Pat has long been known to be a racist, homophobic promoter of hate and division. May the emails fly and the phones never stop ringing with complains every time that man is on any screen or radio show.

[Bluenorthwest]

30. It's Pat!

Some select quotations:
On gay people:

"With 80,000 dead of AIDS, our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide," 1990
On Women:

"Rail as they will about 'discrimination,' women are simply not endowed by nature with the same measures of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed in the fiercely competitive world of Western capitalism." 1983

On Hitler:
"an individual of great courage.... Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path."

On David Duke:
"Take a hard look at Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles,[such as reverse discrimination against white folks."

[indepat]

31. I guess Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Scalia must not only be among the finest minds, not to mention

of right ideological persuasion which must be presumptive of being of one of the finest minds. :P

[tblue37]

35. K&R'd because you provided a partial transcript for those of us who cannot hear

a video because of hearing loss.