Ugh! Rachel has another "It's Pat!" segment coming up...

[LLStarks]

Get ready to puke.

[babylonsister]

1. Maybe he's going to apologize.

:rofl:

[Donnachaidh]

2. WHY?

I don't understand why she gives that old bastard airtime.

[waiting for hope]

3. I think it's great -

So many people reacted the last time - it only shows how bigoted and backwards his ideas are. Expose him!

[xultar]

5. Are you kidding! OMG. It's the best way to see how fucked up Pat is.

[Donnachaidh]

19. I'm surrounded by whiny white guys in my area

Spending time listening to that REALLY shrill old fart isn't something I want to do. I'm soooo glad Rachel eviscerated his bullshit *white guys built Amurica* stuff. The only thing that would have been better is if she had proved him WRONG on every point as he was a guest. I'm sure his head would have exploded. And who wants to clean that shit up? :shrug:

[KamaAina]

4. They could parody the theme song from SNL

"It's time for misogyny, It's Pat!"

[Journeyman]

6. I watched her show when it debuted, first television "news" I'd watched in over 15 years. . .

wrote MSNBC to commend them for airing her program, told them it had inspired me to watch some of their other shows as well.

Wrote again, last week, to inform Rachel I won't watch her program anymore because of Buchanan's racist ravings.

"Life's too short," I told her, "to subject myself to the ravings of a racist bigot, no matter how fine the quality of the programming that surrounds his filth."

Given that she has him on so frequently, I told her it had caused me to wonder about the true nature of her beliefs as well.

Maybe I'll watch her show again. But only after she does a thorough cleaning of her house.

[Bjorn Against]

7. I don't think it is her choice to have him on, he is a paid MSNBC commentator

My guess is that he was chosen not by Rachel but by the higher-ups at MSNBC, it is doubtful that she gets to choose all of her guests.

[Journeyman]

14. Eh, who cares. Corporate racism or her choice -- I don't have to watch it. . .

while she chooses to remain associated with it. Sorry for her; happy be me to be shed of such shit.

[babylonsister]

11. Journeyman, she heard you and addressed you tonight! She annihilated

Buchanan! I hope you see a youtube of it!

[Journeyman]

15. Thank you. I'll be certain to check it out. . .

I hope it restores my respect for her.

[LLStarks]

8. Pat must be so butt-hurt right now...

This is quite a smackdown.

[SharonRB]

9. Maybe it will make him decide never to come on her show again

One can only hope.

[babylonsister]

12. I think Rachel burned her bridges tonight.

:rofl: That was a classic!

[xultar]

18. Perfect reason to have his ignorant racist ass on the show wouldn't you say!

:rofl:

[dorkulon]

10. No puke here -- that was great.

Especially the memo, really shows Pat's true motivations.

[madamesilverspurs]

13. Wish Rachel could have seen

the standing ovation she just got in our living room.

Rachel is all class.

[xochi]

16. I think it's a brilliant move on her part to have him on...

and expose, for everyone to see, his stark and loathsome racism. His perceptions and ignorant assertions about the history of this country, "built by whites, etc.," only reveal his ugly sense of racist, supremacist entitlement. It's increasingly difficult, I would think, for major news media such as MSNBC, or even the largely discredited Republican party, to justify giving him any credible airtime anymore. He calls himself a "traditional conservative," but I wonder how many other "traditional conservatives" would want to be associated with such a blatant, blowhard racist.

[optimal-tomato]

21. "I wonder how many other traditional conservatives would want to be associated..."

"...with such a blatant, blowhard racist."

Unfortunately a lot. Even though many don't want to say it outloud, there remains a strong "white pride" sentiment, which expresses itself in a wide variety of socially destructive ways. Remember Brian Kilmeade's "pure race" comment. He apologized, and the others on the set seemed offput, but I can assure you that the concept of racial purity, with Aryanism at its pinnacle, is the subconscious reality for the majority of American whites. Even if they have no problem with interracial marriage or anything else, the concept of the racial ladder still remains.

(This is coming from a white guy in the South who dated a very dark Hispanic for 5 years. It frequently disoriented people over 30 years old when they first met us.)

[lunatica]

17. Rachel addressed every incorrect thing he said, which was everything

And she did it with class. She took every comment he made and proved it wrong, wrong, wrong. And she did it by saying that on her show facts will be brought out whenever incorrect statements are made.

Yay Rachel!

[optimal-tomato]

20. I love Pat.

Pat Buchannan provides everything liberals could ever want in a TV conservative.

1) He's a walking strawman argument. Just by his very nature, he will drive away many rational viewers because of his racism/extremism/hyper-politicization. He will invariably stick to Nixon's Southern Strategy/Silent Majority/Hippy-Commie-Bashing nonsense. He vocally supports Palin, demonstrating the long-held belief among conservatives that the person in charge can be an idiot, as long as their shrewd underlings are in complete control. On top of this, he's not particularly skilled at debate. As a walking (bumbling) anachronism, Pat cannot be taken seriously.

2) He's a relic of Republican domination of presidential politics. Despite his Rumple Stillskin-esque view of modern politics, he once was a shrewd and successful strategist, and it is educational to see how it used to work and cathartic to see that it doesn't work anymore.

Pat Buchannan purely represents approximately half of the modern conservative movement. David Brookes is almost purely the other half. Liberals can have a serious policy conversation with Brookes, and actually come to a reasonable synthesis. Liberals cannot have a serious conversation with Buchannan, so it is best to figure out how to dismantle, discredit, mock, and destroy his arguments.

Any random conservative is a mix of Brookes and Buchannan, so we as liberals benefit if we can figure out how to subdue the Buchannan side and engage the Brookes side. If we cannot do that, then the converstation will probably not be constructive. When Rachel talks to Pat, she's experimenting with different approaches to shut Pat down. It's my belief that we can learn much from these interactions.