[anniegetyourgun]

They are in different leagues. Best indication is that apparently a society (and her prez) cannot simultaneously be realistic and idealistic.

[My2Cents]

That's a perceptive point. We see it here on FR every election cycle -- a battle of the pragmatic vs. the ivory tower conservatives. Being a president in our current political environment, trying to balance between pragmatism and what's ideal, is thankless and virtually impossible.

But I think Buchanan's problem is greater than that. He's declared war upon the "neo-cons" that he perceives have hijacked conservatism in America. They're for US intervention (e.g., Iraq) in an era where we're the only superpower, and believe in "American exceptionalism." In order to take issue with the neo-cons, Buchanan, fighting for the "paleos," is isolationist. His viewpoint wasn't realistic in the 1930s; it's certainly no realisitic now. I'm not so sure Buchanan is guilty of anti-semitism; it's simply that most of the neo-cons are Jewish, and pro-Israel.