[x]

Well said. I get the feeling, though, that people are aiming at Buchanan as a symbol, rather than considering what he says. From a strictly empirical point of view, there is something in what he says: it is going to be hard for us to preach moral modernization if others see some of its unpleasant results in our own society. One doesn't have to believe that past generations were a golden age or that minorities should be oppressed to see that the message of Krauthammer and others isn't going to go over well in more traditional societies, given what's happened in the West.

And it's not clear that the division runs as some would have it -- between nostalgic reactionary Pat idealizing the bad old days, and forward-looking modern moralists who accept the present. For one of the defenses or excuses in this last scandal has been to blame the conduct in the prison precisely on modern morals or on pornography or on homosexuals. In other words, some of those who are the harshest on Buchanan, adopt views very similar to his when it suits their purpose. This suggests that there's more to his take on things than many will give him credit for.

[CWOJackson]

"...that people are aiming at Buchanan as a symbol..."

I can't speak for anyone else but I'm aiming at buchanan the arse, buchanan the hack, buchanan the washed up bitter man who sold out his creditability in the last election.