Buchanan Book Declares: 'No Conservative Party Left in Washington'

The Drudge Report ^ | August 22, 2004 | Matt Drudge

[quidnunc]

After warning about the "Death of the West," bestselling author and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan now declares: "There is no conservative party left in Washington."

Buchanan is set to launch his new work WHERE THE RIGHT WENT WRONG: How Neoconservatives Subverted The Reagan Revolution And Hijacked the Bush Presidency — a work ripe with cutting observation and opinion.

RIGHT WENT WRONG is not set for release until September 1, but DRUDGE breaks the embargo on the book:

On Conservatives and Conservatism:

“There is no conservative party left in Washington.  Conservative thinkers and writers who were to be the watchdogs of orthodoxy have been as vigilant in policing party deviations from principle as was Cardinal Law in collaring the predator-priests of the Boston archdiocese.” (Page 9)

“The Beltway Right has entered into a civil union with Big Brother.” (Page 176)  

“Under the rubric of conservatism, the Republican party of Bush I and II has been reinventing itself into what conservatives would have once recognized as a Rockefeller party reciting Reaganite rhetoric.” (234) 

“[A] civil war is going to break out inside the Republican Party along the old trench lines of the Goldwater-Rockefeller wars of the 1960s, a war for the heart and soul and future of the party for the new century.” (234)

On the Neoconservatives:

“[T]he boat people of the McGovern revolution.” (37)

“Kristol’s warning that neoconservatives could go to Kerry was an admission of what many have long recognized.  The neoconservatives are not really conservatives at all.  They are impostors and opportunists.” (250) 

[Honestfreedom]

We know what neo conservatives are code for.

[inkling]

Buchanan declares: "WAAAAAH!"

[CWOJackson]

ALREADY marked down to $16.97 at Amazon.com and $17.49 at Barnes and Noble. At this rate anyone interested should simply wait a couple of more weeks till buchanan's latest POS is on the $2 and Under table.

Consumer Tip: real toilet paper is cheaper, softer and far superior to buchanan's written word...but the dust cover does make an excellent urinal target.

[Belisaurius]

I guess you could put Pat down in the "Bush is an idiot" column instead of the "Bush is an evil genius" column.

The really amusing thing about Pat is the irony of it all. If he had won the Presidency and had to climb down off his mountaintop of virtue to actually get things done, the same purists who know salute him would be calling him CINO and a sellout.

[icebats22]

Free trade is ultimately good for everyone.

[TheLion]

"They are impostors and opportunists.”

I smell something of an opportunist here!

[JackelopeBreeder]

I really don't care for Buchanan or his rhetoric on some issues, but I can't argue with any of those quotes.

[CWOJackson]

buchanan is very good at it. This book will continue his vendetta against President Bush (he's been so bitter since being fired by Reagan), it will actually pocket him some change from the people who will buy his book (which is ALREADY heavily discounted...so soon) and get's him back in the limelight where he can be a willing and useful tool for the left.

This is a win-win for buchanan.

[TheLion]

I would be nice to see one of these so called "conservatives" attack the left instead of as you say, "be a willing and useful tool for the left."

[The_Macallan]

Many times you hear the saying that a vote for a third-party is a "wasted vote". Well, I remember one time I DID waste my vote on a staunch conservative Republican - his name was Pat Buchanan.

I wasted the vote on Pat Buchanan because HE wasted my vote. He did NOTHING with the support he built during the '90s.

HE blew it for conservatives in the Republican Party.

HE did more to damage the conservative wing of the Republican party than anything GWBush has done.

THIS is part of the reason why conservatism is dead in the Republican Party:

Pat Buchanan was a senior advisor to three Republican Presidents.

From 1966 through 1974, he was assistant and confidant to Richard Nixon. He traveled with President Nixon as one of the 15-member official delegation to open up the People's Republic of China, and he was present at Mr. Nixon's final Moscow-Yalta summit in the summer of 1974.

In 1974 he also served as assistant to Gerald Ford.

From 1985 to 1987, he was White House Communications Director for Ronald Reagan. He was with President Reagan at both his first and second summits with Mikhail Gorbachev, at Geneva and Reykjavik. He also gained recognition as an inspiring speechwriter for the Republican Party.

Pat Buchanan challenged incumbent President George Bush for the 1992 Republican presidential nomination. Buchanan ran in 33 state primaries and gained about 25% of the Republican votes.

In 1996, Buchanan attempted to run for the Republican presidential nomination again against Bob Dole. Even though he lost again, Buchanan was even more successful this time - winning the primary in New Hampshire, coming very close in other states and gaining over 30% of the Republican vote.

After briefly returning to TV to do talk shows once again, Buchanan decided to resign from the Republican Party in 1999, and run for president in 2000 under the Reform Party's nomination.

In the 2000 election, Buchanan received less then 1% of America's vote. After the election, Buchanan announced that he would not run for president again, but he would continue to preach to the public his conservative agenda.

And where is he now?

{crickets}

He was GAINING momentum and INCREASING his support within the Republican Party. And in the midst of his rising power and influence within the party- he LEFT.

Dammit he was GAINING support! He was starting to WIN elections. He should have stuck with it!

THAT'S what it gonna take to turn this country around. So HE couldn't be the Number One Standard-bearer for the Republican Party - so is THAT a reason to quit the party??? Buchanan's ego got the best of him and he really hurt all the momentum he was building in the party. Same with the "Young Turks" in the '94 Congress. They thought the highest leadership positions in the House were theirs just because they showed up.

Many of the ultraconservatives and third-party losers who vote for their local dog-catcher to be President hold up people like Patrick Henry or George Mason as their standard of American patriots who stood up for their principles, did not compromise them and always voted their conscience. Patrick Henry even voted AGAINST the US Constitution because it didn't contain the BOR.

All that may be true about Henry and Mason - but ya' know what - neither of them ever had a chance in hell of becoming President and yet the ultraconservatives like Buchanan fail to see how vitally important and significant Henry and Mason were in the lower offices that they DID hold.

Do you think people like Fineswine, Schumer or Lautenberg have little influence in the course of what goes on in Congress?

Do you think people like Pelosi, Waxman, Rangel and Conyers have no say in the Democratic Party's direction or goals? And do you think they all got there all at once?

Do you think that just because The Corpulent Tick lost his bid for the Presidency in '80 to Carter that he is now irrelevant in his Party's political landscape?

Remember, The Corpulent Tick LOST his bid to become the Democratic Presidential nominee and yet look at where he is now! Hell, today he's practically RUNNING the entire Democratic Party!

Or how about Ronald Reagan? He lost TWICE in running for Presidential nominee of the Republican Party, once in '68 and again in '76. And, well, you know the rest of the story with him...

And again - by comparison, where's Pat Buchanan today?? {crickets}

What's the difference here? The difference is that Kennedy and Reagan did not QUIT after failing but instead continued working within the party to gain more power and supporters.

Goldwater didn't quit when he lost. Reagan didn't either. They continued to work WITHIN the party to get their principles advanced to the forefront of the Republican agenda.

We HAD a great chance back in '94 - we HAD secured a solid foothold in the Republican Party with the "Republican Revolution" but what did some of the "Young Turks" do? Folks like Bill Paxon and Susan Molinari stampeded for the top leadership position before they had secured and expanded their support in Congress - they got impatient and charged ahead and waged war WITHIN the Republican Party when they should have spent the next few years BUILDING on their success and GROWING their support which would then allow them to RISE to positions of leadership rather than "take-over".

Now they're gone and the "Republican Revolution" has lost many of it's up&coming leaders because THEY were too intent on gaining CONTROL rather than gaining SUPPORT.

---

It's Not Just A Gun...

It's My "HOMELAND DEFENSE RIFLE"!!

[Robert_Paulson2]

joooos...
and joooo supporters.

"the man who admired hitler" is deeply saddened.

[TomGuy]

How Neoconservatives Subverted The Reagan Revolution And Hijacked the Bush Presidency

Buchannan is certainly experienced in that kind of activity, considering how he effectively destroyed the Reform Party in another of his failed Presidential runs.

[Delphinium]

My first thought was his anti-semetic side is showing. Is that was you thought?

[Dolphy]

There is no conservative party left in Washington

Since when is blaming others for ones own failures a conservative idea? He should have realized, just like when he ran for President, when you come out firing, people run the other direction.

[quidnunc]

TomGuy wrote: (How Neoconservatives Subverted The Reagan Revolution And Hijacked the Bush Presidency) Buchannan is certainly experienced in that kind of activity, considering how he effectively destroyed the Reform Party in another of his failed Presidential runs.

Buchanan's whole purpose in joining the Reform Party was to get their mailing lists of crackpots for that direct-mail operation he and his sister run.

[Susannah]

Interesting.

NOW (National Organization of Women) has been on C-SPAN2 channel at least twice and their agenda seemed clear to me. NOW leaders and members were discussing how to spread the word to Republicans that Bush had let them down and convince them to turn to the Libertarian Party.

[followerofchrist]

Pat is right. The neo-conservatives have changed conservatism in America, and in many people's opinion, not for the better. Pat stands for old fashioned American values and I commend him for his courage. There must be room on the right for those who don't compromise and who address issues no one else will. Like it or not, a large number of republicans believe what Pat believes. The major parties must address these issues, specifically immigration and the effect unfair trade policies have on American workers and workmanship. Why is that now controversial?
Instead of shouting down those with the courage to keep on these issues, why not make allowances for them, because in the absense of taking them seriously, you run the risk of alienating many voters.
I realize that moving an inch from the party line makes you an enemy of "republicans," but if we are to be united and win this culture war, we must not attack others for their contructive criticism or having a different opinion than the administration in power . Pat has been attacked, while he has only criticised Bush where he needs to be. I realize that even these mild words will bring vicious personal attacks on me, and that is why I don't come here much anymore. God Bless you all, but you are wrong to keep the status quo. And God Bless Pat Buchanon and the President I did not and will not vote for.

Diane Templin for Prez. Now fire away, armchair bombardiers, for my not towing the line. I will come back in a week or two to see your infuriated, frothing at the mouth responses to this defense of my boy, Pat.

[okie01]

Pat who?

[ETERNAL WARMING]

This is one instance when Buchanan is right. There is no Conservative Party in Washington.