[Reaganwuzthebest]

First off, Buchanan was never a contender for president

Where were you in 1996? Pat won New Hampshire, Louisiana, Alaska and came in second in Iowa. That before the attack dogs began their assault on the man.

"there is no compromise for conservatives"

Taken totally out context. The no compromise referred to closing the border and enforcing the laws. There are times when we compromise, even Reagan was forced to do it. He did it with the democrats in 1986 and look where it got us.

Spoken like the Populist that you are.

Not sure, is a populist supposed to be a bad thing? Teddy Roosevelt would be considered a populist today yet he sits on Mount Rushmore.

[Ben Ficklin]

You could hardly call those victorys(including 2nd place-this ain't horseshoes) as significant. Do you understand that those wins scared the daylight out of Buchanan, he doesn't want to be president--he can't afford it. He does this to make money and running for prez is cheap advertising plus his foolish followers shower him with money when he campaigns.

Let me commend you on your honesty in admitting your admiration of Populists. I'm sure you read each and everyone of Molly Ivin's columns. Probably twice.

As for Roosevelt being a Populist, not hardly.

As McKinley's Veep, he campaigned against the populist's populist, William Jennings Brian. In his run as president, he defeated the dems because they were to populistic.

Of course there are reasons why Roosevelt is called a populist. As the economy shifted from agriculture to industry, the older systems allowed monopolies and exploitation. These problems would have been taken care of no matter who was president.

Which brings us back to populism. As the economy shifted from agriculture to industry and the nation shrank, the agrarian malcontents/populists wanted to presrve the "old way".

The same thing is happening today. As the economy shifts away from industry and the world shrinks, the populist malcontents want to preseve the old way.

Not a chance.