Posted on 08/21/2006 9:08:47 AM PDT by churchillbuff
Unapologetically conservative and unfailingly provocative, Pat Buchanan has been firing from the right for most of the past four decades. In his new book, State of Emergency--out this week--the politician and omnipresent pundit confronts what he calls the immigrant "invasion and conquest of America." Buchanan, 67, talked with TIME's Jeff Chu about American identity, why conservatives will lose the culture wars and the rewards of being a cat lover.
The U.S. is in a state of emergency?
If we do not get control of our borders and stop this greatest invasion in history, I see the dissolution of the U.S. and the loss of the American Southwest--culturally and linguistically, not politically--to Mexico. It could become a part of Mexico in the way that Kosovo is now a part of Albania.
You liken the immigrant wave to the Visigoths who sacked Rome. Is that fair?
I'm predicting that America will no longer be one nation but more like the Roman Empire--a conglomerate of races and cultures held together by a regime. The country I grew up in was culturally united, even if it was racially divided. We spoke the same language, had the same faith, laughed at the same comedians. We were one nationality. We're ceasing to be that when you have hundreds of thousands of people who want to retain their own culture, their own language, their own loyalty. What do we have in common that makes us fellow Americans? Is it simply citizenship? Or is it blood, soil, history and heroes?
Your '92 Republican Convention speech put another culture war on the agenda. Who's winning?
It's not a battle of right and left but right and wrong. What do we believe about abortion? What do we believe about gay rights? The left has triumphed in seizing the heights of culture--the media, Hollywood, the academic community--and it's fiercely competitive in the political realm. I don't think someone of Bill Clinton's views could have been elected in, say, 1972. And we wouldn't be debating gay marriage in the 1970s. People would have said, "Are you insane?"
Do you think legal gay marriage is inevitable?
Traditionalists still have the upper hand, but there's no doubt which way the trend is going. And it is not going the conservative way.
Can conservatives win the culture wars?
Those of us on the right have been losing ground since the 1970s and '80s. Can we ultimately win? I think you would need a reconversion of the country to a traditionalist, Christian point of view--and I don't see that coming.
You ran for President three times, most recently in 2000. Will you again?
The American people have spoken on that issue. But I loved campaigning. Everywhere you go, people are saying, "Go, Pat, go!" It's like the NFL play-offs, and you're captain of one of the teams. But as [British politician] Enoch Powell once said, "All political lives end in failure."
How would you rate President Bush?
On some things--the Supreme Court, tax cuts--I give him an A-plus. On foreign policy, I give him an incomplete. If it doesn't improve, it's going to be failure. I don't believe interventionism is the way to deal with rising Islamic revolution. We're seen in the Middle East as an imperial power propping up corrupt regimes and giving Israel the wherewithal to do what they did to Lebanon. The President is widely reviled.
You sound a bit like Cindy Sheehan!
Anybody that knows Pat Buchanan knows we're not dealing with Cindy Sheehan here. [Laughs]
I was surprised to read that the animal-rights group PETA gave you an award last year.
I think it was most improved player! I've always been a cat fan, and my magazine ran a couple of articles saying, "Let's stop cruelty to animals." I've always been disgusted by that, even though I'm not a vegetarian.
I confess I always think Pat Buchanan seems to take things so seriously. What do you do for a laugh?
I read the newspapers. There's so much silliness and nonsense going on.
SOMETIMES?
He also loves to attack conservatives - instead of the real enemy.
Pat may very well be a good Catholic, but so is Pat Robertson and both are nuts. Both blame America for the terrorism that was rained down on them. And you should really read some of Pat's articles over the last 2 years. He HATES the state of Israel and has a love in for the Islamic regions.
I have family that lived in the Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods of Chicago that were overrun by illegal aliens, from Mexico, beginning some 50 years ago and continuing to the present day. They say that assistance from Roman Catholic churches in those neighborhoods like St. Procopius, Holy Trinity and others had a lot to do with their ability to stay and not be sent back.
Teddy Kennedy is Roman Catholic.
Hmmm, maybe those Protestants were onto something.
Ive always been a supporter but this article does bring up concerns...a CAT lover? That IS serious...
LA is scary ... Las Vegas is worse ... Scan the FM dial, as you drive around town ... tell me how much English you hear.
Exactly so and about time someone here said so, besides me. :-)
haha you got banned again Chamberlaintroll....
Yes, Buchanan is a moron and that is being polite. Still, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
He may be right about the open borders, but the rest of the time, he should shut up and go away.
well said........
Pat Robertson is Catholic? Are you sure about that -- I thoght he was a fundamentalist.
Pat Robertson is not, nor ever was, Catholic.
I've never read where Pat Buchanan states he "HATES" Israel.
Niether have I read anything that would approach a "love in for the Islamic regions".
Please post references, if you can, to support these accusations.
Buchanan is right generally. But he and we need to raise up a good crop of similarly right Congressional, Presidential, and Statewide candidates.
Simply because someone told you PJB was a bad guy does not make it so.
___________________________
No one "told" me he was an idiot. I can deduct it from the things he says, namely his anti-Israel comments. If he doesn't understand that the war Israel is fighting is also our war, he shouldn't be trusted.
Ditto. Pat has some very valid arguments. Our current immigration policy is insane. You Freepers may want to check our Schlesinger's "The Disuniting of Anmerica" (a liberal Democrat at that) who is also very concerned about the centrifugal forces in American society. Also check out Heather MacDonald at the City Journal (one quarter of Latinas are pregnant by the age of twenty). One other thing, if one must be proficient in English to be a citizen and if one must be a citizen to vote, then please explain to me why our ballots are printed in eighty languages? Absolutely insane. Why don't we print the Republican candidates in Red (assuming you're not colorblind) and the Dims in Blue? Seriously, if you can't read a ballot in English you have no business voting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.