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.
No, I think he's right on illegal immigration, and possibly on the culture wars (though I'm not quite as pessimistic as he is). But I'm reminded of blind squirrels and acorns...he's so far out there on so much else. He's a borderline anti-Semite, and he's staking out a space next to Mother Sheehag on the cut-and-run stage.
}:-)4
LOL You really need to get over your damn self, Neville.
Cassandra you ain't.
No, I think he's right on illegal immigration, and possibly on the culture wars (though I'm not quite as pessimistic as he is). But I'm reminded of blind squirrels and acorns...he's so far out there on so much else. He's a borderline anti-Semite, and he's staking out a space next to Mother Sheehag on the cut-and-run stage.
}:-)4
And some of Pat's best friends are Joooooooooooos.
Someone's slip is showing.
Cheers!
How much would you pay to see Buchanan debate Jimmy Breslin?
Somedays I wish I was one of the people that thinks uncontrolled immigration is good for the country. I would be a lot happier if I did.
Huh?
Anyhoos, we need Mr. Buchanan. There isn't a single politico out there you will agree with everything on is there?
Yes, sometimes he looks to be a bit much, but he is very forceful and articulate about his positions, so there is no question about where he stands.
If 'plan for the worst and hope for the best' still applies, then we should plan for what he warns us about, keep our eyes and minds open and hope for better.
Yep, he's right on this. And you're right about LA.
Somebody's gotta do it --
So I'll be the one to stick up for Buchanan. The guy just lets fly and speaks his mind, which is a rare thing today.
Do I agree with him? Very rarely. Is he entertaining? Absolutely. And we need more people who follow his lead, if not his thinking.
Steady CO. It's a darn good-looking bandwagon, and we're enjoying the music, ... but it doesn't mean we're joining Buchanan's circus.
As far as hating Bush goes, even Pat is saying he is a darn good President who has made some mistakes, in his humble (ha!) opinion. In regard to immigration, the handwriting was writ large upon the wall with the passage of Ted Kennedy's "Immigration Reform Act" of 1965. Bush, or no Bush.
Very soon thereafter it became apparent to anyone with 5th-grade arithmetic under his belt that the US would inevitably become a nation with a majority non-European population base. No one, even those of us who pointed it out at the time, anticipated the incredibly fast pace at which this phenomenon would occur.
Bush has embraced this demographic sea-change with a very unseemly show of enthusiasm, whereas it upsets most people; not to mention his lack of follow-through on correcting the blatantly illegal factors accelerating it, which really upsets people, whether they like Pat Buchanan or not. (To judge from election results, most indeed, do not.)
Buchanan is a divider, not a uniter. His complaints are way too similar to the left, even though his reasons are different. I have not forgotten that he has been trying to split the Republican Party for years.
¡PINGO!
If you think an open border has nothing to do with the WOT you might want to sit down and really mull this over in your mind: How many people coming across our open borders are other than mexican, how many are terrorists setting up cells in this country? How many are learning spanish and assimilating into latino neighborhoods waiting to carry out their assignment?
These questions, as well as the obvious ones about our economy being trashed by the influx of illegal aliens, they are not immigrants, should be asked of yourself and given some serious thought.
I have no opinion of Buchanan one way or another, but I know his statements in this article about illegal aliens are true.
I have seen no auguments on this thread to dispute his arguments other than name calling and shouting down of people who are for controlling the borders.
He was also right in criticizing increased fedgov control over our schools and look what kind of shape they're in because no-one listened plus he warned long ago about these ill-conceived trade deals that've produced monstrous trade deficits and the loss of many industries (and jobs) to slave labor nations.
Also, just because he had the courage to criticize the strong influence Israel has in our foreign policy in the ME and elsewhere does not make him an anti-semite as many people dearly love to paint him out to be. If he's as vitriolic against Jews as many believe him to be I'd like to see proof.
Talking to yourself isn't a good sign. ;)
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