10 Questions for Pat Buchanan (Pat teaches Time Magazine about illegal invasion)

Time Magazine ^ | Aug. 21 06 | Time Mag/Pat Buchanan

[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.

[Prokopton]

From every source I have ever seen, Pat Buchanan is a devout Catholic. I have never read nor heard anything from him that could be considered anti-Catholic or against the teachings of the Church.
I also have never heard nor read anything that Pat Buchanan said that was against the Jewish religion.

I am also not against the Jewish religion as my savior was a Jew, but I support Israel, not because many of it's citizens are Jews, but because it is a democracy with an industrious and freedom loving population. Like Pat Buchanan, I do not always agree with the government of Israel just as I don't always agree with my own government. Indeed, the population of Israel often disagrees with the government of Israel. None of us should be called anti semitic for these disagreements. The Pope has recently expressed his disagreement with the actions of the Israeli government. Am I to take it that he too is not really a Catholic?

It is unfortunate that many on FR post comments that do not even attempt to address the views expressed in the posted article but rather immediately post emotional, fact-less attacks on the author.

To attack Past Buchanan, or anyone, by stating that he is not really a member of the religion he professes, without any basis in fact, is a liable and something which the Catholic faith, and everyone who believes in the Ninth Commandment, should avoid as not only wrong but sinful.

[Constantine XIII]

No, home-grown hippies are doing a fine job of turning California into a socialist hellhole all on their own.

Illegal immigration sucks, but don't blame that mess on the Mexicans. :D

[Iscool]

There are far better people to talk about illegal immigration than Pat Buchanan or his sock puppet, Tom Tancredo.

But if having a racist loon as your spokesman floats your boat, have at it.

You say the same thing about Tancredo...And the MinuteMen...Your unpatriotism is in full bloom...Are you an illegal alien???

[Iscool]

I am a catholic. We support israel, and the jewish people. Pat is no more a catholic than I am a hindu ( sorry to you people of hindu faith, I did not mean to shove pat down your throats )

Pat is as Catholic as the Pope...He also takes the same postion on Israel as the Pope and millions of other Catholics do...

[Wallace T.]

Many Catholics, probably a large majority, support Israel. Some do not, both among advocates of left wing pacifism (Cindy Sheehan) and on the "faux right" of the Father Coughlin type (Hutton Gibson). If they have apostatized from Catholicism theologically, that is an issue separate from their political views. Neither support for America's war on radical Islamic terrorism nor for Israel's aggressive moves to protect themselves from Hezbollah militants appear to be matters of faith or doctrine.

[notigar]

I don't think he is a racist or a moron.

[joe fonebone]

Thank you for your reply. It is a well thought out, well written reply, and has caused me to withdraw my statement. Thank you. I will revise my statement. Pat Buchanan is a moron.

[Bernard Marx]

In other words, while illegals have made the situation worse, it was the palefaces who created to socialist paradise of California years ago.

And it was the Feds, who have the Constitutional responsibility to control the borders, who allowed the sell-out to non-citizens in exchange for cheap labor and pro-illegal corporate campaign contributions. They've also made it easy for illegals to enjoy the Federal socialist give-away programs, pop 'citizen' anchor babies, and bring in all their relatives via chain immigration. It was a Fed judge who shot down Prop 187, approved overwhemlingly by CA citizens, that would have limited welfare to illegals.

I'm a paleface who opposes socialist legislation and have fought both the CA and Fed welfare states every inch of the way. But with the ever-growing government-approved tide of illegals, there are ever so many more Democrat votes to buy. Pat's right on this and many other things.

[Isabelle]

If you want that for America, keep cheering Bush's open-border policy, because we're going to get Mexican-, Californi-style socialism from sea to sea, as a result. (That's why Bush's policy is happily supported by Teddy Kennedy)

Your right! What happens in California---so goes the rest of the nation! Be warned!

[DungeonMaster]

I may be voting for a Pat type in 08. Actually, I'll almost certainly be voting for a Pat type in 08.

[Plains Drifter]

Pat Buchanan is not afraid to state positions that are in the best interest of America and Americans. To call him names is a typical liberal tactic. I'd rather have Pat Buchanan for President than this clown we have now.

[jmc813]

An antisemitic, racist moron who hates anyone who isn't of white European, Protestant ancestry.

Ummmm, Buchanan's Catholic, yo.

[WayneM]

There are far better people to talk about illegal immigration than Pat Buchanan or his sock puppet, Tom Tancredo."

Like you, or Dane, or Sinksupur?

But if having a racist loon as your spokesman floats your boat, have at it. Actually, the issue of race wasn't didn't come up until YOU raised it.

[Clemenza]

I have spent considerable time in Texas, and while folks may not be happy about illegals, there isn't the emotional, visceral reaction that you have in California (or in its satellites). I attribute that to the lack of a welfare state.

In other words, it is VERY MUCH a problem in Texas, New Mexico, and Florida (LOTS of Mexicans and Central Americans throughout the latter state, including Guatemalan Indians). Nevertheless, since those states don't have much of a safety net, it isn't as dire as in California.

Of course, I live in a state with a large welfare state, high taxes, and alot of immigrants (legal and illegal). The problem in NJ, however, is that so many of the voters are limo liberals, government employees, or legal immigrants who actually enjoy exploiting the labor of illegals.

[churchillbuff]

To call him names is a typical liberal tactic."""

There are a number of freepers who can't argue with Buchanan so they try to smear him. It's a tactic we all learn in 2d grade - but must of us outgrow it.

[s_asher]

Pat... Roman Catholic and author of "The Death of the West: How dying populations and immigrat invasions threaten our culture and civilization", yet he refuse to sire any children, or even adopt at least one.

[churchillbuff]

Do you think Teddy Kennedy is wrong when he gleefully anticipates that more immigration from Mexico and Central America means more Democratic voters? I think that - for once - he's right. And it makes me depressed. Our kids and grandkids will live in a socialist America - with the GOP long dead or a copycat of Democrat socialism - if we don't stop, now, what Buchanan correctly calls an "invasion." Look at Mexico - and California - and see the future of America, if the Kennedy/Bush open-borders policy continues.

[Dumb_Ox]

I may be voting for a Pat type in 08. Actually, I'll almost certainly be voting for a Pat type in 08.

And who would this be? I want to vote for one too.

[churchillbuff]

The pyramid scheme that exists in Latin America is being recreated here."""

Yes, but the Mexicans who are coming are from the bottom of the pyramid in Mexico. The "top", in LA is occupied by white real-estate magnates, not by Latinos. Meanwhile, the middle class is fleeing out of state.

[gaussia]

Four things,

1. The best way to fight the tidal wave of illegal immigration isn't to try to outpopulate them by having more babies.

2. He's one guy. At least he's out there trying to move public opinion, which can be vastly more effective at changing the country's direction than just having children.

3. Buchanan was 63 when he wrote that book.

4. How do you know that he and his wife haven't tried?