Posted on 12/05/2001 5:04:51 AM PST by tberry
Pat Buchanan: America first
By Jake Tapper
Dec. 3, 2001 | "The wrong people are winning over there," commentator Pat Buchanan said on Monday when asked his view of the weekend's terrorist attacks in Israel. "I don't think you can have a Sharon agreement with Yasser Arafat now." In this in-depth conversation, the one-time presidential candidate goes on to discuss Arafat's failings as a leader, President Bush's dilemma in the Mideast (his mission is "somewhat hopeless"), Clinton's near success and the controversy surrounding Buchanan's views of the United States' role in World War II.
After securing the Reform Party presidential nomination last summer, the controversial < http://www.fair.org/current/buchanan-bigot.html> Buchanan saw his campaign dissolve while he battled health problems and an electorate that didn't seem to care that much about the issues he discussed.
He came in fourth with 448,892 votes, or .42 percent of the total -- more than 2.4 million votes behind Green Party nominee Ralph Nader, and only 64,463 votes ahead of Libertarian Harry Browne. Buchanan didn't even manage to garner as many votes as he got from California Republican primary voters in 1996. Of more consequence, the Reform Party will no longer qualify for the federal matching funds available after Ross Perot's 1996 showing of 8,085,402 votes, or 8.4 percent of the popular vote.
Having spent much of 2001 working on a book -- "The Death of the West: How Mass Immigration, Depopulation and a Dying Faith Are Killing Our Culture and Country" -- that will hit bookstores in December, Buchanan planned on easing back into TV and newspaper commentary after his January 2002 book tour. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, however, previously ignored matters such as immigration, foreign policy and the role of the U.S. in the world -- all signature Buchanan issues -- returned to the forefront of American political discourse.
Suddenly there was Buchanan on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel; after penning a couple of Op-Ed pieces for USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, he relaunched his weekly column for Creators Syndicate, months ahead of schedule.
What happened to your presidential race? You kind of disappeared.
After I got the Reform Party nomination, my doctor called me at the convention and told me that I had to go in for surgery right after my convention speech. So they took out my gall bladder. Then I had to go back a week later. I had an errant gall stone. It took four to five weeks, I was in and out of the hospital. And that was half the campaign. Then I didn't get the money, the $12 million, until late [because of a legal tussle over the federal matching funds due to Reform Party infighting]. And we spent most of that trying to defend our ballot position. I guess the short answer is I failed. It certainly didn't work out as we hoped. But having failed, I'm glad we didn't take down Bush with us.
Though I read somewhere that just as Nader took votes from Gore, there may have been several states you might have cost Bush.
Yeah, I cost Bush four, maybe. (Laughs) But I saved him in the fifth!
Ah, yes, Florida. All those Palm Beach County voters who mistakenly cast their ballots for you. The butterfly ballot.
I've got to get one of those, and get it autographed for posterity.
We haven't heard from you for a while and then, boom, you're back. Why did you return to your column ahead of schedule?
The book is going to be published in January, so I've been working on that, and Creators Syndicate < http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=pbu> suggested we restart the column around that time. I thought I'd wait until after the book tour, let a decent interval go by between then and the election. But these issues got so hot. And people started asking my opinion, so we thought it best to start right away.
I was just rereading "A Republic, Not an Empire" ...
It's not as controversial as people said! (Laughs)
... and many of the issues you discussed in that book are relevant to today's debate. You even have a scenario where associates of Osama bin Laden explode a nuclear device in the port of Seattle.
That's the method they're going to use. It's not going to come by ballistic missile. It will be a Ryder truck or a merchant ship when it comes.
The rest of the original article can be found here:Complete Article
The myth that those votes were certainly in error should be put to rest.
Come visit us at Freepathon Holidays are Here Again: Let's Really Light Our Tree This Year - Thread 5
and be a part of something that is larger than all of us.
Alone, we are a voice crying in the wilderness. Together we are a force for positive action!
Don't be left out!
Be one who can someday say..................... "I was there when..................."
Thank you to everyone who has already come by and become a part!
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.