Here's to hoping Pat Buchanan has been unbanned from MSNBC

In the midst of doing something other than listening to NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday I looked up and saw Pat Buchanan appearing on it. Does this mean MSNBC's ban of the Happy Worrier will be lifted, has been lifted? I should hope so, for MSNBC's sake.

I find many of Buchanan's political views either unsavory or downright despicable. But so what? A lot of folks find my views objectionable, and, since I'm as fallible as Buchanan or any other human being, those folks are, perhaps with greater frequency than I'd care to admit, probably right in their findings. That, however, doesn't shut me up, nor should it. I hope to learn from objections; not to recoil in a defensive bubble of self-conceit.

In the field of political commentary and analysis, I'm pro-Buchanan. What I find appealing as well as eminently defensible about the man is that deviating from partisan hackery is a skill which not everyone is capable of mastering, but Buchanan has. When he identifies a lefty tactic that's both effective and beneficial for the left, he says so. He refuses to paint every move by the opposition as dark, sinister, and stupid. It is this objectivity, this indispensable disinterestedness that took him to the top of presidential consultancy. Cunning politicians, like Nixon, want to hear more from advisers than that the detested opposition is evil; they want to know what opposition is up to — "Just the facts, Ma'am." 

And that, more often than not, is what Buchanan once delivered to viewers of MSNBC: the good, the bad, the ugly as he saw them playing out on each side; not as right-wing partisan hacks invariably frame the political scenery — that is, only the left's bad and ugly stuff, and only the right's splendor. MSNBC blundered in banning him. Yes, Buchanan can occasionally be despicable. But he's also capable, when pure analysis calls for it, of a marvelous objectivity.

 

Comments

[merl]

I agree, I don't agree with Buchanan often but he right at times. I actually enjoy reading some of his stuff.

[Peter G]

I too have enjoyed watching Pat explain why he thinks Republicans are idiots. And, with regret, why he thinks Democrats are. There is no pretense in the man. His opinion is his and not what he calculates you want to hear.

[Marc]

Well, David Duke was probably right from time to time, too :)

I have seen Buchanan use vile (yet typical) debate tactics, be condescending to detractors, and behave like a general tool. He says there's no such thing as the Southern Strategery. I've watched him throw racist shit around and *laugh* when caught at it. The guy is a douche. Fuck that guy.