The Old Populist Gag

Saul Landau

Exciting! Pat Buchanan, presidential candidate, opposes corporate globalization which, he claims, benefits a handful of multi national giants and leaves crumbs for the poor. Buchanan says he stands for elementary justice for working people. He blasts the plutocracy that has stolen trillions from the pockets of the poor and the middle class.

Shouldn't progressives find such rhetoric refreshing in the age of boring centrism? Downright exhilarating amidst the mindless media diversion? Compare Buchanan's rhetoric to Boring Gore or Gestalting Bradley! Or the leading Republican contender whose paucity of ideas contrasts dramatically with the size of his campaign treasury. George junior Bush, who allegedly snorted cocaine after having first purchased it, has imprisoned lots of Texans for doing exactly what he did. Of course, he's yet to admit it! Perhaps, like what's his name, he tried it but didn't inhale.

Buchanan predates the drug culture. He marches to the radical populist beat. OK, so he's not exactly in step with progressive opinion on abortion. What's more important, a hint of radical redistribution of wealth or abortion, a right that women can re-win for the umpteenth time? Pat opposes affirmative action -well, it's not working well anyhow. Pat wants US jobs to stay in the US, so he opposes NAFTA and new immigration, especially workers of color. That doesn't mean you should equate Pat with the fascist Father Coughlin of the 1930s. Coughlin tried to stop immigrants from taking our jobs. Pat gets excited too over non-Americans taking American jobs. That doesn't mean Pat's a fascist.

People say Pat claims it wasn't necessary to have fought Hitler, just so as to tap into the anti-Semitic vote. And believe me, the anti-Semitic vote is there for the taking. But just because Pat has championed people accused of running Nazi concentration camps doesn't mean he actually hates Jews.

Pat's friends from the Nixon White House where Pat wrote speeches for Tricky Dick swear Pat's not an anti-Semite or a racist. They say the same about Nixon who called Jews kikes and Jew Bastards. Pat was a good campaign strategist. During the 1972 presidential campaign he advised Nixon on how to combat his Democratic rival George McGovern. "Never murder a man who is committing suicide," Pat said, attempting to restrain the volatile Nixon from overachieving.

Buchanan defends flying the confederate flag. He's not for reviving the symbol of the slave past. He's just whistling Dixie to get the redneck vote. Alright, balance the issues. He shows a drop of insensitivity to the suffering of blacks, Jews, women, and immigrants on the one hand. I won't even mention gays. Pat stands against the new world trade order and the elite that benefits from it. Could you vote for such a man because economic issues override all else? Well, within a year you'll have to decide! Unless, of course, we get a real candidate!