Two things that I hope that loaded title conveyed: 1. That Pat Buchanan has been fired from MSNBC, the left leaning alternative to Faux News that apparently couldn’t find a reason to keep an old racist around anymore. 2. That this article will explore what a racist is, and that I think it is, you guessed it, Pat Buchanan.
Now what do I mean when I call someone a “racist?” That’s become a very overused term—-and it seriously is in danger of losing all meaning from so many things being labeled it—-and I think a lot of the media (particularly blogs or anything on the internet) are too quick to use it. [Just this past week, there were seemingly 500 stories about someone being a racist towards Justin Lin and his Asian heritage.] I mean, who hasn’t said something that could be interpreted as offensive to someone of a different race every once and a while? We can pretend we don’t, but everyone does. I like to think I’m about as racially sensitive as someone from Alabama can hope to ever be, but I have no doubt I’ve said things that would cause some windbag like Alicia Keyes to give me a stern talking to.
So is a racist someone that says something racially stupid every once and a while (the “Don Imus Syndrome” if you will)? No. Is it someone who thinks Asians are bad drivers or black people talk at the movies or white people like Herman Cain? I wouldn’t say that either, as a certain amount of prejudices or stereotypes are inevitably going to sink into people’s subconscious when they live in the world. Is it people that hate Obama? Not usually. Is it a Republican? Of course not.
Most Republican politicians like to play the race card because they know they aren’t going to get many minority votes and they might as well continue pandering to the white majority that is more likely to vote for them (even if the GOP isn’t really a friend to non-rich white people either). And so when I hear them say stupid things about black people on welfare or illegal immigrants having anchor babies or something similar, I don’t so much hear the damning cries of a racist as I do the pandering whimper of an opportunist. And then there’s Pat Buchanan…
Unlike a Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly, there’s no question that everything that comes out of Buchanan’s mouth is something he really, truly believes. He’s like the Ron Paul of media pundits. And so that is very good for hearing what he truly thinks about “race mixing” and very bad for anyone hoping we live in the year 2012, not 1912.
Pat Buchanan’s claim to fame is championing a return to a “strong” (i.e. white) America. And he has written multiple books about how interracial marriage and children will be America’s downfall. The latest book of which is what finally got him kicked off of MSNBC who, I guess, had finally bowed to pressure from liberal political groups to not give Buchanan credibility by letting him appear on their network. To me it was a no-brainer move for the liberal network as they can basically get anyone to give the “conservative” side of the presidential race (Chris Matthews alone has a rotating roster of bozos as he yaps non-stop about the presidential race five nights a week), and don’t need someone as offensive as Buchanan to say “I think Rick Santorum’s great.” Since all Republicans on TV say almost the exact same thing anyway, there was no unique quality Buchanan brought. [Note: I get a ton of “Call to Action” emails from liberal groups and can’t possibly respond to them all, but I did join the effort to get Pat off MSNBC.]
Pat is so offensive not because of making Joe Biden-esque blunders on race by saying the wrong joke or any stereotypes he believes (although he believes them all). He’s an old school racist because of what he truly believes and wants to do: which is reverse America’s policy of multiculturalism and probably reverse the freedom to interracially marry at all. Going back to the title question “What’s a racist?” It’s someone who thinks the races are so different they shouldn’t get together OR somebody who thinks people overcoming centuries of hate to find love is bringing America down despite a flood of more obvious problems OR it’s someone who is so racist they don’t think interracial children have a right to exist. Someone who exemplifies all three can be found in Pat Buchanan, a man I hope enjoys retirement as I now don’t have to see his beady eyed face (and, more importantly, hear his backwards thoughts) on MSNBC anytime soon.