On the Monday edition of Morning Joe on MSNBC, Pat Buchanan blamed George W. Bush for breaking America’s superpower status in the world. The often extreme right wing political pundit made the statement the day after National Geographic aired an interview with President Bush about September 11th.
“The regret is — the Republican candidates out in the field are not calling for a dramatic new direction of — Father help me, but i agree with Dr. Jeffrey Sachs. The United States — the United States is in virtual headlong retreat from the world. We’re coming out of all these places. We are bankrupt as a nation. We cannot balance our budget. The great blunder was made by George W. Bush when he had the whole country and the world behind him and he went up to Congress and declared ‘now we’re going after an axis of evil; Iraq, Iran and North Korea.’ We are plunging into that part of the world instead of fighting al-Qaeda and handling it the way he should have. As a consequence of that, I think he broke the Republican party and frankly, he broke the United States as a superpower. We are a diminishing superpower today and there is no doubt China is a rising one,”
This is an extraordinary admission by a Republican. The great majority of Republicans refuse to blame Bush for any of our problems including the current economic crisis. But Buchanan pointedly blames Bush entirely. He could have employed the usual right wing spin to blame President Obama, but he did not. The Republicans in Congress at the time are also culpable for the economic calamity we are in and many of them are still in Congress pushing for the same policies that have diminished our superpower status. For once, Pat Buchanan and I agree on something.
A lot of us ‘reformed’ Republicans have left the party for precisely this reason. The party is careening toward a cliff. Unfortunately, they have the United States attached to the bumper.
“For once,” you agree with him? The guy has been blasting US-Israeli imperialism around the world for a long time, he never supported the Iraq war, etc.
He’s a definite racist but he’s always been anti-war.
You act like this is news? Pat is a paleocon and a vocal critic of the Bushs and neocons for years. Believe it or not not all Republicans are the same…there is a growing portion of libertarians and paleocons trying to return to the days of the “Old” right.
Pat Buchanan has been saying this since before the invasion of Iraq. He started The American Conservative magazine *9 years ago* just to make this very point. I’d suggest y’all read his great article “Whose War?” from early 2003 for starters.
Of course he did. Never mind the man in position that The BLACKS claim as their owm even though he is a half and half breed that has destroyed what was left of the economy with his politics while his BLACK (cockass> cabinet) throws nothing but predjudice slurs keeping seperation of the people with racial tension. Always making his mistakes an issue of color. IDIOTS in congress indiot in the WHITE house that in its self says it all
It would be nice if you tried to improve your education and let go of your hate and frustration, Becky. Clearly, you are from the demographic with little education, less ability to think for yourself, and even less hope for the future.
Wow lady,you are areal bigot/racist eh?…not to mention kind of stupid too eh???…you are embarrassing as an American…yuk..
The only thing here that really surprises me is that Pat Buchanan has a conscience. . .
Most Republicans, Republican supporters, Republican enthusiasts and Republican-backing talking heads are conspicuous in their lack of conscience, ethics, any shred of moral values, willingness to even consider the truth, let alone talk about it, and their unique world-view. That Pat Buchanan, with his history, dared to say what he did either indicates that there really is a God, and he or she is getting tired of the right wing’s shit–
Or that Pat Buchanan finally realized what, and who, he’s been supporting all these years, finally wised up to what’s REALLY coming in the months and years ahead, and is still enough of an American that he’s truly sick at heart over what he’s done.
Time will tell. Now’s the time to come clean, Pat, and tell the world what’s really going on with the Republican party and the billionaires paying them to ruin our country. Tell us how the Koch brothers and their friends are planning to take down the Constitution, tell us who they’re paying to create chaos, give us names and dates now that you’ve decided to listen to your conscience and admit exactly who it was who finally broke the camel’s back.
Yeah, and Republicans will vote for tax increases on the rich and more help for the poor.
God help us all.
Henry D. Rinehart
Buchanan is right on this one, though the decline really began with Ronald Reagan and the neocons, who were significantly influenced by a man named Leo Strauss. Look him up and read some of his political philosophy.
Right you are. His predecessor was the only chief executive who had an energy policy. Then Ron came along and tore the solar panels off the WH & sent Don Rumsfeld to trade guns for oil with Saddam. As you said, it was downhill mostly from there. It amazes me every time my friends on the right disparage Carter as the worst president ever.
Walters, Obama just “took” the worst president title. Carter is now just the official beating stick.
Pat Buchannan, while strident in his views, has never been a right wing lunatic. Remember in the 70s and 80s he had that debate piece with Tom Braden- where reason, logic, and a superior argument was the currency. So, Pat has some intellectual timber. Additionally, it amazes that he and Al Sharpton coul see eye to eye about anything, and I believe those two are close if not friends. So, Pat does not put his mouth in the dirt when he speaks.
I’m sure they’ll claim it was taken out of context or issue a retraction. The GOP does no wrong in their eyes.
Maybe republicans will be honest now that one of them broke ranks to let the truth be known, nah, they’ll just try to discredit Buchanan like they try to discredit others who tell the truth ie: Colin Powell, Warren Buffet, etc.
I just want to find the video of showing Pat Buchanan making these statements so that I can save it. And, while watching it, I’ll savor every moment.
The reason that the Republican party seems to be putting up such intellectually sub-standard candidates, is because they are presenting an intellectually untenable case to the electorate. They barely escaped with this tactic during Bush 2nd term election, and consequently bankrupted the nation as Buchanan pointed out. Such a victory was based on the cynical premise that most of the electorate are ignorant as to vote against their own better interests on the basis of catchy slogans. Until they withdraw from this anti-intellectual position based on demagoguery their candidates will continue to seem ripe for ridicule. Buchanan has apparently decided not to play that game any more. Right now, as far as the GOP are concerned, the clowns are running the circus.
The Republicans are finally realizing they can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Unfortunately, they also know how long it takes for many people to finally understand what is true and what is not, so they are now going to publically declare Bush responsible, but also distance themselves from him. They will declare they were always against Bush’s policies, even when their records show differentyly. Hell, especially when their records show differently.
Politics as usual folks, nothing to see here.