Buchanan Pushes GOP Race-Baiting

MSNBC's Pat Buchanan urges Republicans to adopt demagoguery on white racial fears as a formal political strategy in his recent column in Human Events.

Had McCain been willing to drape Jeremiah Wright around the neck of Barack Obama, as Lee Atwater draped Willie Horton around the neck of Michael Dukakis, the mainstream media might have howled...And McCain might be president.

What they must do is expose Sotomayor, as they did not in the case of Ginsburg, as a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males to the degree necessary to bring about an equality of rewards in society.

Not only are many pundits rightfully decrying this as ugly and offensive, some like Ta-Nehesi Coates of The Atlantic are also pointing out that it is politically dumb.

The GOP's problem isn't that it needs to shore up Alabama--at least not yet. It's problem is, well, basically everywhere else that isn't Alabama. I don't know how bashing Sotomayor makes you more competitive in, say, Colorado or Oregon. I'd assume the opposite.

Altogether, I think this is awful political advice. But it's about what you'd expect from the guy who, as one of Matt's commenters note, told us that Sarah Palin would steal women from Obama. You don't have to be right to do Buchanan's job. Or even sincere. You just have to be very loud.

UPDATE: Take a look at this clip of Rachel Maddow discussing the issue with Buchanan on her MSNBC show last night. Note how Buchanan continually talks over Maddow and changes the subject rather than answer her questions. He also makes bogus comparisons between Sonia Sotomayor and Harriet Miers in terms of bench qualifications and between the disproportionate representation of African Americans in athletics and whites in positions of political power. Maddow rightly nails Buchanan for trying to turn the clock back to the 1950's at the end of the interview.

Right-wing dinosaurs like Buchanan don't seem to get that this is a genie they can't put back in the bottle. While there are legitimate criticisms of aspects of affirmative action, the attempt to turn the cultural clock back is doomed. Profound demographic changes in our country (more racial diversity, fewer traditional two-parent families) make this impossible. The most recent national election and poll results showing a shrinking GOP base reflect these changes. Conservative political figures who advocate a return to the good old days only come off as more and more out of touch with these growing demographic groups as well as the more educated white voters who acknowledge these changes.

--Ballard Burgher