>From: Michael Albert <sysop at zmag.org>
>To: znetcommentary at tao.ca
>Subject: ZNet Commentary / Nov 18 / Saul Landau / The old populist gag
>
>Here is today's ZNet Commentary Delivery from Saul Landau.
>
>
>
>The Old Populist Gag
>By 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 not a drop of sensitivity 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!
>
>
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