Rachel Maddow took a few minutes at the end of last night’s show to correct the record on Pat Buchanan’s racist rant about ‘white men built this nation.’ In case you missed it, here’s what she said (6:58):
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I think she did a pretty good job on this. She gets bonus points from me for the line about affirmative action being necessary “so that we as a country don’t end up sealing in place forever a white supremacist society, created by and defined by segregation and Jim Crow.” What do you think about her rebuttal?
Good job, I’d say, especially throwing Pat B’s own affirmations of affirmative action back at him. The only think I can think of so far that’s missing here is the physical presence of Pat B, bound and gagged and forced to listen to her. Oh, and a statement that because Pat B spews such outrageously racist crap, we’ll never give him a microphone again.
btw, I’ve heard that Nixon was actually in favor of affirmative action, but that was because he knew it would foment discord among gendered and raced majorities and minorities, and distract people from bonding together in conscious class resentment. Anyone have a source on this, or is it apocryphal?
Ok. I forgive her.
I saw this last night on MSNBC. It was a chance encounter because previously, I had never watched her show, only heard about it throught this site. Once I saw her, I tuned in just in time to hear this shpeill. I thought she did a good job setting the record straight. I especially liked the part when she rebutted his “white men built this country” bs.
Love Rachel’s show. One of my only regrets for disconnecting my cable.
Jessie, as you and others have previously stated, Rachel Maddow’s role in the rebuttal as well her role in the original performance (sadly, that is pretty much all these programs are) is secondary to msnbc’s very conscious decision to not only employ Pat Buchanan but feature him across all its programming. I have made a conscious decision since this airing not to tune in msnbc as long as Buchanan is in its employ. It is perfectly fine to present opposing viewpoints in the hope to further intelligent discourse, but white supremacist discourse can’t ever be intelligent. maybe msnbc can continue milking this ‘controversy’ by allowing pat a chance to rebut the rebuttal. If they do, please do me a favor and let a different outlet review it.
A few times in the past, I have liked the things Pat has had to say. He’s not this off base all the time, only most of the time.
I am, however, disturbed at the suggestion that msnbc should get rid of him for these comments, as wrong and racist as they are. We are a free society, and we are often (but not always) a racist society. The racists of our society will get their voices heard whether we attempt to silence them or not. We ought, instead, to let people air their opinions in an open forum so that the dark side of society is not suppressed. As we see in this case, Rachel has given Pat a platform and plenty of rope (and he utilized it.) Without giving him and others like him the opportunity to voice their opinions publicly, those of us on the other side cannot understand their arguments, take the arguments seriously, and rebut them thoroughly.
Of course, anyone who would boycott msnbc until Pat is off the air is completely in their rights, but I believe that if we take a long view this boycott is wrongheaded.
I appreciate your position Aaron, but respectfully disagree on a few fronts. I certainly have no desire to silence Buchanan. He has myriad platforms to air his views. There are numerous conferences to which he is frequently invited. He has a website. He has written numerous books. When it comes to a network employing him i do draw the line. Using your descriptors, i think being “wrong and racist” should be a disqualifier for a high profile TV analyst gig on a major cable platform. I do not question that he can at times discuss other topics with some acuity. But that is not relevant when he is given such wide berth to spout hate and lies. I do not believe we needed this most recent absurd statement to further intelligent discourse on race relations in the US. He has nearly a 40 year history of white supremacist views. Few, if any, of his ideas are fresh or viable. Even this most recent rant, void of fact as it was, broke no new ground. It is the same garbage he has been spewing for decades.