Buchanan: Bigger Racist than Ferraro
Pat Buchanan got in over his head on the Dan Abrams Show on Wednesday as he tried to defend Geraldine Ferraro’s recent comments that many perceived to be a racist swipe at Barack Obama. Buchanan was double teamed by Rachel Maddow and Keli Goff as he tried to clarify his and Ferraro’s positions, and at one point he lost control and asked Goff to “Shut up for a second, please!” [a short clip is below; the entire 17-minute show is here]
However, the part of the exchange that’s most interesting isn’t when Buchanan tells Goff to shut up (although it is sort of surprising, considering how accustomed to being interrupted the McLaughlin Group regular must be by now). Buchanan’s actual line of argument is of far greater interest, because he argued two separate points, thus articulating exactly why Ferraro’s remarks have been interpreted as racist. First, he said that Ferraro’s comments (”If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position” and that he’s “lucky” to be black) are valid, and second, that Obama is winning certain Southern states because large African-American populations in those states favor him.
Ferraro’s position has been tagged as racist because of its open-endedness; it trivializes any and all of Obama’s personal successes, suggesting that he’s been given a free pass all along. The other argument — the voter demographic position — is no different than the sort of exit polling data that CNN gives viewers as the returns come in. Pundits always address who wins the female vote, the black vote, the white male vote, and so on and so forth. It’s not a particularly racist exercise, although it does tend to over-simplify the results.
Buchanan surely knew the difference between the two positions he was taking, and he must also know that people are likely to respond passionately when one outspoken racist (Buchanan) comes out in the defense of another perceived racist. Incredibly, Buchanan didn’t stop there though; he actually tried to further his argument by citing Joe Biden’s famous 2007 flap in which he told the New York Observer that Obama was the only “articulate” and “clean” African-American to have a shot at the White House. Probably not the best source to cite there, Pat.
Yeah, the “shut up” was definitely not the most interesting part of that post - but he did just get his ass handed to him by Keli Goff. She makes a point I haven’t heard enough in this ferraro flap - that Obama was losing the “black vote” to clinton until Bill stuck his big red nose in it.
(Now, to be fair, Ferraro was NOT saying that BO was getting the black vote because he’s black, which seems to be the bone of contention in the clip. She was saying that he appeals to us liberal-latte-upper-crusties because he’s black - I think.)
Pat sometimes seems to forget what point he’s making and why’s he making it, as he tumbles into the various ass-kickings I’ve seem him get. Keli Goff though, she wouldn’t shut up, and good on her for it. she totally rocked tha p-buck.