Ron Radosh’s article is entitled “The meaning of Pat Buchanan’s surprising endorsement of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense” – actually there is nothing surprising at all about Buchanan’s support of Chuck Hagel. Pat Buchanan (who helped turn off so many people to the Republican Party by his 1992 RNC convention speech) is another reason not to watch Fox News. Not surprisingly Buchanan (who ran for president with a communist running mate) jumps on the pro Chuck Hagel bandwagon for Secretary of Defense since Hagel is: a hard core social con, anti- Semitic, isolationist, and Islamic appeaser and an overall bully boy.
As a commenter on the page (#6) has written: In reality he (Buchanan) has lost all credibility, his whole claim to fame is that he was in the Reagan administration. There is a lot of people that were in the Reagan administration that have turned out wishy-washy. Buchanan is about as much conservative as Obama.
“Pat Buchanan was recently fired from MSNBC over his latest book. It is not as if MSNBC suddenly realized that it had an anti-Semite on staff. If they really cared about that, they would have fired him years ago. As I’ve written, they only hired him in order to use him as the cardboard cut-out conservative.”
Ben Shapiro, March 2, 2012
hat tip -Rodan
by Ron Radosh
When Left and Right come together, it usually is quite revealing. The issue that binds them this time is the campaign to have the president continue the fight for Chuck Hagel to get the nomination as secretary of Defense.
First, a group of self-proclaimed foreign policy “realists,” including the usual suspects, have endorsed Hagel’s nomination. The group is best summarized by one of Hagel’s major supporters among the pundit class – Robert Wright of The Atlantic:
Hagel has now drawn support from liberals all across the foreign policy spectrum, from well left to center if not right of center: John Judis of The New Republic, Josh Marshall of TPM, Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, Joe Klein of Time, Tom Friedman of the New York Times, Jim Fallows of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic (who, like Friedman, makes a pro-Israel argument for Hagel), etc. Hagel has also been embraced by many on the non-neocon right, as evinced not only by the politicos mentioned above, but by pundits ranging from paleocons to a bunch of libertarians. A few progressives are skeptical of Hagel because of his past conservative positions on issues with little bearing on foreign policy, but by and large this fight is between some neocons (plus a few reliable supporters) and everybody else.Most importantly, the Washington Post ran a letter endorsing Hagel by the deans of the “realist” school: James L. Jones, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft, and Frank Carlucci. Hagel, they wrote:
… is a rare example of a public servant willing to rise above partisan politics to advance the interests of the United States and its friends and allies.
You get the thrust: Hagel has widespread popular support among the foreign policy and media establishment. Therefore, the only ones contesting him are from the “Israel lobby,” led by the hated neocons, who are fighting a last-ditch battle to show their power against those who truly represent America’s national interest.
On the Left, the Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan — in his usual hysterical tone — leads the charge against the neocon menace:
Because [William Kristol] operates on the premise that policy toward Greater Israel is not something that a president should have any serious control over. Policy in that respect is set in Congress aided and abetted by AIPAC and batshit crazy Christianist Zionists. Like the NRA, this lethal lobby will destroy any politician it can who stands in its way. It will also try to destroy the careers and reputations of any who criticize it. Nothing exemplifies this more clearly than the chilling, and repulsive headline in Kristol’s own magazine when launching this character assassination
[......]
The latest endorsement of Hagel should give the aforementioned some pause. It comes from none other than the paleo-conservative, isolationist, and anti-Israel zealot whose anti-Semitism is second to none, Pat Buchanan. In his column, Buchanan echoes all of the now familiar “realist” themes, but unlike the others — who try to distance Hagel from being crudely anti-Israel (indeed, they back him by making the argument his appointment would be better for Israel) — Buchanan wants Hagel precisely because he sees him as one who would stand firm against the Jewish nation.
Buchanan, like Walt and Mearsheimer, believes in the undue power of the insidious Israeli lobby, of which he says: “Its existence is the subject of books and countless articles,” and it always gets bills it supports passed — they are “whistled through” Congress whenever one comes up.
Hagel is opposed, Buchanan writes, because he does not “treat these [AIPAC] sacred texts with sufficient reverence,” and because Hagel “puts U.S. national interests first,” especially when “those interests clash with the policies of the Israeli government.”
One must understand, when reading these words, that Buchanan always believes that whatever Israel supports should be opposed by the United States.
He singles out, just as the Left does, the new settlement construction, which he describes inaccurately as “bisecting the West Bank,” and a move that will “kill any chance for a Palestinian state.” Evidently, Mr. Buchanan does not see any of the self-defeating rejectionist policies of both Fatah and Hamas as having anything to do with the failure of the Palestinians to get a state of their own.
Next, Buchanan argues in favor of talking with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, as if such talks have ever led anywhere or would in the future. He uses the analogy of Harry Truman talking to Stalin. [.......]
In this case, what Buchanan and company favor is bending to Iran’s will and essentially allowing a nuclear Iran to develop. (After all, as others have argued, the mullahs need a bomb to protect themselves from Israeli aggression!)
Next, Buchanan uses the rather foolish argument — quoting Robert Gates — that our country would be foolish “to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East.” True enough.
Who, however, is arguing for that?
The case for being tough against Iran is not based on any consideration of an armed invasion of that country, only on taking tough measures — including the possibility of a strike against its nuclear facilities — should that become necessary.
Buchanan then asks how Hagel could be an anti-Semite, since “so many Jewish columnists and writers” are supporting his candidacy. [......] But I believe the policies he favors would indeed be harmful to our country’s national interest.
I would reverse Buchanan’s question, however: why is a known anti-Semite like Buchanan endorsing Hagel?
Does that tell us anything? What views which Buchanan thinks Hagel holds make Buchanan see him in such a favorable light? Is not this something we should be concerned about?
Buchanan concludes with the following analysis:
Neocon hostility to Hagel is rooted in a fear that in Obama’s inner councils his voice would be raised in favor of negotiating with Iran and against a preventive war or pre-emptive strike. But if Obama permits these assaults to persuade him not to nominate Hagel, he will only be postponing a defining battle of his presidency, not avoiding it.
President Obama, however, has told supporters like Alan Dershowitz and Ed Koch that he means what he says: he will do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, and nothing is off the table for stopping them. [.......]
If that is the president’s policy, then what Hagel and Buchanan stand for is in fact against Obama’s own policy as Obama has explained it.
Buchanan wants a Hagel appointment because he believes it will put a monkey-wrench in any tough policy option should it become necessary. As he puts it, the “war party” of the neocons favors a “U.S. war on Iran in 2013.” To Buchanan and the isolationists — and evidently some of the “realists” as well — that is the issue, and not Iran’s bellicose policy and the mullahs’ war on their own people.
So when he argues that the president should not “appease these [neocon] wolves,” he is really saying Iran should not be stopped. That is not surprising, since in his eyes, Israel is the only Middle Eastern nation that the U.S. should oppose.
Read the rest - The meaning of Pat Buchanan’s surprising endorsement of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense
Tags: Chuck Hagel, Pat Buchanan, Ron Radosh
Buchanan is another reason to dump Fox News.
Chuck Hagel is a perfect example how a hard core social conservative can still be an enemy.
I take it there was a scheduling problem?
Speranza wrote:
Stances on Social issues are not the end all or be all.
Speranza wrote:
I don’t watch Fox as much as I used to. They have lost credibility with me.
@ Rodan:
But where do you go, then? Fox has more good newscasters than bad ones. They are still head and shoulders above any of their competition.
Iron Fist wrote:
I search online for my news. Take Syria Fox is lying about what is going on over there. They are pushing for war in Syria. They are better than MSNBC or CNN, but it’s not saying much. I still watch Fox, but I do not view them as gospel.
Iron Fist wrote:
The regular news on Fox is fine -- I just skip O’Reilly, Hannity, Huckabee, Jeanine Pirro, etc.
Rodan wrote:
They seem to pick up every has-been conservative politician to be a “contributor”. No longer interested in what Rove, Buchanan, Dick Morris, etc. have to say about anything.
Bret Baier’s Special Report is still the best new hour on cable.
Speranza wrote:
I still watch that and the 5 or Chris Wallace. O’Reily, Hannity and Greta are just RNC propagandists.
@ Speranza:
I’ll laugh is they ever hire Justin Raimondo!
@ Rodan:
I’ll stop watching them if they hire that motherfucker. I despise him.
Sideshows and distractions; shiney objects. The real game is openly afoot now. Lose this one, and the rest of it simply doesn’t matter.
Let’s Give Up On The Constitution
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/lets-give-up-on-the-constitution.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
Hat tip, Ed Mahmoud at GCP
Rodan wrote:
Justin Raimondo is more likely to be hired by PMSNBC -- and they will tout him as a “conservative”.
Iron Fist wrote:
I don’t think they will. Fox’s regular news is still good. They are the ones who broke Benghazi being an al-Qaeda operation.
I actually have it on now. I spent the whole weekend watching Sports Channels.
@ Speranza:
I can see on on Rachael Maddow’s show. They agree on foreign policy.
Rodan wrote:
Greta is particularly boring and predictable. She is in her “glory” doing sensational murder trials.
Rodan wrote:
Maddow is the most “moderate” of the hosts on MSNBC. Now that is scary but true.
Rodan wrote:
That Mark Sanchez is a heckuva QB. //
@ Speranza:
Tim Tebow was held back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
//////
@ Speranza:
She’s also a propagandist calling for war in Syria.
@ Mike C.:
I saw that. That is what the Democrats and the LEft really want. They want to replace our GOd-given rights with Social Justice, and that has nothing to do with actual justice. If they try to do away with the Constituition, I hope the South secedes. Without the Constitution, we aren’t the United States of America anyway. Obama will hav succeeded at his fundamental transformation of America, but hopefully a rump Aerica will still exist free. The Socialist States won’t have the economic wherewithal to go to war to force us to stay with them.
@ Iron Fist:
That is the end game. A Neo-fedual Socialist state.
@ Iron Fist:
Look at a voting district map of the US for the last two elections. The fact is that the Red and Blue are heavily intermingled. Even CA and NY have solid Red districts, while overall Red states have solid Blue districts. Not going to be as simple or clean as “North” and “South” next go-round.
Things are looking to get very ugly…
Rodan wrote:
Never in sports has so much time been spent on someone so inconsequential.
Rodan wrote:
Really? Does she know that Islamic fundamentalists are not so tolerant of lesbians?
Iron Fist wrote:
Social justice to them has nothing to do with “justice” but with wealth redistribution.
@ Mike C.:
There’s very little Blue in the South, though. There were only four counties in the whole State of Tennessee that went for Obama, as an example, and States like Mississippi and Alabama were in similar proportions. There are Red districts even in NY and CA, but those people would be better off leaving and leaving the mess for the Liberals to clean up. Where I see the split coming is between solvent States and insolvent States. At some point States like Tennessee and Texas are going to get fed up with bailing out States like California and New York. It could get really nasty, though. If Obama were to ram through Feinstein’s gun control bill, or he tried to do it through Executive Orders, things could get really bloody really quickly. The people who are buying guns right now aren’t buying them so they can turn them over to Obama’s goons in six months.
@ Speranza:
It is just another way to pilliage the nation. Obama has already stolen more money than any other leader in the history of the world. He wants more, so as to assure his faction’s power in the coming years. The only thing we are lucky abou twith Obama is that he isn’t actually a good leader. He has trouble getting his own people to go along with what he wants. I don’t think he is going to be able to get the House to sign off on his gun control. In fact, he may find that Democrats in the Senate who are up for re-election in 2014 are less than enthusiastic about that fundamental transofrmation of America. Some people still remember 1994. Diane Feinstein knows She won’t lose her job, but a lot of the Senate Democrats aren’t in solid blue states. These next couple of months are going to be interesting.
@ Iron Fist:
If Obama is not a Socialist I do not know who deserves that title.
@ Speranza:
I thought he was talking bout Greta.
@ Iron Fist:
In other news, Fist, it appears Piss Morgan has stated he’ll deport himself if we don’t change our gun laws.
I tweeted him that I’ll be happy to drive him to the airport.
@ theoutsider:
Required reading for you:
So what do we do when these unfunded liabilities come due? That is, as you can see, way more than 150% GDP. What do we do about it. You can’t tax your way out of that. There simply isn’t that kind of money in the American (or world) economy.
@ Carolina Girl:
He can’t leave fast enough. Let him move to Zimbabwe. I reckon they have strict gun control laws. Most of Africa does, and they have the high murder rates to prove it.
@ Rodan:
I think that The Five is the best of all of the Cable programs.
Gutfeld is hilarious & they all treat Beckel like a fool.
What’s not to like?
@ Iron Fist:
The Brits have started a petition asking the UK government not to take him back. Piss has some serious legal problems in Britain stemming from his hacking of email or some such. I don’t really care, personally, they can ship him off to Uganda where the populace, IIRC, isn’t allowed to own guns (de rigueur for your modern dictatorships and pseudo dictatorships).
In other news, Redskins fans have to be happy. And Lily, our nightmare season has come to an end.
@ RIX:
RIX -- are you able to catch Gutfeld’s other show “Red Eye.” Also hilarious and great guests. Andy used to be almost a regular there. (I still can’t hear the song “Man on the Moon” without thinking of him.)
@ Iron Fist:
So you are endorsing Simpson-Bowles, like Zuckerman? I’m Ok with most of it.
Carolina Girl wrote:
yeah, great show. He is a funny guy.
@ theoutsider:
It is better than the current plan, which is no plan. I am not a total fan of it. You don’t raise taxes during a recession, and we are still in a recession, really. Government is the main sector where there has been “growth” in the economy, and government is parasitic of the producing class. There has been essentially no growth in the producing class in the last five years or so. The way things look now, there won’t be any growth there for the next five years, either. You don’t raise taxes on the producers in that situation. We need to seriously pare down the government.
@ Carolina Girl:
@ RIX:
Gutfeld, hands down, is my favorite guy on TV. I downloaded his new book “The Joy of Hate” but, with all of my frenetic Kwanzaa celebrations, I haven’t had a chance to read it -- that’s my first order of business for the new year.
The current plan is needed to stave off the sequestration, which would be devastating for the country. Long term, we need a S-B type plan to get our fiscal house in order.
MacDuff wrote:
I have got to download that on my Kindle.
I hear ya about Kwanzaa, I’m worn out from celebrating
all of the principals.
@ MacDuff:
Check out his previous book, the Bible of unspeakable truths
theoutsider wrote:
BO’s fiscal plan is in order, and just like you, he will not say how much debt is too much…either he is incredibly stupid, like the people that voted for him, or his plan is right on track…it’s one or the other
Oh, and the LIES just keep on coming:
This is just sad. This kind of hero worship is very disturbing in an adult.
Carolina Girl wrote:
Let’s raise money for his airfare.
@ RIX:
Matthews views Obama as his god.
Rodan wrote:
Morgans biggest problem is that he considers himself important for some reason
theoutsider wrote:
My mistake.
Iron Fist wrote:
He slandered British soldiers who were serving in Iraq (or Afghanistan) claiming that they pissed on them.
@ RIX:
Crack is bad for you…
Let Piers Morgan take the incredibly disgusting Martin Bashir back to England with him.
Speranza wrote:
Drop them in East London!
@ Speranza:
Yeah, you’d think that making up something like that would be the end of his career as a “journalist”, but apparently that is what gets you your own show on CNN. No wonder CNN’s ratings are in the shitter.
@ Rodan:
No need. I’ll stop and pick up Iron First on my way to Piss’s house. He’ll go tearing up to the ticket counter in Olympic record time.
Rodan wrote:
Apparently. He seems to see him as perfect.
Matthews seems like a head case.
@ Speranza:
I wonder if CNN isn’t working with their legal department for a way to kick him off the air. Although with CNN you never know. He asked that the Bible be “amended” last week in order to sanction gay marriage. Well, there went the Black and Hispanic viewers right there.
@ Carolina Girl:
Just seeing Iron Fist alone would give that man Diarrhea.
Oh, and in other news, Twit-bird Anne Hathaway is wetting her pants because Obama “knows her name.”
Interesting, because I knew the Anne Hathaway that “preceded” her and I’m willing to bet neither she NOR Odumbo know who it was.
Actually, that should be I knew OF her. I was hardly around in the 17th Century….
@ Carolina Girl:
Obama is a cult figure.
@ Speranza:
I heard the Brits don’t want morgan back.
@ RIX:
He called him the “Perfect” Man. That implies divinity.
@ Rodan:
Heh™
@ Rodan:
Well, I’m pretty much on that page. I’ve called him the “perfect asshole.”
@ Rodan:
That puts Obama on par with Jesus Christ, which fits with Jamie Foxx calling Obama his “Lord and Savior”. This Cult of Personality around Obama is creepy as hell. It is the kind of thing you see in Third World countries like Venezuela or Stalinist Russia.
Iron Fist wrote:
The whole Obama worship is disgusting. He’s a man and a mediocre one at best.
Iron Fist wrote:
Yup, I was not joking when I said Obama is viewed as a god-king. We are seeing the birth of a new cult.
@ Speranza:
Yet the people love him!
Carolina Girl wrote:
Funny that he did not ask the Koran to be amended.
@ Speranza:
Ever notice these Leftists never criticize Islam?
@ Rodan:
No, they don’t. They consider it a religion that all us eeeeevil right-wingers are prejudiced against.
@ Rodan:
islam is part of the club……..for now. Perhaps some of the smarter ones understand islam a bit more then they let on and would like to keep their heads upon their necks.
I bet both see themselves as using the other.
Rodan wrote:
They are afraid of losing their heads.
Carolina Girl wrote:
They view it as a 3rd World Liberation movement.
Carolina Girl wrote:
It was a calculated move. Morgan was playing to get defenders who would come to champion his gun-rights stand, and trying to show that pro-Second Amendment people are Bible-thumping homophobes.
Oliver Stone is right for once.
Oliver Stone to RT: ‘US has become an Orwellian state’
Happy New Year everyone. I’ve gotta go.
Rodan wrote:
He is, however, right for the wrong reasons; he and his allies are responsible for putting the unvetted far-leftist into office.
Oliver Stone is right for once.
Oliver Stone to RT: ‘US has become an Orwellian state’@ Rodan:
He’s right for the wrong reasons.
@ buzzsawmonkey:
Yup, he is reaping what they sowed.
Rodan wrote:
Indeed it does.Matthews has gone to a bad place.
@ theoutsider:
Happy New Year! Let’s hope it goes well.
buzzsawmonkey wrote:
Sad, but true.
Hagel and Buchanan look like two nasty guys.
Carolina Girl wrote:
When she eventually descends into a drug- or booze-induced downward spiral, will she be paroled to a Hathaway house?
Carolina Girl wrote:
Did you read abut her major wardrobe malfunction the other week? Seems she does not believe in wearing anything underneath her dress.
Iron Fist wrote:
Quite concur!
Kanye West announces he is expecting first child with girl friend Kim Kardashian I am sure the publicity hound Kris Jenner is thrilled.
In downtown S.F., almost every Starbucks and Peet’s Coffee is closed. Yet I am here.
Why?
Speranza wrote:
I have only the vaguest idea who any of those people are. I doubt that I could pick any of them out of a lineup.
//And that’s a good thing, as Martha Stewart would say…
@ Speranza:
Yes indeed. It goes completely with her not having anything between her ears.
Carolina Girl wrote:
LOL! I have no idea who Anne Hatahaway is. I keep thinking of Milburn Driesdale’s secretary from The Beverly Hillbillys, when she is brought up here.
@ citizen_q:
And that would be Jane Hathaway.
Carolina Girl wrote:
It’s perco-later than you think…
@ lobo91:
I’m in the same boat.
theoutsider wrote:
Hey, we voted for a great big government, lets pay for it, taxes actually need to be a little higher than if we simply let all of Bush’s tax cuts expire.
Let’s add a national sales tax to balance the budget!
Carolina Girl wrote:
She did look pretty good in that Catwoman costume, though.
citizen_q wrote:
I do know who Anne Hathaway is, though. While I’m not interested in getting political advice from her, she’s at least famous for actually doing something.
I have no earthly idea why Kim Kardashian is famous.
@ lobo91:
The only difference between Kim Kardashian and a common street whore is price.
MacDuff wrote:
I think you mean, “marketing.”
lobo91 wrote:
For the same reason Barack Obama is president.
MacDuff wrote:
Massive voter fraud?
New thread.
lobo91 wrote:
Kim is famous for a video of her getting screwed by a black guy, Obama is a black guy famous for screwing us all.
lobo91 wrote:
Tits and ass.
Carolina Girl wrote:
Closing at 3 PM today, what about you?
Carolina Girl wrote:
She’s a Brooklyn girl.
Rodan wrote:
If you want conservative news, look on YouTube for Canada’s Sun News. They cover US issues too.
What surprises me is that, despite his many flaws, Pat Buchanan did support the Serbs. But now, he’s endorsing Chuck Hagel, an enemy of the Serbs.
citizen_q wrote:
aka former NJ Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
lobo91 wrote:
Mama Jenner is a driven moneymaker.
I can’t say that I necessarily like their product, but a LOT of people do, and I can’t begrudge the success.
@ 1389AD:
They are united by their hatred of Jews.
@ Speranza:
I had heard she had gotten into politics.
citizen_q wrote:
She was the ultimate RINO.
Speranza wrote:
Somebody said to her, “don’t give me any lip,” and she said, “I’m not going to let you tell me what to do.”
@ Speranza:
I had not followed her past enjoying the TV show when I was kid.
It is funny in a way, in the TV show she used to go bird watching in a funny Boy Scout type uniform, and NJ is a very important state for bird watching.
citizen_q wrote:
Wally Cox was in that episode.
citizen_q wrote:
The actress Nancy Culp who played Jane Hathaway got into politics and failed to win a congressional seat.
Speranza wrote:
Greta isn’t a lesbian. *shakes head* She’s married.
Lily wrote:
I was referring to Maddow. I forgot he was referring to Greta.
@ Speranza:
Okay. Just trying to keep the record straight. (So to speak..LOL!)
Groan
Komrade zero to demagogue at 1:30om Eastern.
Lily wrote:
But she is a scientologist.
citizen_q wrote:
Television is off. Ancient Faith Radio is on. Highly recommended!