Media: Pat Buchanan’s Anti-Gay Bigotry Is Bigger Than Pat Buchanan
Putting people like Pat Buchanan on television legitimizes their hateful worldview and make it much easier for like-minded bigots to find wider social acceptance.
I’m not sure why exactly Pat Buchanan has managed to last so long on MSNBC. I suppose it’s partly because he’s viewed like something of an asshole vaccine — a weakened and inert strain of paranoid Conservative used to help inoculate progressives for encounters with stronger, more dangerous parasites. Somehow over time Pat Buchanan had devolved from rabid right wing warrior, into a rumpled, cartoonish figure whose misguided and bizarre ramblings were easily ignored.
To be honest, I had pretty much forgotten about him. I can’t keep my eye on every wacko who’s given national stage time, and old Pat seemed harmless enough. Perhaps age had even mellowed him a little. Original Recipe Pat Buchanan was prone to Holocaust Denial, or outright racism. Older, wiser, Pat Buchanan could be counted on to write entire books attacking the Neocons. Rachel Maddow calls him “Uncle Pat.” He can’t be that bad, right? Let’s take a look at an excerpt from his new book, as reported by our own David Badash:
In the name of equality, the Supreme Court has declared the practice of homosexuality to be a constitutional right. Vaughn Walker, a gay federal judge in San Francisco, has ruled that same-​sex marriage is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Can anyone believe this absurd notion of equality was intended by or written into the constitution by the Congress that produced the 14th Amendment? Although gay marriage has been rejected in 31 states in referenda, judges continue to declare that such unions be treated as marriages. An idea of equality rejected democratically by voters is being imposed dictatorially. In December 2010, a repudiated liberal Congress imposed its San Francisco values on the Armed Forces, by ordering homosexuals admitted to all branches of the service. Indoctrination of recruits, soldiers, and officers into an acceptance of the gay lifestyle will transfer authority over the military, the most respected institution in America, to agents of a deeply-​resented and widely detested managerial state.
Well, screw you Pat Buchanan. I know one washed up political hack who is officially off my Christmas Card list.
That is classic, 100% USDA Prime anti-gay hate speech. It is also pretty tame for Pat. Here is something he said in an article he wrote for the New York Post back in 1983 about how hilariously ironic he found the AIDS epidemic:
The poor homosexuals — they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is exacting an awful retribution.
Think Progress points out this good example of Pat Buchanan’s love for the gay community, as described by Randy Shilts in his book, And The Band Played On:
Buchanan concluded by saying no homosexual should be permitted to handle food and that the Democratic party’s decision to hold their next convention in San Francisco would leave delegates’ spouses and children at the mercy of “homosexuals who belong to a community that is a common carrier of dangerous, communicable and sometimes fatal diseases.”
With his new book, Pat Buchanan seems to be saying to the world, “Hey guys, Remember how horrible I used to be? Well I’m back, bitches!â€
Pat has earned his place alongside the many other prominent homophobes of our day. He is a pioneer in modern anti-gay hate speech, and if he wants to claim that mantle with pride, I’m not here to stop him. He has every right to be a miserable bastard.
The problem isn’t Pat Buchanan. There are now, and will always be, plenty of bigots. Don’t get me wrong, Pat Buchanan is a horrible, horrible person, who believes awful, terrible things. It’s just that Americans, as a culture, do not find his views all that objectionable.
The simple fact of the matter is that in large and varied sections of society, it is perfectly acceptable to hate gay people. While this is changing, and the basic, undeniable humanity of LBGT people is becoming increasingly apparent to even the most apathetic of citizens, the issue of our equality continues to offer countless opportunities for friction. Of course, as the human boll weevils that people the 24 hour cable news landscape can only survive in a world where every single issue on the planet has two equally valid sides, they must give air time to every hate-filled pile of excrement that has some ax to grind with the gay community.
Let’s be clear about one thing: Pat Buchanan is paid by MSNBC to hate gay people. That’s his job. Granted, he’s employed to hate all kinds of other people too, but his history of incendiary rhetoric regarding social issues is a big part of his resume. While I respect and appreciate the effort to get Pat Buchanan fired, honestly, I can’t really see why MSNBC would capitulate. He is doing exactly what they’ve paid him to do. They didn’t hire Pat Buchanan because he’s a hoot at the office Christmas Party, they hired him because he’s been a prominent member of the far right for 40 some odd years, and is guaranteed to stir things up.
This is the only reason why anyone ever hires Pat Buchanan. He got his start working in organized crime, or if you prefer, the Nixon White House. They called him “Mr. Inside†because his job was primarily to write speeches that would communicate directly to the psycho, nougaty center of the Republican Party. He did essentially the same thing for both Ford and Reagan, and has been a professional bigot ever since. It’s not like that history is a secret. He ran for president three times on this platform. He was put on television to be Pat Buchanan.
When does this stop? When do we get our tipping point? If we ask nicely, can we be declassified as a political football? When you put people like Pat Buchanan on television, you legitimize their hateful worldview and make it much easier for like-minded bigots to find wider social acceptance.
Cable news loves these people for the same reason that Morton Downey, Jr. liked to put KKK members and Black Panthers on stage together. They are guaranteed to fight, and a good brawl always makes for good television.
Look at Tony Perkins, Grand Wizard of the Family Research Council, certified hate group and all around anti-gay fun factory. If you go to his website, and I encourage you not to bother, they have posted about 75 appearances this man has made on major cable news programs, and those only represent the occasions they have deemed acceptable enough to consider appropriate marketing material. As of this writing, the most recent appearance is on, you guessed it, MSNBC. This makes Tony Perkins another in their stable of paid bigots. Even if he doesn’t draw an actual appearance fee, he gets a little bit more time to promote his website, or books, or crude chalk drawings, or whatever media he expects his supporters to consume.
Ever notice that there are no out and out racists on television? They exist, to be sure, but you never see them debating Cornel West on Hardball. Ever wonder why? Because being a racist in public is completely unacceptable. You are not allowed to both be openly racist, and participate in polite society. It simply isn’t done. How do we get this deal in the LGBT community? Is there a certain amount of hardship we must endure before we stop letting anti-gay bigots participate in civilized public discourse?
Just this week we have seen hate crimes involving this openly gay bartender, who was beaten and then set on fire, and this gay school kid, who was stalked and then beaten by his homophobic tormentor, in public, while everyone around him did nothing. The violent criminal who administered this hate based beat-down did get a whopping three day suspension, so that’s justice? Right? Anyone? No?
And I’m not even warmed up.
I’ve got another hate crime involving someone setting a homosexual on fire, as well as three separate attacks on gay people living in West Hollywood, CA. All in the last 10 days or so.
Should we bring the guys who lit the match on MSNBC to chat about the importance of Family Values? It might make for good ratings. I suppose we can just let Tony Perkins or Pat Buchanan make the case for why it’s OK to dehumanize and torment homosexuals. You’ve got them on TV fifteen times a day anyway, and who cares if it helps perpetuate the hatred and violence directed toward our community. Why should that matter when we have so much commercial air time to sell?
Yes, Pat Buchanan should be fired. And Tony Perkins should be ridden out of town on a rail. Give me the petition and I’ll sign it. I just don’t want to lose focus on the larger issue. What we really need is a blanket agreement, as a culture, that we will not tolerate anti-gay bigotry, and that we will certainly not put those who fuel these fires on television so they can continue to try and make things worse.
Benjamin Phillips is a Humor Writer, Web Developer, Civics Nerd, and all around crank that spends entirely too much time shouting with deep exasperation at the television, especially whenever cable news is on. He lives in St. Louis, MO and spends most of his time staring at various LCD screens, occasionally taking walks in the park whenever his boyfriend becomes sufficiently convinced that Benjamin is becoming a reclusive hermit person. He is available for children’s parties, provided that those children are entertained by hearing a complete windbag talk for two hours about the importance of science education, or worse yet, poorly researched anecdotes PROVING that James Buchanan was totally gay. If civilization were to collapse due to zombie hoards or nuclear holocaust, Benjamin would be among the first to die as he has no useful skills of any kind. The post-apocalyptic hellscape has no real need for homosexual computer programmers who can name all the presidents in order, as well as the actors who have played all eleven incarnations of Doctor Who.
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Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a top potential Trump vice presidential running mate pick, revealed in a forthcoming book she “hated” her 14-month old puppy and shot it to death. Massive online outrage ensued, including accusations of “animal cruelty” and “cold-blooded murder,” but the pro-life former member of Congress is defending her actions and bragging she had the media “gasping.”
“Cricket was a wirehair pointer, about 14 months old,” Noem writes in her soon-to-be released book, according to The Guardian which reports “the dog, a female, had an ‘aggressive personality’ and needed to be trained to be used for hunting pheasant.”
“By taking Cricket on a pheasant hunt with older dogs, Noem says, she hoped to calm the young dog down and begin to teach her how to behave. Unfortunately, Cricket ruined the hunt, going ‘out of her mind with excitement, chasing all those birds and having the time of her life’.”
“Then, on the way home after the hunt, as Noem stopped to talk to a local family, Cricket escaped Noem’s truck and attacked the family’s chickens, ‘grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another’.”
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“Cricket the untrainable dog, Noem writes, behaved like ‘a trained assassin’.”
Except Cricket wasn’t trained. Online several people with experience training dogs have said Noem did everything wrong.
“I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, calling the young girl pup “untrainable,” “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with,” and “less than worthless … as a hunting dog.”
“At that moment,” Noem wrote, “I realized I had to put her down.”
“It was not a pleasant job,” she added, “but it had to be done. And after it was over, I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done.”
The Guardian reports Noem went on that day to slaughter a goat that “smelled ‘disgusting, musky, rancid’ and ‘loved to chase’ Noem’s children, knocking them down and ruining their clothes.”
She dragged both animals separately into a gravel pit and shot them one at a time. The puppy died after one shell, but the goat took two.
On social media Noem expressed no regret, no sadness, no empathy for the animals others say did not need to die, and certainly did not need to die so cruelly.
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But she did use the opportunity to promote her book.
We love animals, but tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm. Sadly, we just had to put down 3 horses a few weeks ago that had been in our family for 25 years.
If you want more real, honest, and politically INcorrect stories that’ll have the media gasping,… pic.twitter.com/bKhpUkchHV
— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) April 26, 2024
Attorney and legal analyst Jeffrey Evan Gold says Governor Noem’s actions might have violated state law.
“You slaughtered a 14-month-old puppy because it wasn’t good at the ‘job’ you chose for it?” he asked. “SD § 40-1-2.3. ‘No person owning or responsible for the care of an animal may neglect, abandon, or mistreat the animal.'”
The Democratic National Committee released a statement saying, “Kristi Noem’s extreme record goes beyond bizarre rants about killing her pets – she also previously said a 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to carry out her pregnancy, does not support exceptions for rape or incest, and has threatened to throw pharmacists in jail for providing medication abortions.”
Former Trump White House Director of Strategic Communications Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a co-host on “The View” wrote, “There are countless organizations that re-home dogs from owners who are incapable of properly training and caring for them.”
The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson blasted the South Dakota governor.
“Kristi Noem is trash,” he began. “Decades with hunting- and bird-dogs, and the number I’ve killed because they were chicken-sharp or had too much prey drive is ZERO. Puppies need slow exposure to birds, and bird-scent.”
“She killed a puppy because she was lazy at training bird dogs, not because it was a bad dog,” he added. “Not every dog is for the field, but 99.9% of them are trainable or re-homeable. We have one now who was never going in the field, but I didn’t kill her. She’s sleeping on the couch. You down old dogs, hurt dogs, and sick dogs humanely, not by shooting them and tossing them in a gravel pit. Unsporting and deliberately cruel…but she wrote this to prove the cruelty is the point.”
Melissa Jo Peltier, a writer and producer of the “Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan” series, also heaped strong criticism on Noem.
“After 10+ years working with Cesar Millan & other highly specialized trainers, I believe NO dog should be put down just because they can’t or won’t do what we decide WE want them to,” Peltier said in a lengthy statement. “Dogs MUST be who they are. Sadly, that’s often who WE teach them to be. And our species is a hot mess. I would have happily taken Kristi Noem’s puppy & rehomed it. What she did is animal cruelty & cold blooded murder in my book.”
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President Joe Biden gave an nearly-unannounced, last-minute, live exclusive interview Friday morning to Howard Stern, the SiriusXM radio host who for decades, from the mid-1990s to about 2015, was a top Trump friend, fan, and aficionado. But the impetus behind the President’s move appears to be a rare and unsigned statement from the The New York Times Company, defending the “paper of record” after months of anger from the public over what some say is its biased negative coverage of the Biden presidency and, especially, a Thursday report by Politico claiming Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger is furious the President has refused to give the “Grey Lady” an in-person interview.
“The Times’ desire for a sit-down interview with Biden by the newspaper’s White House team is no secret around the West Wing or within the D.C. bureau,” Politico reported. “Getting the president on the record with the paper of record is a top priority for publisher A.G. Sulzberger. So much so that last May, when Vice President Kamala Harris arrived at the newspaper’s midtown headquarters for an off-the-record meeting with around 40 Times journalists, Sulzberger devoted several minutes to asking her why Biden was still refusing to grant the paper — or any major newspaper — an interview.”
“In Sulzberger’s view,” Politico explained, “only an interview with a paper like the Times can verify that the 81-year-old Biden is still fit to hold the presidency.”
But it was this statement that made Politico’s scoop go viral.
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“’All these Biden people think that the problem is Peter Baker or whatever reporter they’re mad at that day,’ one Times journalist said. ‘It’s A.G. He’s the one who is pissed [that] Biden hasn’t done any interviews and quietly encourages all the tough reporting on his age.'”
Popular Information founder Judd Legum in March documented The New York Times’ (and other top papers’) obsession with Biden’s age after the Hur Report.
1. The media turned Robert Hur’s amateur assessment of Biden’s memory into a political crisis.
Collectively, the @washingtonpost, @nytimes, and @WSJ have run 66 articles quoting Hur: a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”
But when the transcript of the Biden interview… pic.twitter.com/cExzjuKeYz
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 14, 2024
Thursday evening the Times put out a “scorching” statement, as Politico later reported, not on the newspaper’s website but on the company’s corporate website, not addressing the Politico piece directly but calling it “troubling” that President Biden “has so actively and effectively avoided questions from independent journalists during his term.”
Media watchers and critics pushed back on the Times’ statement.
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“NYT issues an unprecedented statement slamming Biden for ‘actively and effectively avoid[ing] questions from independent journalists during his term’ and claiming it’s their ‘independence’ that Biden dislikes, when it’s actually that they’re dying to trip him up,” wrote media critic Dan Froomkin, editor of Press Watch.
Froomkin also pointed to a 2017 report from Poynter, a top journalism site published by The Poynter Institute, that pointed out the poor job the Times did of interviewing then-President Trump.
Incidentally, when the NYT got a chance to interview Trump, they went belly up. https://t.co/fW5kx5868d pic.twitter.com/LbrhfYMtqf
— Dan Froomkin (PressWatchers.org) (@froomkin) April 25, 2024
Others, including former Biden Deputy Secretary of State Brian McKeon, debunked the Times’ claim President Biden hasn’t given interviews to independent journalists by pointing to Biden’s interviews with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and a 20-minute sit-down interview with veteran journalist John Harwood for ProPublica.
Former Chicago Sun-Times editor Mark Jacob, now a media critic who publishes Stop the Presses, offered a more colorful take of Biden’s decision to go on Howard Stern.
This is the equivalent of putting a bag of dog poop on the New York Times’ doorstep and setting it on fire. https://t.co/RhGbHH9pU2
— Mark Jacob (@MarkJacob16) April 26, 2024
The Times itself just last month reported on a “wide-ranging interview” President Biden gave to The New Yorker.
Watch the video and read the social media posts above or at this link.
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Donald Trump’s Friday morning claim Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building is “heavily guarded” so his supporters cannot attend his trial was torched by a top CNN anchor. The ex-president, facing 34 felony charges in New York, had been urging his followers to show up and protest on the courthouse steps, but few have.
“I’m at the heavily guarded Courthouse. Security is that of Fort Knox, all so that MAGA will not be able to attend this trial, presided over by a highly conflicted pawn of the Democrat Party. It is a sight to behold! Getting ready to do my Courthouse presser. Two minutes!” Trump wrote Friday morning on his Truth Social account.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins supplied a different view.
“Again, the courthouse is open the public. The park outside, where a handful of his supporters have gathered on trials days, is easily accessible,” she wrote minutes after his post.
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Trump has tried to rile up his followers to come out and make a strong showing.
On Monday Trump urged his supporters to “rally behind MAGA” and “go out and peacefully protest” at courthouses across the country, while complaining that “people who truly LOVE our Country, and want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, are not allowed to ‘Peacefully Protest,’ and are rudely and systematically shut down and ushered off to far away ‘holding areas,’ essentially denying them their Constitutional Rights.”
On Wednesday Trump claimed, “The Courthouse area in Lower Manhattan is in a COMPLETE LOCKDOWN mode, not for reasons of safety, but because they don’t want any of the thousands of MAGA supporters to be present. If they did the same thing at Columbia, and other locations, there would be no problem with the protesters!”
After detailing several of his false claims about security measures prohibiting his followers from being able to show their support and protest, CNN published a fact-check on Wednesday:
“Trump’s claims are all false. The police have not turned away ‘thousands of people’ from the courthouse during his trial; only a handful of Trump supporters have shown up to demonstrate near the building,” CNN reported.
“And while there are various security measures in place in the area, including some street closures enforced by police officers and barricades, it’s not true that ‘for blocks you can’t get near this courthouse.’ In reality, the designated protest zone for the trial is at a park directly across the street from the courthouse – and, in addition, people are permitted to drive right up to the front of the courthouse and walk into the building, which remains open to the public. If people show up early enough in the morning, they can even get into the trial courtroom itself or the overflow room that shows near-live video of the proceedings.”
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President Hands Howard Stern Live Interview After NY Times Melts Down Over Biden Brush-Off
CNN Smacks Down Trump Rant Courthouse So ‘Heavily Guarded’ MAGA Cannot Attend His Trial
Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’
Noem Defends Shooting Her 14-Month Old Puppy to Death, Brags She Has Media ‘Gasping’
President Hands Howard Stern Live Interview After NY Times Melts Down Over Biden Brush-Off
CNN Smacks Down Trump Rant Courthouse So ‘Heavily Guarded’ MAGA Cannot Attend His Trial
‘Assassination of Political Rivals as an Official Act’: AOC Warns Take Trump ‘Seriously’
Justices’ Views on Trump Immunity Stun Experts: ‘Watching the Constitution Be Rewritten’
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