Pat Buchanan: ‘Militant gays’ try to take me off air
US political commentator Pat Buchanan has said “militant gay rights groups” and “people of colour” have been trying to take him off TV for “years and years and years”.
The comments follow his absence from network MSNBC, which many attribute to the publication of his book ‘Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?’.
The book intends to answer the question of what happened to the America of the past in a racially diverse present and future.
At one point, Buchanan says the rise of diversity in the US means white people “may discover what it is like to ride in the back of the bus”.
In addition to discussions on the role of faith in a modern society, Buchanan questions whether the divisions between people of different politics and religions were smaller during forced segregation of races.
He writes that in the past: “Black and white lived apart, went to different schools and churches, played on different playgrounds, and went to different restaurants, bars, theaters, and soda fountains. But we shared a country and a culture. We were one nation. We were Americans.”
Buchanan, appearing on the Hugh Hewitt Show, a radio talk programme, said his absence from the screen since October 2011 had been due to health issues.
Buchanan, referring to himself in the third person, said: “Look, for a long period of time the hard left, militant gay rights groups, militant — they call themselves civil rights groups, but I’m not sure they’re concerned about civil rights — people of color, Van Jones, these folks and others have been out to get Pat Buchanan off TV, deny him speeches, get his column cancelled.
“This has been done for years and years and years, and it’s the usual suspects doing the same thing again, but my view is you write what you believe to be the truth, especially if you believe it is vitally important to the country I love and the country that’s so good to me.”
Aaron McQuade, Director of News and Field Media at GLAAD, wrote yesterday that “just as Pat writes what he believes to be the truth […] so do those of us who believe that divisive and discriminatory voices like his have no place in rational discussions about the issues facing our country.”
He suggests that rather than being blamed, “supporters of rational dialogue who had a hand in pressuring MSNBC to remove Buchanan from MSNBC should be given credit for improving the tenor of our national discourse.”
