Thursday, September 4, 2008

RNC flashback: Pat Buchanan, 1992

From the moment Sarah Palin was chosen as John McCain’s running mate, her biggest booster on television has been MSNBC commentator Patrick J. Buchanan.

To understand why, never mind that Palin supported Buchanan in one of his own previous runs for the presidency.

Go straight back to Pugnacious Pat’s address to the Republican National Convention 16 years ago. Buchanan famously talked about a “cultural war” taking place in America. He also called it a “religious war.”

Buchanan articulated the same us-vs.-them politics we heard from Sarah Palin’s lips last night. In the “struggle for the soul of America,” Buchanan proclaimed, Democrat Bill Clinton is “on the other side, and George Bush is on our side.”

McCain – that across-the-aisle-reaching “maverick” – has now structured his offense around the old right-wing Republican playbook.

I’m streaming a 4-minute excerpt of Buchanan’s 1992 “culture war” speech on my Vox blog. Click here to hear it.

To get the entire speech, follow this link to AmericanRhetoric.com.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pat better, " don't go where the huskies go, watch out for that yellow snow!" ...

... cause I heard he told Sarah

..."dynamo hum, dynamo hum,...gotta 2 dollar bill, betcha I can ..."

Anonymous said...

Perfect timing with this video, UBM. Just the other night, Rachel Maddow referenced this speech while on the MSNBC panel at the RNC. She used it to contrast the two conventions, as well as noting the impact it had on her 16 years ago.

Undercover Black Man said...

^ Dang, I missed her talking about it. This speech radicalized her, I suppose? There's been nothing said at this RNC to compare to Pat's smackdown of gays in this '92 speech.

Anonymous said...

Rachel said she was 19 at the time and wasn't really into politic, but this speech captured her attention and pushed her to examine the various issues it brought up. Although nothing as extreme was said at this last RNC. I think she mentioned it to emphasize the significant sociological differences between the two parties

Destruction said...

fishesalot,

"That's right folks....Don't touch that dial...."

Anonymous said...

Also, Buchanana had a black female, Ezola Broussard Foster, as his running mate in his 2000 run.

Anonymous said...

UBM - I see an eccentric blackness post on Foster. She goes past conservative into Crazy Town.