Pat Buchanan calls Kucinich "a friend of mine"

[anti-NAFTA]

Pat Buchanan speaks favorably of Kucinich.

Watch MSNBC's preview now. Buchanan is on.

[Dying Eagle]

1. Uhhhh

I don't even know what to say. They couldn't be any farther apart then they are??

[anti-NAFTA]

2. both are populists

against trade.

both antiwar.

and those are the two burning issues of the election. two issues Kerry stands side by side with Curious George.

[lcordero]

10. not necessarily against trade but against free trade

[Taeger]

16. What STRANGE bedfellows ...

Politics makes for STRANGE bedfellows.

Personally, I respect Pat Buchanan because he's honest.

[Exultant Democracy]

6. From what I heard

people who know Pat both liberal and conservative find him to be a charming fellow.

[teach1st]

3. re Buchanan calls Kucinich "a friend of mine"

Did I miss something? Has Earth's rotation reversed? Is there a tear in the fabric of time and space?

I'm liking Buchanan more and more lately.

[Tweed]

4. Apparently there is some truth to this

When someone asked the Democrats who they admire the most from the right, Kucinich said Pat Buchanan. I didn't know they were friends though.

[mountainvue]

5. Buchanan

has been in a snit over Bush and his freespending ways for a while now. But this has me mystified.

[TennesseeWalker]

11. People should pay more attention to Pat.

He's been blasting Bush since the Iraq rumblings started, and has vociferously criticized him in the pages of his "American Conservative" magazine. He even proposed a strategic alliance of the Old Left and the Old Right to fight neocons and DINOs.

I've read a lot of his stuff. The immigration issue, trade and war are issues that really drive him up the wall. I respect him as a thinker, even if I don't agree with everything he says all the time. He cares about the same America that we do, and we should embrace his supporters and defeat George Bush in 2004.

[Taeger]

17. out with the new...

Back to the Paleos. They were honest. You knew who stood for what. I'm tired of these new Democrats. Buchanan HATES these "compassionate conservatives".

Personally, I think the answer is a string of regional parties. They would target house and Senate races among the free-traders and take whatever other views will get them elected in that district. After we've eliminated free trade, we can go back to hating each other ;-)

[TennesseeWalker]

23. "The Alliance to Save America"

I'm with you, buddy. Wish the General was still in the race, by the way.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

26. removed

[hippiechick]

7. Greens and Libertarians have alot in common ....

I've said it a bunch of times - they have a lot of policy stances in common, they just arrive at them from distinctly opposite sides of the fence.


:hippie:

[anti-NAFTA]

12. Pat Buchanan is not a libertarian

He is as far to the right as you can get. He calls it the "Old Right". Its basically a protectionist hard-conservative platform.

Kucinich isn't a Green. He's a Democrat.

[hippiechick]

18. And your point is what ?

:eyes:

Kucinich represents the 'far left' of the Democratic party which appeals to alot of Greens, Buchanan ran to the 'far right' of the GOP, which appeals to alot of Libs.

My point is that the far extremes of the 'mainstream' actually have more in common than not, and that the 'centers' of the party are more different from their 'wings'.


:hippie:

[lcordero]

8. Pat Buchanan isn't happy about the war.

Dennis Kucinich isn't happy about the war.
Pat Buchanan isn't happy about free trade.
Dennis Kucinich isn't happy about free trade.

[NV1962]

9. Doesn't surprise me much

Pat Buchanan and myself are opposite on many, many issues - but I'll grant Pat Buchanan recognition of his integrity and consistency.

Let's not forget -- for one example -- how he spoke out, without prompting, during the Florida Fracas on the "Jewish votes."

Just as with John McCain, I'd be happy to find ways to "do business" with him - as much as I dislike his political agenda, he's a straight shooter.

I have no idea what type of person he is privately, but if he's capable of separating political outlook from character, I see no problem or conflict in establishing a friendly relationship with, say, Dennis Kucinich.

He's honest enough to admit who he can "do business with" as well. Good for him.

Now, let's find ways to engage his contribution in our campaign to defeat Bush!

[Mairead]

13. It doesn't surprise me really

Kucinich specifically mentioned, during his Q&A at the Afghani restaurant in Oakland in early November (great Q&A, listen to it if you can!) that he doesn't see the point in bad-mouthing people, even if he totally disagrees with them politically.

My sense is that DK is someone who respects and can even, on some level, like people who are honestly whatever they are. And Buchanan, like Ron Paul, seems to be an honest man. We might be appalled by his fascist racism and other -isms, but at least he's apparently not being a bastard because of a poll that told him 'bastard' is the flavor of the month!

So I can also see how it could work in reverse, too, where Buchanan thinks well of DK not for his inclusiveness, but for his honesty and the way DK unashamedly puts USAian working people first in his economic policies.

[robertpaulsen]

14. There have been stranger alliances

I'm pretty sure Paul Wellstone and Jesse Helms were on friendly terms after the anti-Red China slave labor legislation they forged together.

[Dying Eagle]

15. yeah

The Fiengold/McCain bill is a good example too

[5thGenDemocrat]

20. And Ted Kennedy and Orrin Hatch are friends as well

Go figure.
John
Hey, I've known (and liked) Andy the Right Wing Republican for ten years now. We drink beer by the 12-pack (he buys the vast majority of it, BTW) and argue about politics. He calls me a Commie and I call him a Nazi (on some level, we both mean it too), but I'd be sad if it was any other way.
He let Davsand drive his way-cool 1993 Camaro at FUNDAY last year. He's a great guy, even if his politics are slightly to the right of Alley Oop. I walked into the house during last year's soiree, and there were three DUers having a verbal, political skirmish with my main mossback. It looked like a North Korean interrogation and Andy, quite honestly, was holding his own just fine.
I think I'd like to drain a case with Pat Buchanan, too. He could take us on ten at a time. Maybe I'll invite him this year.

[Renew Deal]

19. Real liberals and real conservatives stand for something

They don't just yell at each other.

[Deb]

21. Thank you

I wish more people understood that.

[Tinoire]

24. They're also the only ones who look at the details anymore

and can you believe that I got that line from Free Republic? Seriously! They were giving the extreme Left credit for looking at the details... Said only both extremes did it anymore. I totally agree.

[bushwakker]

22. Both strongly against NAFTA

[LWolf]

25. He wasn't too happy with him Sunday night.

Publicly chastised him on MSNBC's post debate coverage for saying that the president lied.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

27. Pat is a culture war (read: GAY)baiting xenophobe, but

he is extremely consistent in most of his positions.

He is FIRMLY against the Iraq invasion and FIRMLY anti-neocon, Wolfowitz etc. There are many EXCELLENT antiwar articles on his American Conservative Magazine (online).

Example of gaybaiting Pat (this speech @ Repub convention in Houston '92 helped Clinton win by scaring the crap out of moderates):

http://www.buchanan.org/pa-92-0817-rnc.html


Excellent article by antiwar Pat about Perle/Frum's book (and, by extension, a critique of the whole neocoon philosophy of perpetual war):

http://amconmag.com/3_1_04/cover.html

I LIKE that he identifies the essential fallacy of the "War on Terror" that can NEVER be won/completed by DEFINITION. I never hear anyone intelligent in the media talking about this. Likewise the ridiculousness of the notion that American can cause an end to evil, his writing is very eloquent on this point. Weird that some of the best critiques of the Iraq Invasion I've read come from ol' Pat.

[bhunt70]

Very plausible.

Seems like only the new neo-cons are the ones who don't play nice. The short amount of time I worked on the Hill, and all the time I spent there when my mom worked there, I was always surprised to see many republicans and democrats "fraternizing" together, eating lunch, and just in general being buddy-buddy with each other.

I think only since the "contract with america" did things become as polarized as I had previously assumed them to be.

[bhunt70]

28. duplicate

deleted.