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That's a pretty big stretch of the term "guest" by Scarborough.  That's David Shuster, one of MSNBC's reporters.  I'm a little impressed Shuster didn't pound him into dust right on the air (which is basically the only way they're ever going to get me to watch Morning Joe).

I have no idea why Scarborough's still on television.  They've changed his time slot about eighty times now, and his ratings always blow.  He should go back to Congress.  Really, he was the perfect representative for the white trash constituency in NW Florida.

But alcoholic Mormonista Glenn Beck's ratings also blow, and he's still on the air at Headline News.

And Pat Buchanan, who is literally an old Nazi sympathizer and architect of Nixon's Southern Strategy, is still on television, although he doesn't have a show anymore.  But at least Pat's balanced out by Rachel on the panels.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin

by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 01:44:05 PM EST
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Buchanan at least has a sense of humor about himself and a willingness to make rather brutally honest evaluations of his own party.  I find that hosts or "guests" who filibuster others quickly make the program unwatchable, but for the mute button, without which the commercials alone would make most programs unwatchable.

For the panel shows I would like to see the host equipped with a little control which has a mute for each guest, along with a directive to only allow one at a time to comment.  If others want to filibuster an ideological opponent, let them do it without being directly miced. In the case of Chris Mathews, they should give  mute buttons for Chris to the other panelists.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 02:37:32 PM EST
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Buchanan actually believes the US is being invaded by Mexicans.  There's nothing funny about him, and his laugh merely serves to hide what a pathetic excuse for a human being he is and has always been.  That he's allowed within fifty yards of a tv camera says a great deal about the value of the news media in this country.

Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
by Drew J Jones (myfriends@thisispancakes.com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 03:25:50 PM EST
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But his 'brutally honest evaluations of his own party' are rooted in his racism. Le Pen is capable of 'brutally honest' evaluations of Sarkozy, and Chirac before him. Doesn't mean that one should cite Le Pen as an authority, or admire him.
by MarekNYC on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 03:31:26 PM EST
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On immigration and the southern strategy I agree.  But tell me how that enters into his condemnation of Scheunemman and the McCain campaign over Georgia.  How does that discredit his comments for McCain supporters?  If he provides ammunition in their terms and uses it against them, how does that hurt Democrats?  Geez, even when an opponent says something helpful to you, you discredit it on ad homenus grounds?

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 08:24:33 PM EST
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Because he is very probably antisemitic as well. For the left the charges that racism is at the root of their opposition to the neocon policies are almost always groundless. For the hard right it's a different story.

A second reason is that even if that weren't the case, I do not want to give scum like Buchanan any credibility. Just like I wouldn't approvingly cite the Daniel Pipes of the world even if they happened to say something I agreed with. I want racists thoroughly marginalized.

by MarekNYC on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 08:52:52 PM EST
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It is not necessary to approve of the person or what he stands for in order to use his statements for your benefit.  I know that those who were born after, say 1965, would really like to fast forward past all of the nastiness of the "culture war" creation of the right wing.  So would I.  It is total bullshit.  But it has been effective.  Buchanan was there at the creation of this noxious meme.  To use him to undermine one of the great pillars of the neo-cons is highly appropriate from my point of view.

If you get sprayed with shit, you don't slink off and hide in shame!  You take a shower, change your clothes and get back in the fight.  It is not a question of whether the means justify the ends.  Could one have cited a Nazi to bring down Hitler in 1934, regardless of how vile that Nazi was, and one refused to do so because they feared legitimizing that person, what would be the moral content of that decision?  Means are only justifiable in terms of the ends they produce.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 09:08:55 PM EST
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So basically you think it makes sense to use the neocons against the Buchanans and vice versa?
by MarekNYC on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 09:22:46 PM EST
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Why not?  Is it immoral to seize on divisions within the enemy camp?  

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 09:53:36 PM EST
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His party? I thought he had left the Republican party. He ran in 2000 as an  independent (Reform Party?), thus unintentionally helping Bush become president.
by gk (g k quattro due due sette "at" gmail.com) on Tue Aug 26th, 2008 at 06:34:53 PM EST
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In the case of Chris Mathews, they should give  mute buttons for Chris to the other panelists.

lol! yup, there's an apple that rolled uphill from the tree...

~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Aug 27th, 2008 at 01:31:48 PM EST
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