Pat Buchanan Quotes (1938-)

“For whose benefit these endless wars in a region that holds nothing vital to America, - save oil, which the Arabs must sell us to survive - ? Who would benefit from a war of civilizations between the West and Islam? Answer: one nation, one leader, one party. Israel, Sharon, Likud. What these neoconservatives seek is to conscript American blood to make the world safe for Israel. They want the peace of the sword imposed on Islam and American soldiers to die if necessary to impose it.”

“Like Thelma and Louise, Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff. And we are in the back seat.”

“Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free.”

“The Second Cold War, begun when we moved NATO to Russia's borders and helped dump over a pro-Russian regime in Kiev, is getting colder.”

“We are not hated for who we are. We are hated for what we do. It is not our principles that have spawned pandemic hatred of America in the Islamic world. It is our policies.”

“This struggle to preserve the old creeds, cultures, and countries of the West is the new divide between Left and Right; this struggle will define what it means to be a conservative. This is the cause of the twenty-first century and the agenda of conservatism for the remainder of our lives.”

“Israel is in an existential crisis. It can wall itself off and annex what it wants on the West Bank, and leave Palestinians in tiny truncated, nonviable bantustans that will become the spawning pools of terror. Or it can give the Palestinians what Oslo, Camp David, Taba and the 'roadmap' promised; a homeland, a nation and a state of their own. Israel is free to choose.”

“William Mark Felt was a traitor to Nixon and America! What he did caused 53,000 American soldiers to die for nothing in Vietnam!”

“Trump is sui generis, unlike any candidate of recent times. And his success is attributable not only to his stance on issues, but to his persona, his defiance of political correctness, his relish of political combat with all comers, his "damn the torpedos" charging in frontally where others refuse to tread...”

“Where will President Bush go after Baghdad? If he seeks to pressure Israel into what the Israeli Right and the War Party think are premature and foolish negotiations, he will court a savage backlash in an election year, and fail. If he embraces the Sharon Doctrine and puts military pressure on Syria and Iran, he will do so without Tony Blair, without NATO and without U.N. backing, and he will be seen worldwide as 'the leader of a rogue superpower.'”

“Speaking of the seven-week war in Ukraine ignited by Vladimir Putin, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is warning us to expect a war that lasts for years. “I do think this is a very protracted conflict … measured in years,” Milley told Congress. “I don’t know about a decade, but at least years, for sure.” As our first response, said Milley, we should build more military bases in Eastern Europe and begin to rotate U.S. troops in and out.”

“In the wake of Jean-Marie Le Pen's capture of 17 percent of the vote in the first round of France's presidential election, the French Establishment, too, has shown great tolerance for fascist tactics in resisting any rebirth of the European Right. ... Though Le Pen has made radical and foolish statements, there is no evidence he is a Nazi. His hero is not Hitler but Joan of Arc, and he and his National Front have accepted defeat in every election they have lost. No, Le Pen is hated and feared not just for who he is, but for the issues he has raised. … As it is often the criminal himself who is first to cry, "Thief!" so it is usually those who scream, "Fascist!" loudest who are the quickest to resort to anti-democratic tactics. Today, the greatest threat to the freedom and independence of the nations of Europe comes not from Le Pen and that 17 percent of French men and women who voted for him. It comes from an intolerant European Establishment that will accept no rollback of its powers or privileges, nor any reversal of policies it deems "progressive."”

“Patrick Buchanan, for one, claims that his views represent the true faith of the American right. He wants to drive the neocon infidels from the temple (or, more accurately, from the church). Unfortunately for Mr. Buchanan, his version of conservatism--nativist, protectionist, Isolationist--attracts few followers, as evidenced by his poor showings in Republican presidential primaries and the scant influence of his inaptly named magazine, the American Conservative. Buchananism isn't American conservatism as we understand it today. It's paleoconservatism, a poisonous brew that was last popular when Father Charles Coughlin, not Rush Limbaugh, was the leading conservative broadcaster in America. ... Pretty much all conservatives today agree on the need for a strong, vigorous foreign policy. There is no constituency for isolationism on the right, outside the Buchananite fever swamps.”

“I find it impossible to defend Pat Buchanan against the charge that what he did and said during the period under examination amounted to anti-Semitism. If you ask, do I think Pat Buchanan is an anti-Semite, my answer is he is not one. But I think he's said some anti-Semitic things”

“Buchanan had never held elective office, but he'd worked as an advisor in both the Nixon and Reagan administrations, and was an outspoken pundit on the far right of American politics, with regular appearances on PBS, CNN, and his own syndicated radio show. He was a principal architect of the "southern strategy," which he'd laid out in a 1971 memo to President Nixon, whereby the Republican Party captured white Democratic voters in the South by appealing to their racism. In a 1993 column, Buchanan wrote, "How long is this endless groveling before every cry of 'racism' going to continue before the whole country collectively throws up?"”

“Many people did not care for Pat Buchanan's speech; it probably sounded better in the original German.”

“It wasn’t as much what Buchanan had said as how he said it. Others had taken similar positions before: protectionism; putting the American workers first; cultural conservatism. None of these were particularly objectionable, even in combination. But to dub political disagreements as a war, to imply that those on the other side were an enemy to be defeated, was a bridge too far. It’s 1992! How could we be having this conversation? The Cold War had ended, and it had given way to a New World Order. America was supposed to be a “kinder, gentler” nation. Everyone knew that it was time to melt down the knives and put the pitchforks away. “Everyone,” that is, except for those completely outside the mainstream of political discourse.”

“The post-1972 primary system was especially vulnerable to a particular kind of outsider: individuals with enough fame or money to skip the “invisible primary.” In other words, celebrities. Although conservative outsiders Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan, and Steve Forbes did not manage to overcome the effects of the invisible primary during the 1980s and 1990s, their relative success provided clues into how it might be done. Forbes, an extraordinarily wealthy businessman, was able to buy name recognition, while Robertson, a televangelist who founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Buchanan, a television commentator (and early Republican proponent of white nationalism), were both colorful figures with special media access. Although none of them won the nomination, they used massive wealth and celebrity status to become contenders.”

“The Reagan White House also harbored the former Nixon aide Pat Buchanan as its communications director. Buchanan's politics were rooted in the 1930s America First isolationism of Charles A. Lindbergh and the diatribes of the right-wing "radio priest" Father Charles Coughlin, with their eccentric fixations on imaginary Jewish internationalist cabals. In the waning days of Reagan’s presidency, Buchanan remarked that "the greatest vacuum in American politics is to the right of Ronald Reagan."”

“[On his attempts to run for president] All those efforts failed, but their stark themes of isolationism, lost national greatness, immigrant invasion, and racial fear provided a template for Donald Trump’s MAGA campaign a quarter-century later. "American carnage" was the favored far-right image at least two decades before Trump. Meanwhile, a step away from Buchanan—how distant a step has long been subject to debate—an assortment of antisemitic and white nationalist organizations remained on the political fringes during the Reagan period.”

“ I congratulate you on your victory. From the cosmopolitan United States of America we have finally heard the voice of a patriotic leader. Your slogans are close to our hearts, especially the words "America for Americans." Your goals are noble. Mr. Buchanan! Both of us are free-spirited and independent politicians. I congratulate you as a brother in arms in the struggle for national liberation. Today in our press both the democrats and the communists are whining about politicians like us, which again confirms that democrats and communists in all countries are enemies of the people. Because of this, the slogan "Patriots of all countries, unite!" is more relevant than ever. You call Congress "Israeli-occupied territory." We have the same situation here in Russia. The USA and Russia are not free countries. They are two great powers, but they are occupied. Therefore, in order to survive, we should set aside territory in both the US and Russia for the settlement of this bothersome tribe. I sincerely wish you victory in the upcoming presidential elections and I hope you can realize your slogans, and especially your policy of protectionism. If both of us come to power, I promise you that we will be able to resolve all our troublesome problems for the good of both nations. In the shortest possible time we will end fighting in the Balkans and untangle the problems in the Middle East. We will establish a strong peace throughout the whole world, and we won't let anyone violate it.”