Pat Buchanan Gets Smacked Down For Telling Guest To "Shut Up"
By Logan Murphy Wednesday Mar 12, 2008 8:38am
Wednesday on Live with Dan Abrams, MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan was on the set with Democratic strategist Keli Goff and Air America's Rachel Maddow to discuss the Geraldine Ferraro controversy. Buchanan has gotten a lot of face time on MSNBC during the primary season and it's quite obvious after watching this clip that he's in dire need of a vacation.
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Silent Patriot)
Buchanan, who took Ferraro's side, reiterated the ridiculous claim that Barack Obama's race is whats propelling his campaign and that the only reason he was allowed to give the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was because he was black. Goff took exception to that statement and as she was calling him out for it, things turned nasty and Buchanan lost his cool -- and paid a heavy price for it.
Buchanan:"In Iowa and New Hampshire, there aren't that many black folks. He skipped Michigan, the first big contest besides South Carolina -
Goff: "Because he's black?"
Buchanan:"HOLD IT!" [cross talk] Shut up for a second, please!"
Goff:"Excuse me, don't talk to me like that, Pat. That's inappropriate. [snip]
Maddow:"First of all I would just say, as a matter of procedure here, Pat, I've been on television with you a million times and I've never heard you tell anybody to shut up before. That was absolutely, completely ridiculous of you. Second of all, tell me about how the black vote explains Obama's win in Utah."
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Hey surprise! Pat's an asshole!
meanwhile, only 28 percent (of Americans) know that nearly 4,000 U.S. troops have died, 9In Iraq) and media coverage has plummeted, new poll shows
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23602987/
More shockingly, Geraldine Ferraro Now Claims Jackie Robinson Broke the Color Barrier Only Because He Was Black
I wonder what percentage of the white Republican voted for John McCain?
Yea, he should have said he was sorry, cause it was over rude. It wasn't his turn to speak, Abrams was telling Goff to speak and of course, white is right Patty B wasn't ready to let go of the floor. Ms. Maddow should have followed up the Utah question with one concerning all those black votes Senator Obama got in Wyoming. Pat almost choked on his Utah answer. Wyoming would have made his head explode.
Seems like Maddow handled this well - trying to diffuse the situation by getting back to the issue, and not ignoring what Pat said, while also not trying to shame Buchanan on the air.
Well played.
Oh, and Pat definitely is an asshole.
rats, that should read (in Iraq)
Pat needs a nap and a slap.
I thought it was rather cute that the old bigot looked so hang-dog about being scolded by his liberal friend. He does have a soul, somewhere in those jowels.
It certainly would have been nice to hear what that woman had to say. Telling her to shut up was redundant since he did not allow her to be heard in the first place.
Race matters. I will vote for Obama. Not because he is black. I am inspired by Obama because, in part, as a black man he
overcomes and transcends race...even though, in America, race continues to work against him. He overcomes it. He helps me
overcome it. He helps America overcome it.
It is not a shameful thing to say this and to understand it. It also follows that if he were not black, he might not be able to
do this so well.
I am ashamed when I see things like the fact that America has the highest percentage and highest numbers of people in
prison. That shame is magnified when you see the disparity between the percentages between black and white. I want
Obama to win and live up to our hopes on MANY fronts...one of those fronts is taking America forward and beyond race.
Sorry if this offends people.
Dan is to new at hosting a show to tell Pat to shut up. Dan can't even defend his own guest. Pat is a grumpy old man.
dr. dave @ 11:
Let me poll the members of the KKK who stop by and i will get back to you.
Rachel Maddow has no peer on cable. I'd gladly be a lesbian for a day to get with her.
Though I've been following this site for years, this is my first time commenting. This 'story' is pure knee-jerk garbage. I don't mean the Ferraro issue which is an important one. Pat telling a girl to 'shut up'... who cares? I don't agree with Pat's point of view, but that girl had it comming. He was quiet while she had her time to speak and then she repeadedly and rudely interupted him. He doesn't deserve a turn to speak?
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltaire
Pat is beginning to feel the earth shake under his feet. His sister, Bay, suffered humiliation when her golden boy, Romney went down in flames. Now Pat and his ilk have to make every 'Demoncrat' look bad. And now have to support their worst nightmare, McCain.
Y'know, I'm of the firm opinion that Ferraro (as part of the Clinton campaign strategy) is race-baiting, and it's despicable. I'm also no fan of Buchanan's.
BUT, the woman kept shouting over him while he was trying to make his point, and what she was shouting didn't make any more sense than what he was saying. Telling her to "shut up" was rude, but so was her yelling over the top of him.
Rachel Maddow, as per usual, was the only rational person in the room.
He's a tired old racist dirtbag. 50% of Americans eat that shit up, too. White jebus-loving ideologues need it, like oxygen.
Stephen @ 15:
I missed something. I could have sworn it was Pat talking over her.
The man should be thrown off MSNC. Just before this, he said Ferrarro's comment was simply a statement of fact. Can't they get some other cranky old conservative?
I think what every one is overlooking is that Obamba is not black but HALF WHITE!
Maddow is a suck up. Pat is not the devil. Goff was being a motor mouth, she just rudely kept talking in order to use up all the available time. She was purposly working to limit free and open discussion.
Pat Buchanan displays his lack of principle every time he's on the air these days:
For years he has reviled Hillary Clinton. Now, because the Republicans desperately want her as the Dem candidate, he is at her side, defending. The same can be said of Joe whats-his-face, Matthews, Russert , and many other corporate-owned water carriers.
Olberman is the exception...he pretty much calls them as he sees them.
c127 @ 21:
Tell that to the people in Alabama where if you have 12.5 % black ancestry you are legally "black."
He said "please" at least.
[deleted - off topic. sitemonitor]
Pat is a douche, BUT this was ridiculous and I can understand his frustration. He was getting SHOUTED down constantly the whole time. I watched this yesterday and I was so embarrassed for Maddow and Goff (both of whom I like very much). They were just ludicrous. They just wanted to run their mouths and wouldn't hear Pat out, they wouldn't even try to appreciate the context of what he was saying. It was disgusting. And to be honest, there should have been a little bit of "respect for the elder" and appreciation that even if you don't agree with Pat Buchanan, he may have earned the right to posit an opinion . . .
OF COURSE Obama would not be in the position he is in if not for his biography OR his skin color. If he was some young white hot shot presumptive winner in his Senate race, he wouldn't have been given the key note at the 2004 convention. By the same token tho, Ferraro's comments were so absurd b/c of the hypocrisy. If Clinton was not a woman, she couldn't be first lady, and if she hadn't been married to a president she wouldn't have been able to just pick a state friendly to Democrats and move ther to run for Senate -- so she wouldn't be in the same position if not for her gender. There is no outright racism or sexism in acknowledging these very obvious facts. But the way Ferraro presented it was petty and manipulative, and it was ridiculous coming out of her mouth as a Clinton supporter.
On another note, in the very next segment, Pat went on to defend the Clinton campaign's attack on Obama's not having visited "Latin America and more than one other NATO country" or something. Buchanan said that if he had not traveled abroad, that was fair game b/c Bush had the same criticism in 2000. However, dickhead Pat didn't acknowledge the statement was just spun and Obama lived abroad as a child and has visited several African nations, the Middle East, former Soviet states, Russia and has met with many foreign leaders of the countries he has not made it to. And Clinton should ask the people of all those NATO countries who THEY are supporting for president in this race (hint: it's not her)...
Why do we watch these people? For me, It's an illness. I like to stay informed, but it is getting tiring listen to all the BS. I can't wait for the election to be over. I need some sanity.
BobFlash @ 26:
Donate to C&L.
Maybe it will go away.
I think Ferraro and Buchanan are a couple of assbags, but there is a nugget of truth in what they're saying.
My feeling of inspiration at this 2004 speech and my sense that he's more decent and trustworthy and less willing to "play politics" than other politicians have nothing to do with any component of his mixed ethnicity. That being said, I did get a little bit of an extra fuzzy feeling knowing that I just voted for a black guy, and would probably be the first person in my family (all from MS and TN) to have done so.
Sooo.... I don't think his race is a big draw for people who don't like what he has to say, but I definitely agree with him when he says that his color and name probably don't make it easier on him.
The Clinton campaign can go F themselves for taking a lot of the fun out of this primary.
Ben @ 27:
You say Pat's a "douche" then defend his actions? If you know enough about him to call him a name then you know that he constantly shouts over people and interrupts. He has been getting nastier and nastier as the primary season goes along and MSNBC needs to give him a break.
Being black is an attribute Pat? What kind of an attribute? Like breathing with a respirator?
This sorry episode would have already died if the bigot nation had not got a hold of it and tried to rationalize Ferraro's fucked up unfounded race carding. To hear white people proclaiming that this isn't racist, as if they have the final say on how I'm suppose to interpret race, is laughable in a very sad way.
[deleted - over the top. sitemonitor]to shut up. What a ditz. Buchanan was trying to tell her that the black vote wasn't voting for Obama before S.C. because there aren't any black s in Iowa or NH. Racist!
Renounce! Reject!
Ahhh, there's the Pat Buchanan of the 80's and 90's we all remember - we all knew he'd figure out a way to gnaw away at the leash MSNBC has been holding him with.
Pat, you're a jackass!! Knowing you were dead wrong with your assessment, like a typical Republican, the only way to save face was to get snide, arrogant and completely out of control.
Hey, are we still sure Hillary is a Democrat???
What I'd like to know is why the likes of Buchanan and Bill Bennett are on MSNBC and CNN as 'commentators'?
I have some money riding on this. Was Maddow once a dude? I say he/she was.
"One cannot defend Pat Buchanan against charges of antisemitism"
-William Buckley-
I'd say the same applies for racism, homophobia, you name it.
dr. dave @ 11:
Guilt complex?
Isome @ 352:
What indeed. As a 'white person' I find this "transcending race" argument, and others like it, both arrogant and condescending. Obama is charismatic, and a significant number of voters really like him. This is not because he is 'black' but because he is Obama. Yes, his race is a part of who he is, just as his sociocultural history is a part of who he is, but he is WHERE he is because he is Obama.
AND, Pat Buchanan needs to retire and steer clear of any media. Go sit in a rocking chair on some rural front porch, Pat. Keep your mouth busy drinking a tall glass of iced tea. Write your memoirs, and hope somebody cares enough to buy what you write. I have certainly learned not to buy what you say.
xoites Hussein defends Constitution @ 24:
This is reminding me of "Blazing Saddles":
Bart: Sir, he specifically requested two "n**rs". Well, to tell the family secret, my grandmother was Dutch.
nm @ 177:
But...Obama's first win wasn't South Carolina.
robyn williams @ 182:
The Supremes????
Oh man ha ha ha ha
PrincetonPDX @ 227:
He is a little bit Irish, actually. His Great-Grandfather was from Co. Offaly. So I LOL every time I see his name spelled with the apostrophe.
355 Left&Left
Obama can't "win" either. Neither one are going to get the magic number of 2025 delegates. Some kind of deal making is going to have to happen, and at this point it's speculative to try to predict how it will be cut.
Deal with it.
Pat Buchanan: "Being black helps you get the black vote" (true)
Goff: "(angry unintelligible nonsense like a guest on Jerry Springer)" (????)
Pat Buchanan attempts to respond
Goff repeatedly talks over Pat with angry nonsense and won't let him talk
Pat Buchanan: "Shut up for a second, please"
Then Maddow jumps in and shows the world that she's just as unintelligent and easily offended as Goff is.
Pat Buchanan's tone when he said "shut up" was light-hearted, it wasn't angry. Goff repeatedly trampling over Buchanan's words was the first stone cast, and it was a bigger one, too. Goff was just shutting down all discussion with her belligerent behavior.
This video is a good example of one form of unfair treatment that white males get. They're not allowed to ever talk about race, even intellectually like Buchanan was here, because when they do it's just way too easy for somebody to jump on them and make them look like foaming-mouthed racists.
This blog post is a good example of how it can be spun even further when it goes from one medium to the next. The wording of the title and the content all carefully prepares the reader to hate Pat Buchanan. He got "smacked down" and Logan goes on to mince Buchanan's words into something they weren't just so he can disagree with them.
And every picture of a Republican on this site caught them at a bad moment. And every picture of a Democrat is pristine with them boldly staring off into the distance like a bald eagle.
I understand it, though. There's not nearly as much money in being fair and unbiased, is there? I just find it appalling that this site of all sites has the nerve to criticize other news sources of being unfair and biased. Talk about pot vs kettle.
I feel obligated to mention that I'm not an O'Reilly fan. I'm 21, white, male. I don't identify myself as being part of any political party, but my personal politics fall somewhere between democrat and libertarian depending on mood. I've never voted, and will never vote.
Somebody please put that cocknocker Buchanan out to pasture. He is one of the last gasping wheezing remnants of good ol' fashioned Nixonian bigotry, and everytime he talks it sounds like the echoes coming from a time machine.
c127 @ 21:
And your point is.......
xoites Hussein defends Constitution @ 19:
Yeah, baby! And Mr. Buchanan is a model of decorum and decency compared to the Rove-Limbaugh-Weiner strain of A-Hole!
♣Bangkok Bob♣ @ 32:
+2 HP when running for Prez
xoites Hussein defends Constitution @ 4:
EXACTLY!
As this gets closer to election day Nov. we see the true colors of many people in America. This is why an Obama Presidency is a must!
He's always been a jerk, and he still is. I can't even LOOK at him.
Ash"Hussy"Williams @ 38:
what the hell is that? Code?
garage mahal @ 34:
First of all its not fat ass Pats show to tell anyone to shut up. He runs his slobbery mouth every night on television.
She should've called his bigoted ass out!
Perhaps if the media had some fresh blood, like Rachel, as pundits I could watch more than of few seconds of their garbage. Every station that does this political analysis, is full of loser old hacks that just want to cling to some kind of popularity. Time to get rid of all the old trash that keeps clinging to every election.
In other nations most politicians when they are out of office, disappear back into the real world and go back to work. In the US they become media stars that refuse to leave the arena. Buchanan, Ollie North, Scarborough, Mathews, Ferraro......like, the people already rejected you morons. Now go away.
c127 @ 21:
No he's not, he's half black! :-)
Seriously, this has become ridiculous!
Pat's getting addled in his old age. Clearly, he thought he was on the set of "The McLaughlin Group."
[deleted - please don't type in all caps. sitemonitor]
I hate to say it, while rude, he wasn't so bad.
I don't see her overtalking him any more than he was overtalking her. It was rude. but it wasn't so bad. I expected worse.
Barack's skin color has helped make this more of a Cinderella story. I'm sure he would be in the same place right now if he was a white man, or a woman, but being black has helped make the STORY more inspirational.
♣Bangkok Bob♣ @ 41:
Hahaha no, just a reference to RPGs (not the explody kind).
Pat Buchanan is NEVER right when he tries to discuss race issues. An old white conservative fuck from a generation that commonly tolerated American apartheid can never tell what he thinks on race. Rachel justly embarrassed Pat's fat ass.
vincie @ 46:
It's three o'clock, and your kids are in bed. Who do you want answering the phone?
Dum dum duuuuuuuuummmmmmm
I have such a girl crush on Rachel, ever since I first heard her in Northampton, MA.
vincie @ 46:
People voting for a man who is different from the same-old same-old. The man promises change and change is what America wants.
(by the way, you all Caps comment shows you feelings about ethnicity)
vincie @ 46:
What percentage of whites voted for Hilary?
What percentage of women voted for Hilary?
What percentage of men voted for Barack?
Yes, they are all factors, but it leads to bullshit when you try to say someone's success is based solely on the one factor. Pat didn't say that, but Geraldine suggested it.
And stop typing in goddamn caps!
how was that a smackdown?
c127 @ 21:
I know. Why is it that Whites all refer to him as black? Has anyone ever bothered to ask Obama how he self-identifies?
Jbrd @ 54:
it wasn't one.
poster just got excited that pat got partially schooled.
I watch regularly (I know call me nuts), I generally usually appreciate Pat's insight on these shows because you know he usually calls them like he sees them and damn the torpedo's. Although I don't agree with him 95% of the time, I like to watch him because at least I know I'm getting an opposing point of view.
Last night was different, he definitely slipped up with the Shut Up comment and Rachel was great with the quick dress down. I just kept waiting for his gentleman's apology for getting caught up in the debate. He's a gentleman first, representing the old order, he should have done the right thing and apologized for using that kind of language. Saying Shut Up like that had no place in the discussion and Pat knows better. I was genuinely suprised that he didn't apologize right away. I kept waiting for him to, based upon how I 've seen him on these shows before. He and Rachel usually have a good healthy banter, it was definitely out of character. Pat do the right thing and give a quick apology next time you are on air, you know its the gentleman's way, and we'll all move on.
Tell you one thing, I would take Buchanan any day as the right wing foil on these shows as opposed to Rove, Kristol, Krauthammer et. al. At least Pat is palatable and seems to add that perspective to the argument legitimately.
If there wasn't racism in the media, this wouldn't even be a discussion. They are the ones that brought the subject up and keep talking about it. They don't talk about his success in the Illinois senate, they talk about the missed votes. Isn't it the medias job to find out about the candidate?
So does Buchanan's "shut up!" comment now mean he'll get his own show on MSNBC? Remember when Scabby did that a couple years ago. I was stunned he was rewarded with his own show.
SuburbanGrrrl @ 55:
That's one of Obama's strong points, He is NOT running as a black man, he never uses the race card. He is running on the promise of a change in America, a United America.
He doesn't spell his name BuKKKanan for nothing.
-GSD
Buchanon should have apologized, totally inappropriate. That said, anyone who doesn't believe that the corporate owned main stream media hasn't been pushing for this two person race, Obama because he's black and Clinton because she's a woman, just isn't paying attention. The MSM certainly wants Clinton to be the ultimate winner because they believe that with the kid glove treatment they're giving McCain that they can put another repugnicant in the White House.
So, in the context I've just explained, Ferraro is right to say that he has benefitted from being black at this moment in time. How could a candidate like Bill Richardson, with his tremendous amount of political experience, have been so marginalized by the MSM? Answer; because, even though he is hispanic, he is too vanilla and would have spanked ANYONE the repugnicants would have put up. That argument could also be made about several other dems (Kucinich, Edwards et al).
So yeah, he was rude and should have apologized, but this is probably the ONLY time I have to agree with his overall message. On the other hand, Ms. Goff could use some lessons in manners too. Let the man talk and THEN make your statement. When you step on his answers while he's giving them, you just sound like Rush Limburger.
Left&Left @ 49:
Yep. This is one issue where you can't take the plantation out of old Pat.
-GSD
Is this "news"? I think not. Besides, who doesn't know that PB is a HUGE asshole?
♣Bangkok Bob♣ @ 60:
Agreed. This is Hillary's last stand. Appeal to fragile fears of the white voters and try to pull Obama(who to his credit, will not make race or gender an issue) into the slime with her. What a leader you'll make Hil.
I'm amazed at the story line here. Not so much about Ferraro or Buchanan perse, but about the race issue in the campaign. That very beautiful woman, Goff?, alluded to it quite indirectly in her comments about Barack not having the support of a substantial majority of Blacks before South Carolina.
Barack is a good man. I expect he will win the nomination and I will then vote for him in November. However, the storyline about the Clintons and racism and race cards in mainly a crock. The Barack forces were faced with a problem of significant support for Hillary among Blacks. It was the Barack forces - not Barack imself, imho, who decided to play the race card by accusing the Clintons of playing the race card. It was, to be truthful, a Rovian tactic in which you play against your opponent's strength and attempt to dismantle the strength. It is the Swift Boat tactic. If Bill Clinton has a rapport with Black voters, then destroy that rapport. It requires a complicit media to do that in part to prevent a media inquiry into where these stories originated and who first brought such and such charges, but that turned out not to be a problem. It was so successful that even Jesse Jackson coming to Bill Clinton's defense over Clinton's remarks about Jackson's South Carolina wins could not save Clinton from the media sharks.
How do I feel about it? I'm up in the air. It was hardly a riskless strategy, because it was important to retain White support while branding the Clinton campaign as cynically playing the race card. It worked. I don't think the people who did it are bad people. Maybe because I'm a bit to the left of "liberal." I would and do think Republicans are evil when they use Rovian tactics.
If only he'd said "Shut the FUCK up!!," we might well be rid of him. A lot of these conservative moralists, including Herr Rove, curse worse than sailors when they're off-camera...
Left&Left @ 65:
Heck, if he's a distant cousin of Dick Cheney, why are they saying he's black?
Stephen @ 15:
"That girl?....THat girl?" I'll defend your right to free speech. But I don't agree that she is a "girl." She is a *woman* thank you very much. And don't you forget that!
Left&Left @ 14:
As a guy, I'll date her... Hell, I'll gladly be a lesbian for a day to be with her.
Both the black lady and pat buchanan are racists.No doubt about it.Still made me laugh when Pat [deleted - over the top. sitemonitor].Classic comedy from an old white bastard.
Having met Pat Buchanan before, I can say that the original comment that he must need a vacation is more on the mark than anyone in this section screaming that Pat is an asshole. Pat Buchanan is one of the nicest gentlemen you'll ever meet, and he always holds a civil discussion. If you've ever seen him on McLaughlin Group then you know that he can be combative, but he's never rude. For him to let something like that slip out must mean that he's getting really tired.
I think all the commentators are tiring out in this election season. With no big news we've been hyper-focused on the minutiae, and that's exhausting. Maddow, Buchanan, and the other usual MSNBC commentators have been on TV almost every day for the last few months in addition to their normal work. It's taking a toll, and you can see it.
As for Buchanan taking Ferraro's side, that doesn't surprise me at all. Pat's a staunch conservative, and Ferraro's thoughts are something that the conservative side has been thinking for quite a while now, even if they haven't been saying it out loud. Obama's story wouldn't be nearly as interesting if he were just some white guy from New Jersey (especially New Jersey), but his campaign has never even mentioned race until it's been goaded to do so. It's Clinton that keeps bringing up race, dragging the campaign down. I've heard the Obama campaign described as "post-racial," and that's a great word for it. It's not that people don't see he's black, it's that no one cares, so when someone brings it up, they're the one who ends up looking like a monster. Of course, from the conservative side, no one cares how Obama is campaigning, just that he's in the position to run. They're not going to vote for him anyway, so from their perspective, the only reason he's on the national stage is because of his heritage.
Unfortunately, the guest that Mr. Buchanan spoke to, was being a completely rude participant in the conversation, herself. Let us hope that she (is it Ms. Goff?) doesn't get return requests to panel discussions.
Ms. Maddow's observation was correct, Pat Buchanan almost never behaves in the manner witnessed. But, somebody need to tell that woman to allow another commentator to finish. I think Ms. Goff has been watching too much Bill O'Reilly.
Did you notice that Ms. Maddow waited her turn to speak?