Why Does Bigot Pat Buchanan Still Wield Influence?

"Although [Pat] Buchanan doesn't have the influence he did in the 1990s when he commanded a following inside the Republican Party, he remains an influential, even cutting edge figure among a significant sector of extreme paleoconservatives," says Leonard Zeskind, president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights.

For a number of years, Patrick J. Buchanan was considered "The Man" in the conservative movement; he took a back seat to no one. He ran for the GOP's presidential nomination and attracted a large following; he hosted and appeared on several cable news shows, including being one of the original co-hosts of CNN's "Crossfire"; his books have been bestsellers; and, perhaps most famously of all, Buchanan's "Culture War Speech" at the 1992 Republican Party convention both enthralled his followers and chilled a good part of the rest of the nation.

In a recent column about the events in Norway, after a perfunctory condemnation of the bombing and murder spree unleashed by Anders Behring Breivik, Buchanan was classic Buchanan suggesting that, "Breivik may be right."

Over the years, as Jamison Foser recently pointed out at Media Matters for America, Buchanan has expressed an, "almost unbelievable dislike of Nelson Mandela and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr."; took up the cause of John Demjanuk, who was"convicted earlier this year of complicity in the murder of tens of thousands of Jews while serving at a Nazi death camp"; defended the white supremacists beliefs of Nixon's Supreme Court nominee, Harold Carswell; and,"praised Klansman David Duke for his staunch opposition to ‘discrimination against white folks.'"

In a June column posted at CNSNews.com, titled "Say Goodbye to Los Angeles"Buchanan commented on the June soccer match at Pasadena's storied Rose Bowl that saw the Mexican team beat the U.S. He wrote that fans rooting for Mexico should consider returning there and they should"let someone take his place who wants to become an American."

Buchanan pointed out that "By 2050, according to Census figures, thanks to illegals crossing over and legalized mass immigration, the number of Hispanics in the U.S.A. will rise from today's 50 million to 135 million." Never one to miss an opportunity to be excessively dramatic/hyperbolic, Buchanan concluded: "Say goodbye to Los Angeles. Say goodbye to California."

When Pat Buchanan spoke, many may have turned their heads, but his core audience, anti-immigrant, white nationalists perked up and listened, and later echoed his remarks.

Despite the reams of "culture war" commentary, including anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and anti-gay rage, for some inexplicable reason, the Washington Beltway crowd has always considered him"a good old boy."

"A cutting edge figure among a significant sector of extreme paleoconservatives"

"Although Buchanan doesn't have the influence he did in the 1990s when he commanded a following inside the Republican Party, he remains an influential, even cutting edge figure among a significant sector of extreme paleoconservatives,"Leonard Zeskind, president of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights told me in a telephone interview.

"His ideas may not be adopted outright, but they find their way into the mouths of others, that do have a following," Zeskind, author of the invaluable Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream, added. "Think of him as a cutting edge figure, with a following on television news and an influence on others who have larger followings," said Zeskind.