Jan. 11, 2012

For many, it was just a matter of time before increasingly left-leaning MSNBC eliminated its last conservative, but the apparent suspension from the network’s lineup of Patrick J. Buchanan – senior adviser to three presidents, presidential candidate and multiple-bestselling author – is raising eyebrows because of the reason cited by the cable channel’s boss.

MSNBC president Phil Griffin says Buchanan’s recent hot-selling book, “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” not only violates the liberal cable network’s values – no surprise there – but that Buchanan’s ideas aren’t even fit to be discussed in public – anywhere.

“The ideas he put forth aren’t really appropriate for national dialogue,” said Griffin, “much less the dialogue on MSNBC.”

Buchanan was unavailable to comment to WND on the issue, but on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, he said there were several factors contributing to his extended absence from MSNBC, and he’s not been informed of any suspension or other action.

“Well, you know I’ve had some medical issues at the end of the year which were pretty problematic,” Buchanan said, “and so I’ve sort of been out of speaking and things like that. … I’ve started back writing the column in December, and I’ve got the column going. I’m doing ‘McLaughlin Group.’ But we haven’t gotten up on MSNBC.

“On Drudge Report, somebody said I’ve been suspended,” Buchanan told Hewitt. “I don’t know anything about that. I hope to get back full up here in January, but I’ve been out for a couple of months.”

Audio of the interview was posted on The Daily Caller.

As WND reported, activist groups have been pressuring MSNBC to drop the conservative icon, including ColorOfChange.org which insists “it’s time for MSNBC to permanently end their relationship with Pat Buchanan and the hateful, outdated ideas he represents.” The cable network should no longer be “associated with Buchanan’s history of passing off white supremacy ideology as mainstream political commentary,” the group adds.

However, apart from MSNBC, in the larger world where “national dialogue” occurs, Buchanan’s latest book has been hugely popular. While Amazon readers give the book high marks by a 7-to-1 margin, the book has received high critical acclaim:

“Buchanan is a muscular writer, fully in command of the English language he feels is under siege. He is adept at linking history, statistics, and the writings of philosophers and economists to proffer forceful arguments.” – The Washington Post

“Buchanan is an honest writer who … minces nothing except an occasional opponent.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Nobody turns a sharp phrase, drops an historical reference, or makes a literary allusion as naturally as Pat Buchanan.” – Human Events

“His approach is that of a true conservative, offering a perspective rooted in American tradition initiated by Washington.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Mr. Buchanan … is positively fearless. He is also right.” – Tony Blankley, The Washington Times

So, what is “Suicide of a Superpower” really about, and why would MSNBC find it so offensive as to axe its author and declare its ideas not “appropriate for national dialogue”?

“America,” says the publisher’s summary of Buchanan’s latest book, “is disintegrating”:

The “one Nation under God, indivisible” of the Pledge of Allegiance is passing away. In a few decades, that America will be gone forever. In its place will arise a country unrecognizable to our parents.

This is the thrust of Pat Buchanan’s “Suicide of a Superpower.”

The author of six New York Times bestsellers traces the disintegration to three historic changes: America’s loss of her cradle faith, Christianity; the moral, social, and cultural collapses that have followed from that loss; and the slow death of the people who created and ruled the nation.

America was born a Western Christian republic, writes Buchanan, but is being transformed into a multiracial, multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic stew of a nation that has no successful precedent in the history of the world.

Where once we celebrated the unity, the melting pot and shared experience, that the Depression and World War gave us, our elites today proclaim, “Our diversity is our greatest strength!” – even as racial, religious, and ethnic diversity are tearing nations to pieces.

Rejecting the commitment to a God-given equality of rights for all as inadequate, our government is engaged in the manic pursuit of equality of rewards, as it seeks to erect an egalitarian utopia that has never before existed. Less and less do we Americans have in common. More and more do we fight over religion, morality, politics, history, and heroes. And as our nation disintegrates, our government is failing in its fundamental duties, unable to defend our borders, balance our budgets, or win our wars.

“How Americans are killing the country they profess to love,” the summary concludes, “and the fate that awaits us if we do not turn around, is what “Suicide of a Superpower” is all about.

As left-leaning Slate magazine notes curiously: “It’s unclear why MSNBC has decided to reconsider Buchanan’s status now. He’s been on air regularly on the network since 2002, and the ideas in his book are very similar to what he’s been asserting for years.”

“Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” by Patrick J. Buchanan is available at the WND Superstore.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/01/buchanans-book-so-explosive-msnbc-brass-go-bonkers/