In retropsect, it was an iconic showdown: a lesbian new media superstar smacks down the open racism and gender bias of one of the most enduring and brazen defenders of white male entitlement.
So it was when Rachel Maddow -- pushed to the limits of her cordiality -- swatted down Buchanan's pugilistic assertions of white male mental superiority for the Supreme Court.
It's the Alamo for white male affirmative action, and Buchanan (and his media counterparts such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity) know that if they don't start a rebellion of white guys (who will be even more armed thanks to the NRA soon), the sheer demographics of America are facilitating a long goodbye to white males having absolute power over the destiny of the nation.
This is all the tail end of the great upheaval that started with the Civil Rights movement, proceeded through the Women's Empowerment movement and has now led to the growing acceptance of Gay Rights.
No one shares power easily, and the conservative takeover of the goverment under Reagan and the two Bushes was blowback to the attempt at equal rights forced upon white males by the assertion of Constitutional protections by people who were not in the "members only" club.
The manic expressions of armed rebellion against a tyrannical government emerging from the likes of Glenn Beck and so many other wingers are the last gasps of a resistance to non-white males taking a slice of the pie.
Pat Buchanan, like Ann Coulter, knows that controversy gets publicity (and don't kid yourself: MSNBC is delighted to get all the attention the Maddow-Buchanan dust-up received, although it was clear Maddow was sincerely offended and somewhat taken aback that her periodic "acceptable" insider D.C. spokesman for the "Aryan Nation" had crossed the line). But, you get the feeling that Buchanan believes every word, whereas Coulter is more interested in selling books and creating absurdly controversial soundbites than in ideology.
The psyche of the white male yearning for the patriarchal hierarachy was reassured by Bush as president -- who proved that any idiot white male could rise to the top of the pyramid, even if his strings were being pulled by two other white males: Cheney and Rove. But then the psychic crack-up happened: an African-American male was elected to the highest office in the land by a landslide.
So for the Pat Buchanans of the world who saw Clinton as a Bubba who had betrayed them, Bush gave hope that the ante-bellum order of white male plantation dominance would be restored.
And then it all came crashing down and now is manifesting itself in demagogic outbursts of forcefully overtaking the government and restoring the white man on top.
That's Pat Buchanan and the long goodbye in a nutshell, because the tide of American demographics is wresting power from the white male, forcing a power sharing agreement that they don't want any part of.
As for why Buchanan continues to draw a salary from the MSM media and has an ongoing presence on television, remember that most of the television corporations are run by white guys. And GE owns MSNBC. Don't forget that.
As for seeing anymore of Buchanan on TV, yes there is a First Amendment, but there is also a question of civilized standards.
Would MSNBC have a member of the Nazi Party debating with Rachel Maddow? They do have a choice of guest "pundits."
Buchanan may help their ratings and help GE hedge its bets with white males, but he should be told goodbye -- and it shouldn't be a long one.
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG
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