Southern Strategy

I appreciate Rachel Maddow's spirited and effective counter to Pat Buchanan. But he's not just "dating himself." He's a racist. That's a term that is tossed about too much, perhaps, but in Buchanan's case it's true. And if his tirades against "affirmative action baby," Sonia Sotomayor don't result in him losing his cable television perch (not to mention his long history of airing such views), then we might as well have David Duke hosting "Face the Nation."

On the other hand, says Adam Serwer,

In recent years, the GOP has made attempts—some sincere, some not—to reach out to communities of color. These have failed, largely because a substantial amount of the GOP’s shrinking base sees the nation the way Buchanan does, as being destroyed by outsiders who aren’t real Americans. This remains true even as American demographic trends promise certain doom for the party as it currently exists. As long as that’s the case—and as unpleasant as it may be—progressives should hope those reactionaries have a voice. To the extent that Pat Buchanan is hurting someone, it isn’t liberals, Democrats or even people of color. It’s the conservative cause. If anyone should really want Buchanan to be fired from MSNBC, it’s the leadership of the Republican Party.