Bull's-eye put on Buchanan over his beliefs

Apparently it's all right in America to have an opinion; just so you don't let anybody know – or something like that.

That's the situation that has developed with the release of Patrick J. Buchanan's "Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?"

He warns that the America that was founded and built by those who considered the Christian faith important is disintegrating.

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

America was born a Western Christian republic, he explains, 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."

How about, "Dial 1 for English," election ballots in foreign languages, demands for "rights" from illegal immigrants, and related issues?

Now a coalition that includes the web-based ColorofChange.org is telling MSNBC, where Buchanan has been a commentator, to silence him.

"For years, Pat Buchanan has passed off white supremacist ideology as legitimate mainstream political commentary," the organization states. "And MSNBC continues to pay him and give him a platform on national TV to do it.

"Buchanan has the right to express his views, but he's not entitled to a platform that lets him broadcast bigotry and hate to millions. If MSNBC wants to be seen as a trusted, mainstream source of news and commentary, it needs to fire Buchanan now," he organization said.

The group charges that Buchanan has made statements such as: "America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known … no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream."

The Anti-Defamation League jumped to join the attack on Buchanan, saying it had "grave concern" over Buchanans "anti-Semitic, racist and anti-immigrant views."

"It is especially disturbing that he continues to be given a platform to espouse his views at a mainstream network like MSNBC, where he is presented as a knowledgeable and respected analyst. Buchanan continues to show his true colors by espousing hateful, bigoted statements in his new book," said Abraham Foxman, national director for the ADL.

The organization's announcement said it had written to MSNBC urging officials to "stop giving Buchanan 'legitimacy and credibility."

However, a report at Meediabistro confirms that while Buchanan has been "doing the rounds promoting his new book … the MSNBC political analyst has not – and will not – be on MSNBC to talk about the book."

He "couldn't get on MSNBC if he checked in at security under the name Bill Press," reported Chris Ariens. "An MSNBC executive told Huffpo's Michael Calderone that there had been a conscious decision not to have Buchanan on air because of the views expressed in the book."

At Amazon, the book was ranked early today at No. 129 among all off the hundreds of thousands of books, No. 11 among nonfiction political books and No. 18 among nonfiction political science books.

Buchanan was a senior adviser to three American presidents, ran for the Republican nomination in 1992 and 1996, and was the Reform Party's presidential candidate in 2000. The author of 10 other books, Buchanan is a syndicated columnist and founding member of three of America's foremost public affairs shows, NBC's The McLaughlin Group and CNN's The Capitol Gang and Crossfire.

The campaign to silence Buchanan conflicted with other opinions, including that of The Washington Post, which said, "Buchanan is a muscular writer, fully in commnd 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."

Added The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Buchanan is an honest writer who … minces nothing except an occasional opponent."

And at The Washington Times, Tony Blankley wrote, "Mr. Buchanan … is positively fearless. He is also right."

Amazon readers by a 7-1 margin were giving the book high marks.

The book explains that America today is "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."

An unscientific online poll asking whether respondents thought Buchanan should be allowed on MSNBC to talk about his book drew at 91 percent yes response.