|
I am afraid that it is mostly true. What is untrue is comparing him to Zhirinovsky and Le Pen: trust me, he is pugnacious enough, if he were flat out anti- semitic and racist, he would say so, one wouldn't have to guess. He is simply not that bad. But his dad was a Coughlinite and supported America First, and the influence shows. William F. Buckley, in National Review, concluded that Buchanan might fairly be charged with anti- semitism, if not in his personal life, in his insinuations about Jewish influence, which are overblown and never substantiated, and in his insensitivity to matters like flirting with Holocaust denial.(Michael Kinsley, who is Jewish and used to appear as the liberal half of "Crossfire" with Buchanan, swears that Buchanan is nothing but a gentleman in his personal life, and never showed any signs of hostility or anti- semitism. Other Jewish friends and acquaintances have similarly testified. Could the same be said of Le Pen?)It is also true that Buchanan is better characterized as racially ambivalent than as a racist, but that he is prone to unnecessarily inflammatory statements. Besides, he retains other unfortunate features of populism, like being anti- capitalist and isolationist..... |
