PAT BUCHANAN (Pat Buchenwald), FIFTH COLUMNIST

by Ben Shapiro

Three years ago, I wrote that Pat Buchanan was "the useful idiot of the liberal establishment" and that his "wisdom and patriotism must be questioned." After I penned those words, I received a barrage of hate mail from supporters of Buchanan. Much of the mail was anti-Semitic, and most of it was ignorant babble.

Of course, it is no surprise that Buchanan's supporters compose the anti-Semitic and ignorant wing of the paleo-conservative right. Buchanan himself is anti-Semitic and ignorant. This week, he proved both his moral blindness and his myopic bigotry in a series of columns supporting American foreign aid for Hamas, castigating American presidents from Wilson and FDR and Truman to Kennedy and Bush for their interventionist foreign policies and insulting freedom of the press in Europe.

First, on Feb. 1, Buchanan stated, "Understandably, the Israelis are close to hysterical over the landslide for Hamas and are on a diplomatic campaign to have all donors end all aid to a Palestinian Authority dominated by Hamas. But that is not in our interests. It is not even in Israel's interest. For it has been Israel's behavior, and uncritical U.S. support for that behavior, that produced this victory for Hamas. To continue on that road is to arrive at, literally, a dead end."

Buchanan's arrogance is astounding. The idea that monetary support for the terrorist group Hamas is in America's and Israel's best interest is laughable. The very idea that a man who has called Congress "Israeli-occupied territory" can speak for Israel's "best interest" is laughable. Buchanan, the anti-Semite, strikes again.

At least Buchanan is consistent. He believes that capitulation to Arab terror is the best solution across the board. On Feb. 3, he condemned President Bush's State of the Union address, averring, "His victory in Iraq, like the wars of Wilson and FDR, has turned to ashes in our mouths. … Bush seeks to counter critics who warned him not to go in by associating them with the demonized and supposedly discredited patriots of the America First movement of 1940-1941. … Who has done more to empower Islamic radicals than Bush with his clamor for elections across a region radicalized by our own policies?"

Yes, you read that correctly: Buchanan feels that World War II was a defeat for America and identifies himself with the fully discredited America First movement. Of course, this is nothing new from Buchanan; he has already declared that World War II was not worth fighting. At least Buchanan's revolting and shameful betrayal of the hundreds of thousands who died for freedom in World War II and the millions who died in death camps makes clear one thing: The same folks who despise America's interventionism on behalf of freedom in the Middle East would have let Britain fall to Hitler and the chimneys of Auschwitz spew forth the ashes of every last Jew.

But Buchanan wasn't done yet. On Feb. 6, he blamed European freedom of the press for Muslim rampaging across the globe. European newspapers, he explained, had provoked Muslim rage by reprinting a controversial Danish cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed with his turban shaped like a bomb. "What was the purpose of this juvenile idiocy by the Europress?" Buchanan asked. "Is this what freedom of the press is all about -- the freedom to insult the faith of a billion people and start a religious war?" Of course, no Buchanan column would be complete without a reference to Jews, so Buchanan added this gem: "What hypocrisy. … Skeptics and deniers of the Holocaust are prosecuted, fined and imprisoned in Europe with the enthusiastic endorsement of the European press."

Apparently, Buchanan is upset that Europeans would deign to be more sensitive about a Holocaust they perpetrated than a cartoon labeling Islam as violent. Buchanan is upset that European governments have not followed the lead of the spineless State Department, deploring the cartoon while upholding the rights of the press. Note to Pat: Radical Muslims aren't really upset about the cartoon. The cartoon is a stand-in for Western freedoms as a whole. Islamists are just as offended by the very existence of an elderly white Jesuit who tends to support their hatred of Jews.

Unfortunately, Pat Buchanan represents many people on both sides of the political aisle. He is the representative of a constituency that seeks American isolationism and appeasement. He is the representative of a constituency that always blames America -- unless Israel is available as a first-option scapegoat. He is more left than right, and more nuts than sane. He is important for one reason, and one reason only: He reveals the mindset of America's fifth columnists.

Ben Shapiro, 21, is a graduate of UCLA and a student at Harvard Law School. He is also the author of the recently published "Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future" as well as the national best seller "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth."

Posted: 12 Feb 2006