Get Off My Side

Pat Buchanan.

Max Boot's piece at OpinionJournal today on what being a "neo-con" means made me realize just how much I have come to dislike Buchanan and his views. At one time I enjoyed Buchanan in his role as a maverick willing to tell it like it was and not compromise his core beliefs for political expediency as many Republicans seemed to be doing at the time. But his protectionist economic views, his criticism of US support for Israel, and his increasingly isolationist foreign policy drove me further and further from his vision of conservatism. 9/11 and the U.S. military actions that followed were the final straw as Buchanan joined many on the Left in questioning America's response and hinting that our support of Israel and stationing of troops in the Middle East had led to the terrorist attacks and suggesting that we should pull back from our overseas commitments and thus avoid the wrath of the terrorists.

Since then he has continued to slide into marginality with the launch of his magazine The American Conservative, which he claims to be truly representative of conservatism, and his opposition to military action against Iraq. I predict that a successful military campaign and effective establishment of a stable post-Saddam government in Iraq will drive Buchanan into complete irrelevancy much in the manner that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor did to one of his America First fore bearers, Charles Lindbergh. It's time to get off my side Pat.