Buchanan: An Extremist in Moderate Clothing : His rise makes for interesting politics but bad leadership

Patrick J. Buchanan, a man whose intolerant, them-versus-us speech at the 1992 Republican convention caused many Americans of various political persuasions to recoil, won a close New Hampshire primary Tuesday. Sen. Bob Dole came in an embarrassing second, and a rising Lamar Alexander came in third.

Part of Buchanan’s appeal is that he rightly pinpoints Americans’ anxieties about job security and unease about where the country is going. The danger is that all too often he winds up assigning blame to those he considers “the other”: the immigrants, the homosexuals, the feminists, the media, the non-Christians, the liberals, the intellectuals, Wall Street. All these others add up to a lot of Americans.

The presidential primaries that will choose most delegates to the Republican nominating convention are scheduled over the next few weeks, with California’s set for March 26. But it’s already clear that Buchanan will be a major presence in those contests, if not the leading then at least more than a marginal candidate. To the surprise of many and the unhidden shock of some, Buchanan has shown in the Iowa and Louisiana caucuses and now in the New Hampshire primary an ability to move a lot of voters with a campaign that is drawing a stronger response than those of some of his better-financed mainstream opponents.

It remains to be seen whether this enthusiasm will be replicated elsewhere. What is clear is that Buchanan is taking his own candidacy more seriously and now is talking of having a real shot at his party’s nomination. Certainly many Democrats, assessing Buchanan as the kind of extremist whom voters historically have rejected, hope so. Certainly many Republicans, sharing that perception, grow shaky at the prospect of Buchanan as their nominee.

Four years ago Buchanan gave the GOP convention his take-no-prisoners vision of an America engaged in a cultural and religious war pitting the forces of light, for whom he claimed to speak, against the forces of darkness. He has not mellowed since then. He now speaks as an America First protectionist, peddling the fallacious notion that the world’s foremost trading nation can protect jobs and prosper by using tariffs to keep other countries’ products out of the domestic market, as if this wouldn’t invite job-destroying retaliation. Buchanan would outlaw abortion, end virtually all controls on guns, suspend legal immigration for five years and vastly diminish America’s global role. We believe that all of these ideas are wrongheaded and even imperiling. At least, though, they represent positions that can be argued. That can’t be said for many of Buchanan’s opinions touching on race, religion and gender.

Because Buchanan is a columnist and TV commentator, the record is long and well-documented. Conservative doyen William F. Buckley Jr., surveying that record, finds unmistakable evidence of anti-Semitism. William Bennett believes Buchanan has come close to flirting with fascism.

Racism is not far from the surface. Immigration policies, as Buchanan sees them, should be based on ethnicity; it’s OK to allow “Englishmen” in; “Zulus” are another matter. As for women, they are “simply not endowed by nature” to succeed in the workplace. “The momma bird builds the nest. So it was, so it shall ever be.” And so it goes.

It’s of course no coincidence that the Buchanan campaign has won the support of some whose ideas and priorities place them squarely in the extremist camp. One of them is Larry Pratt, until last week a campaign co-chairman. Pratt, president of Gun Owners of America and an advocate of armed citizen militias, has spoken before a number of right-wing and overtly racist groups. When Pratt’s associations became generally known, Buchanan agreed that he should step aside. Buchanan did not fire him, however, because, as he says, he stands by his friends. Besides, Buchanan says, exposing Pratt’s extremist links is simply part of an effort to smear him.

Hardly. As Buchanan himself has suggested when attacking President Clinton, it’s perfectly proper to look at a public figure’s friends, appointees and associates to get an insight into what the public figure really believes. Buchanan attracts some associates whose affinities and opinions--like Buchanan’s--clearly demand a close and wary look from every American voter. No one knows how far Buchanan will go in the race for his party’s nomination. But he’s running strong right now, and that’s making a lot of people, perhaps Republicans especially, nervous for good reason.