Buchanan shares ideas on war, politicians

By Corey G. Johnson
Staff writer

PEMBROKE — Political commentator Pat Buchanan warned Republicans on Tuesday that if U.S. troops are still in high numbers in Iraq by 2008, the presidency will be lost.

“If we are still in Iraq and not on our way out, I don’t see how the country will elect a Republican president,” Buchanan told a crowd of about 250 people at UNC-Pembroke.

Buchanan’s hourlong speech focused on why he thought the presidency and the country were “in trouble.” He peppered his observations about President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and immigration with jokes and historical anecdotes.

“The problem is Iraq has been around for 2,500 years. It’s never been a democracy,” said Buchanan, who is against the war. “Nineteen-year-old kids in the 82nd Airborne are going to make Iraq a democracy?”

Buchanan blamed failure in Iraq on what he called Bush’s arrogance, ignorance of history and the blind slavery to the ideology of neoconservatism. He compared the White House’s neoconservatism to worshiping a “false religion.”

“This neoconservatism is not true conservatism. It is the conservatism of those who I worked with in the White House,” said Buchanan, hinting at his days as a staffer in the Nixon White House.

He also urged the country to tighten the Mexican border to stem the tide of immigration.

“The Indians had a liberal immigration policy and look what happened to them,” Buchanan joked.

Buchanan closed his talk by sizing up the strength and weakness of the Democratic and Republican front-runners in the 2008 presidential campaign.

He predicted Hillary Clinton would emerge to compete against Mitt Romney when the dust settled. He praised Barack Obama’s speaking abilities but doubted voters would think he had enough experience to be president.

“I don’t think he can go the distance,” Buchanan said.

Erik Stancil, 20, said he agreed with Buchanan’s criticism of Bush but hoped he was wrong about Obama.

“We need someone who is of the people and can relate to them,” Stancil said of Obama. “But everything he said about Bush gets an amen out of me.”

Raymond Pearson, 20, said Buchanan’s speech inspired him to do more research before voting in 2008.

“I wasn’t that familiar with some of what he was talking about, but I agree that if we don’t address the immigration issue properly, then we are going to continue to have problems,” Pearson said.

Buchanan reiterated that he was not running for president in 2008, saying his 2000 experience of almost electing Al Gore was enough for him.

He said he would be satisfied if the current debate would hinge on the country’s leaders addressing questions such as “Where and when should the U.S. intervene in the world?” And, “Is it in our national interest to fight all these wars?”