Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 10:08:10 -0500 (EST)
From: Louis N Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Buchanan: right-wing populist?


Louis:

"The Democrats are no doubt exultant that an 'extremist' like 
Buchanan is the current star of the Republican field. Down in Florida 
the chieftains of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. are meeting, pledging to throw 
millions into the effort to re-elect Bill Clinton. But can they count on 
the loyalty of their members? How many will listen to Buchanan, as 
they listened to George Wallace and later Ronald Reagan, and decide 
that he is the man speaking their language on jobs, wages, security? A 
few months ago Buchanan considered asking Marcy Kaptur, the left 
Democrat Rep from Ohio, to be on his ticket.

For his part, Buchanan can listen to his deepest instincts, rant on about 
homosexuals, throw red meat to the Christian right, and scare every 
middle-of-the-roader away, or he can deepen his message of populist 
economic nationalism: Us against the Money Power, Us against the 
World. Now that the Russians aren't a problem anymore, right-wing 
populists can go back to talking about the banks and Wall Street.

The elites must be feeling irked. Just when they had Clinton safely 
guiding the Democratic Party into well-patrolled corporate waters, 
with leftists purged or neutered, here comes a populist attacking big 
business, rocking their boat."

(Alex Cockburn, in March 11, Nation)



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