Pat, You Loveable Fascist!

Pat Buchanan has been doing what he does best lately, namely pissing people off. His last two online columns have put forth a rather controversial question: Was World War II worth it? (His answer, for those of you who can’t guess, is no.) Admittedly, Buchanan makes a good point when he describes the Western Allies’ betrayal of Eastern Europe to the Soviets. More difficult to agree with are statements like this:

If the objective of the West was the destruction of Nazi Germany, it was a "smashing" success. But why destroy Hitler? If to liberate Germans, it was not worth it. After all, the Germans voted Hitler in…If it was to keep Hitler out of Central and Eastern Europe, then, inevitably, Stalin would inherit Central and Eastern Europe.

So Eastern Europeans would have been better off under the Nazis? And what about all of the Jews and gypsies? Oh, never mind. These columns are not a great shock for those of us who have followed Buchanan’s career; his racist leanings have been evident for quite some time. What is surprising is that a man with such obvious pro-Nazi attitudes is welcomed as a talk show panel member by both NBC and PBS.