Word: buchananism
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This is why Buchanan can be running a strong second and can still seem to analysts more an irritant than a threat. The emotions he stirs are intense, both for him and against him. His negative ratings have consistently been roughly double the percentage of people who support him. Even some political operatives are wary of the risks. Sal Russo, a respected G.O.P. consultant in Sacramento, California, says he advised Pete Wilson to beware the fearmongering. "When you take that negative, finger-pointing path, you polarize your potential support. That means you can get to 50%, but it's hard...
...evangelical fervor, when Buchanan talks about reclaiming the presidency as a bully pulpit, the operative word is more "bully" than "pulpit." He pulls no punches, whether he is attacking the weak or the powerful. And simply by standing up and preaching with such apparent conviction, speaking the unspeakable and crossing the lines of polite political discourse, Buchanan distinguishes himself from every candidate who ever waffled or wavered or hinted or hedged. As the '96 race stands, that distinction promises to carry him a long...
...full-throated way. Only one decries the "stagnant wages of an alienated working class" and lambastes overpaid CEOs. Only one is going beyond standard Republican indictments of the "intellectual elite" to attack the financial elite, venturing beyond cultural populism into full-fledged economic populism. And that candidate is Pat Buchanan--not exactly the dream nominee of Gingrich and the rest of the Republican leadership...
...problem, from their point of view, isn't just Buchanan's reputation as (depending on which of his critics you consult) a demagogue, an anti-Semite or a closet fascist. Equally problematic is his eclectic extremism--far right on social issues, well to the left on trade, a frequent dissenter from the party line...
...mainstream Republicans flummoxed. A close look at the logic of income inequality and stagnant wages suggests that the ideology of people like Bob Dole and Phil Gramm may leave them at least as "impotent" on the issue as Clinton, if not more so. And a close look at Buchanan's attempt to fashion a maverick Republican cure for the problem only underscores that prospect...