White Men Built This Country?

I love MSNBC. Actually, no, that is not a fair characterization. I love Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. In all honesty, they are the only two shows on the station I watch. I love them for their coverage of political news with a liberal slant, but always honest, thoughtful, and FACTUAL information and commentary. Having said this, I can now get to my point.

Pat Buchanan is a commentator for MSNBC. This seems like an oxymoron to me, but he is. And he appeared on Rachel's show last night. I, however, would not have known this til Sunday (I usually watch a week's worth of shows at a time) had I not also loved Twitter. And my, the Twitterverse was a flutter with the talk of their 16 minute exchange.

First, the link, copy and pasted out of my Twitter feed, giving recognition to the folks that enlightened me to this story.

RT @TheRootBuzz RT @tpmteevee: Pat Buchanan: White Men Built This Country (with Blacks as 'on-site consultants')

Yes, he actually says, "White men built this country." He also says, in response to Rachel's question as to why 108 of the 110 Supreme Court Justices have been white:

White men were 100% of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100% of the people that signed the Declaration of Independence, 100% of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100% of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a country built basically by white folks, who were 90% of the nation in 1960 when I was growing up and the other 10% were African-Americans who had been discriminated against. That's why.

I didn't even know where to start with my response, other than patting Rachel on the back for holding her own against his views. The 16 minutes go by fast, but it's dense with so many things I could and want to talk about. So, instead of getting myself all worked up, I'm passing along comments from Adam Sewer, person I follow on the site, that spoke to how I felt at the time. Please make sure to also catch the two linked articles below, as well.

@AdamSewer: Just saying, I'm pretty sure my ancestors were building this country while Pat Buchanan's were drinking mint juleps in the shade


@AdamSewer: Incidentally, I don't think Pat Buchanan should be fired. Here's why: Save Pat Buchanan

@AdamSewer: I think they should package and sell the Sotomayor hearings and Pat Buchanan's "white men" rant as a DVD set

Unfortunately, I've gone back 6 hours, 2 hours before I came in to work, but still can't find how I linked to this Huffington Post article about the Maddow segment.

If my feelings are still strong about this subject come Monday, I will have had plenty of time to let it all slosh around in my head and give a clear response to what I perceived as the racism still alive in this country. Pat Buchanan is just the only person with the guts to speak his mind.