Apparently MSNBC's resident bigot, Pat Buchanan, wasn't terribly thrilled with Warren Buffett's op-ed in the New York Times that John wrote about here earlier today -- Warren Buffett tells US Gov't: 'Stop Coddling The Super-Rich'. It seems Buchanan
August 15, 2011

Apparently MSNBC's resident bigot, Pat Buchanan, wasn't terribly thrilled with Warren Buffett's op-ed in the New York Times that John wrote about here earlier today -- Warren Buffett tells US Gov't: 'Stop Coddling The Super-Rich'. It seems Buchanan has a little bit of trouble understanding why taxes should not be voluntary and that just Warren Buffett and a few other willing billionaires sending some more money to the government out of the goodness of their hearts isn't going to solve our budget problems.

BUCHANAN: No, I’m writing a note to Warren Buffett. But look, I’m a little fed up with these people who come on, you know, their big op-eds, all these admonitions. Why doesn’t he set an example and send a check for $5 billion to the federal government? He’s got about $40 billion. You know, you had a plan up there, I talked to Howie Carr in Boston where the super-rich could contribute an extra amount. It was something like one-tenth of one percent did it. You get all this noise from these big rich folks. Let them send checks and set an example instead of writing op-eds. What do you think of that partner?

This isn't the first time I've heard conservatives spout this kind of nonsense. It's just a way to take a cheap shot at Buffett by pretending he doesn't care about the problem if he doesn't voluntarily send the government some more money on his own instead of urging lawmakers to actually fix the problem.

I also found it amusing to listen to Buchanan and his buddies Willie Geist, Mark Halperin and Mike Barnicle follow up talking about "tax reform" which is just code for lowering the rates on the rich even further and pretending they'll ever agree to close the loopholes that the Republicans stubbornly defended during this entire debt ceiling debacle.

Buchanan also said he thinks if the President did work with Republicans on "tax reform" and follow that with saying "now we're going to have some pain on entitlements" that the "tea party" would support him, even though his base would hate it (because there's nothing our beltway Villagers love more than some good old hippie-punching to make their day) and that if he did those two things "I'm convinced the President could put together a package that would make him a dramatic leader and to get him reelected."

Because I'm sure Pat Buchanan just has the best interests of President Obama and his reelection efforts at heart. It's time for MSNBC to retire this relic or this whole show for that matter. Morning Joe is as bad as some of the worst that airs on Fox every day, but the rest of our corporate media wants to pretend the network is "liberal."

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