Submit your comments on this article | |||
Home Front: Culture Wars | |||
VDH versus Pat Buchanan's WW2 revisionism | |||
2008-06-16 | |||
Pat Buchanan wrote a book blaming Winston Churchill for World War II. The mighty Victor Davis Hanson criticized it, and a couple of other "revisionist" publications, in a newspaper column. Buchanan stamped his tiny feet in rage and wrote nasty things about VDH. VDH, in return, gives Pitchfork Pat a ruthless (but fully deserved!) fisking: Patrick J. Buchanan got upset that I wrote a column about the World War II revisionists, especially his book, and that of Nicholson Baker’s on the allied “crimes” of bombing German cities. I produce his column by paragraph and then comment in brackets.
[In dealing with Mr. Buchanan, one must accept at the beginning two caveats. First, as is his style, he will always resort to ad hominem attacks in lieu of an argument. Thus note at the very beginning his sneering “court historian of the neoconservatives.” Second, Buchanan unfortunately is neither a reliable journalist nor an historian, and thus simply cannot be trusted to report accurately what is written. He says I charge him with “rewriting… facts” (note those convenient three dots). I did not charge him with rewriting facts, but simply advancing a thesis contrary to them: “Questioning the past is a good thing, but rewriting it contrary to facts is quite another.” (emphasis added) And I didn’t just criticize Buchanan’s book, but in a brief 750 word newspaper column lumped it together with the novelist Nicholson Baker’s (Human Smoke) equally critical attack on the allies in World War II—both as signs of the sorry state of historical revisionism that has sprung up in the climate of the Iraq war.
Both charges are false, and transparently so. Hanson cites not a single fact I got wrong and ignores the fact that the book is dedicated to my mother’s four brothers who fought in World War II. Moreover, the book begins by celebrating the greatness of the British nation and heroism of its soldier-sons. [Within a 350-word critique devoted to the theme of his book, I cited his misreading of the Versailles Treaty (see below), and his special pleading that serves to exculpate Hitler’s Nazi government. Again, the thesis of Buchanan’s’ book is not based on facts, but can only be advanced by contradicting them. And it has a disturbing habit of mechanically at times praising those who are his natural targets—or supposedly naive victims—of the book, as if that allows him to further denigrate their wisdom and sacrifice.] Go read the rest of it. | |||
Posted by:Mike |
#11 Buchanan's always been slimey. He thinks he's some kind of uber-intellectual and isn't afraid to let everyone know it, but his observations, deductions, and pontifications are so off the mark it's unbelievable that anyone listens to him anymore. And the Left does think that this guy is the face of the Republican Party. |
Posted by: FOTSGreg 2008-06-16 14:56 |
#10 Buchanan is a pathitic little man So was his hero. |
Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-06-16 14:30 |
#9 Christopher Hitchens reams him as well. http://www.newsweek.com/id/141501/page/3 |
Posted by: Deacon Blues 2008-06-16 14:14 |
#8 Buchanan is a pathitic little man that has turned into a buffoon, a left wingers caricature of a conservative, and a Nazi apologist. Pat, just go away you useless piece of filth. |
Posted by: OldSpook 2008-06-16 14:06 |
#7 Pat Buchanan first raised this theory in 1992 during the Republican Primary campaign, and saw his Presidential campaign collapse as a result. In typical Pat Buchanan fashion, he blamed the Jews for torpedoing his election bid. In 1992, Pat had the excuse that some of the Ultra transcripts had not been declassified yet. Now these transmissions are open knowledge and disprove Pat's theories. |
Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-06-16 12:29 |
#6 a) Buchanan's nativism verges on antiSemitism some times. b) The Sauds now own a chunk of Fox. |
Posted by: lotp 2008-06-16 12:11 |
#5 How many lefties think that Buchanan represents the right and Conservatives? This guy is so damaging that Hannity is irresponsible for putting him on (that is if he doesn't mock him). |
Posted by: rjschwarz 2008-06-16 11:06 |
#4 A cur always whines when it is justly whipped. |
Posted by: ebrown2 2008-06-16 09:43 |
#3 he's always on PMSNBC as the "house republican/conservative". Would anyone here pick him to represent those values? He's a populist liar and demagogue who got what, 10% of the convention's delegates? |
Posted by: Frank G 2008-06-16 09:31 |
#2 Buchanan has really gone off the rails. I have stopped listening the Hannity because he is on there a lot. I'm about to write Fox and tell them if they keep this loon on, I'll stop watching them too. Hateful little troll. |
Posted by: DarthVader 2008-06-16 09:27 |
#1 "Today Europe; Tommorow the World," Adolf Hilter. What else needs to he said? Check out this unintentionally funny Youtube post. Neo-Communists are putting their faith in Obama. See him speak, with the old Soviet anthem ("Song of the Motherland") playing in the background. I thought it was either a fake or a smear, but it isn't. http://www.bedavaizle.net/video/barack-obama-socialism-inspiration-ad/NI3Bskym1Do.html http://www.bedavaizle.net/tag/LENINMARXISM |
Posted by: McZoid 2008-06-16 08:37 |