Stephen Maturin

For anyone who's interested, there's a transcript <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/news/781316.asp" target="_blank">here</a>. The Pledge "debate" starts about halfway down the page.

It appears that Donahue is same frenetic, marginally competent blowhard he's always been. Buchanan is, well, Buchanan. Here's a taste of the genius you'll encounter while reading the transcript:

Did this sound as bad as it reads? Pat appears to be saying, "Don't like it? Then sit down and shut up!" I was hoping against hope that Buchanan might quiet down for awhile after pulling off that $16 million dollar raid on the federal treasury in connection with his last presidential campaign. No such luck, though.

Chad

I remember hearing someone quote Buchanan as having said that atheists are worse than child molestors. Can anyone confirm this statement?

ksagnostic

Unless Phil has changed his opinion in the years since his show went off the air, he is a self professed agnostic. Regarding "God bless America!", who knows? His tone came across to me as tongue in cheek. I think there was a personal, almost jocular, aspect to the exchange between Donahue and Buchanan that a lot of you are missing. Like I said in the Donahue discussion in the Media forum, I think a lot of people here don't really get Pat Buchanan (or Bob Novak for that matter). Yes, he's an extreme conservative with extreme beliefs and extreme rhetoric. But that doesn't mean he doesn't like us.

Or maybe it was just Donahue's catholic education rearing its head.



Edited to add

Donahue is Irish Catholic by upbringing, and is a product of a Catholic education (in fact he's an alumunus of Notre Dame). I'll see if I can find a relevant quote, but he has in the past stated that he is agnostic on his show, and in interviews.

[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: ksagnostic ]</p>

Amazon

Hey, I actually wrote that letter based on the points I made on page one of this thread.
It's a reeeeeeeally long letter (about 2 pages in size 10 font), so I'm going to send the whole thing, plus smaller snippets to all my local papers, separately. They can print the whole thing if they want, but I realize they are more inclined to print the little blurbs.
I borrowed generously from my eloquent fellow infidels on this forum, and took a sentence or two from an FFRF non-tract. I just wanted to clear the air. Who knows - maybe someone will want to set the record straight as much as we do.

I won't post it unless asked, since it is long. I may put it in another thread to see if people want to comment.