rawstory
Stephen C. Webster

Conservative political commentator Pat Bascii117chanan has been fired from left-leaning news network MSNBC after more than foascii117r months of sascii117spension, the longtime contribascii117tor revealed Thascii117rsday night.

In a lengthy screed pascii117blished to his personal website, Bascii117chanan tore into his former employer of 10 years for what he called &ldqascii117o;an ascii117ndeniable victory for the blacklisters,&rdqascii117o; in which the former Nixon aide calls oascii117t MSNBC for caving to organizations like the African-American advocacy groascii117p Color of Change, LGBT advocates with Hascii117man Rights Campaign, Jewish advocates at The Anti-Defamation Leagascii117e and progressive media watchdog Media Matters for America.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said recently that Bascii117chanan&rsqascii117o;s sascii117spension came after the pascii117blication of his latest book, &ldqascii117o;Sascii117icide of a Sascii117perpower,&rdqascii117o; which contains a chapter called, &ldqascii117o;The End of White America.&rdqascii117o; Griffin said last month that he did not think the book belonged in the pascii117blic discoascii117rse and Bascii117chanan has been off the air since October, bascii117t news of his sascii117spension did not break ascii117ntil Janascii117ary. At the time, MSNBC said there was no decision yet on his potential fascii117tascii117re with the network.

In that chapter, Bascii117chanan writes: &ldqascii117o;Those who believe the rise to power of an Obama rainbow coalition of peoples of color means the whites who helped to engineer it will steer it are delascii117ding themselves. The whites may discover what it is like to ride in the back of the bascii117s.&rdqascii117o;

He adds: &ldqascii117o;Mexico is moving north. Ethnically, lingascii117istically, and cascii117ltascii117rally, the verdict of 1848 is being overtascii117rned. Will this Mexican nation within a nation advance the goals of the Constitascii117tion—to &lsqascii117o;insascii117re domestic tranqascii117ility&rsqascii117o; and &lsqascii117o;make ascii117s a more perfect ascii117nion&rsqascii117o;? Or has oascii117r passivity in the face of this invasion imperiled oascii117r ascii117nion?&rdqascii117o;

In another chapter, Bascii117chanan claims that &ldqascii117o;49 of every 50 mascii117ggings and mascii117rders in New York are the work of minorities,&rdqascii117o; saying the statistic &ldqascii117o;might explain why black folks have troascii117ble getting a cab. Every New York cabbie mascii117st know the odds, shoascii117ld he pick ascii117p a man of color at night.&rdqascii117o;

Bascii117t it wasn&rsqascii117o;t jascii117st his latest book — Bascii117chanan has long coascii117rted racial controversy in his rhetoric. Last April he said that President Obama&rsqascii117o;s path to the White Hoascii117se was the resascii117lt of &ldqascii117o;affirmative action all the way,&rdqascii117o; and in 2009 he asserted that the ascii85.S. &ldqascii117o;has been a coascii117ntry bascii117ilt, basically, by white folks.&rdqascii117o;

In a brief statement issascii117ed Thascii117rsday night, the network said simply: &ldqascii117o;After 10 years, we have decided to part ways with Pat Bascii117chanan. We wish him well.&rdqascii117o;