For the fifth time in four days, an NBC-affiliated program hosted Pat Buchanan to promote his new book, State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America (Thomas Dunne Books, August 2006), which, as the weblog Think Progress has noted, asserts that the United States must keep “Americans of European descent” from becoming the “minority” in order to “survive[].”On the August 24 broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews introduced Buchanan, an MSNBC political analyst and former presidential candidate, by announcing that State of Emergency is “currently number one on Amazon” and that “thanks to this show,” “it'll probably stay there.”

As Think Progress noted, Buchanan's book is filled with controversial statements about the threat of immigration; it criticizes The Washington Times for “summarily fir[ing]” columnist Sam Francis, now deceased, for claiming that, in Buchanan's words, “Western civilization was superior and that only Europeans could have created it.” Referring to Francis's claim that race is “the Great Taboo,” Buchanan wrote that “to submit to the Great Taboo is like not telling one's doctor of a recurring pain that could kill you.” As Media Matters documented, Buchanan's book also includes the following claims about the purported threat of immigration:

• “This [immigration] is an invasion, the greatest invasion in history.” [p. 5]
• “We are witnessing how nations perish. We are entered upon the final act of our civilization. The last scene is the deconstruction of the nations. The penultimate scene, now well underway, is the invasion unresisted.” [p. 6]
• “Chicano chauvinists and Mexican agents have made clear their intent to take back through demography and culture what their ancestors lost through war.” [p. 12]
• "[W]e are in the midst of a savage culture war in which traditionalist values have been losing ground for two generations." [p. 28]

On Hardball, Buchanan repeated his claim, as he detailed during his August 21 appearance on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, that the “reconquista ... is well underway.” As Media Matters has noted, “reconquista” is a term associated with the movement to recapture the southwestern United States for Mexico. Buchanan explained that the difference between Irish immigrants and illegal Mexican immigrants, in his opinion, is that “the Irish didn't say 'Hey, you Americans stole our country and we'd like the East Coast back.' The folks in Mexico believe” the southwestern United States “belongs to them.” As evidence, Buchanan claimed that Mexican immigrants “are not assimilating. They remain loyal, patriotic, loving Mexican citizens” who “maintain their culture, their language, their identity.” Matthews later appeared to agree with Buchanan's assertions that Mexican-Americans do not assimilate, saying, “I don't think anybody out there pushing Spanish is trying to unite this country.”

This is the fifth time in four days that Buchanan has appeared on NBC or an NBC-owned cable channel to promote his new book. As Media Matters has previously noted, Buchanan also appeared on the August 23 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, as well as on the August 23 edition of CNBC's Kudlow & Company, the August 22 edition of NBC's Today, and the August 21 edition of Imus in the Morning.

From the August 24 broadcast of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: Welcome back to Hardball. Are illegal immigrants from Mexico invading the United States? Is Mexico encouraging its poor to hop the fence to greener pastures? Is George Bush inaction an impeachable offense? Here to answer all those questions in a certain way is Patrick J. Buchanan, MSNBC political analyst and the author of State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America. It's currently number one on Amazon. It'll probably stay there for a while thanks to this show.

Pat -- thank you for joining us. Why is George -- let's talk politics. Politics is what you and I have in common. We may not agree about it, but we both are fascinated by it. Why is George Bush pro-Mexican immigrant? Period. Legal or not? Why does he like it?

[...]

MATTHEWS: So, it's numbers you don't like. It's the numbers. It's not the people.

BUCHANAN: It is not only the numbers, the Irish didn't say, “Hey, you Americans stole our country and we'd like the East Coast back.” The folks in Mexico believe, 58 percent of them, believe southeastern United States -- southwest -- belongs to them. Secondly, they come into the country, they are not assimilating. They remain loyal, patriotic, loving Mexican citizens. They maintain their culture, their language, their identity. The numbers are huge.

[...]

MATTHEWS: That's old politics. That is old ethnic politics. It's been going around forever. Keep the communities isolated, keep them unassimilated, then you can own them. I accept that part of it. And I don't think anybody out there pushing Spanish is trying to unite this country.

BUCHANAN: All right, let's take crime.

MATTHEWS: But I think you got to -- here's one challenge I want to put to you. How do you stop -- let's assume the fact we're stuck with who's here just the way it is. How to you stop the guys coming over tonight? That's what I keep asking people. Let's deal with this as a dynamic. There's people trying to get over tonight. Is anything really going to stop them as long as there's a job here for them?

BUCHANAN: Sure. You get a 2,000-mile security fence over there, and the huge crowds coming in will be stopped. Border Patrol can handle the rest. Then you start prosecuting businessmen. Then you cut off all welfare. Then you interpret the 14th Amendment to say, “Look. Look, sweetie, you can come over here and have your kid in the hospital -- we'll take care of you -- but you and the child are going back, 'cause the child is not an American citizen under the 14th amendment; it's got to be under the jurisdiction thereof. And you're an illegal alien, so you weren't under our jurisdiction, so the child's not an automatic citizen.”

Remove the magnets in this country, Chris. A security border along the border, Eisenhower there -- one million tried to come in 1954 -- Eisenhower called in this tough general, [then-commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service Lt. Gen.] Joseph May Swing, and said, “Deal with it.” They dealt with it. They were deporting everybody. The problem was solved. What's lacking is courage and will and intestinal fortitude.