Patrick J Buchanan

Commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cut short an appearance in Kalamazoo after an opponent of his conservative views doused him with salad dressing. "Stop the bigotry!" the demonstrator shouted as he hurled the liquid during the program at Western Michigan University. After he was hit, Buchanan cut short his question-and-answer session, saying, "Thank you all for coming, but I'm going to have to get my hair washed."

Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan, a onetime speechwriter for President Nixon, provided the expected thunder on the right Wednesday, characterizing W. Mark Felt as "dishonorable" for leaking information about Watergate to the Washington Post. Saying "Deep Throat" is "not a hero ... he's a snake," Buchanan compared Felt to Linda Tripp, who helped precipitate President Clinton's impeachment by leaking tapes of her conversations with Monica S. Lewinsky.

Patrick J. Buchanan challenged conservative voters Friday to rethink their commitment to the Republican Party, saying the GOP has become indistinguishable from the Democratic Party. "Our two Beltway parties have become two wings of the same bird of prey," Buchanan said in a speech to the 27th annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Buchanan, who left the GOP in October to seek the Reform Party presidential nomination, accused the two White House front-runners, Republican George W.

Gov. Jesse Ventura, the Reform Party's highest elected official, pulled out of the party Friday, declaring it "dysfunctional" and branding its sole presidential candidate, Patrick J. Buchanan, an extremist. His departure further hobbles an already limping third-party movement. Ventura sharply criticized the candidacy of Buchanan, a conservative commentator and former Republican.

Reform Party presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan attacked both Democrats and Republicans on Thursday as "Beltway parties" that are not serious about breaking free of the cash provided by special interests, as he offered for the first time specific details of his plan to revise campaign finance laws.

Reform Party presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan on Monday demanded to participate in this year's presidential debates, saying that Republicans and Democrats are conspiring to rob the third party of any chance to win the White House.

Members of the California Reform Party decided against a proposal to split away from the national organization as a way to deny Patrick J. Buchanan the party's spot on the presidential ballot in the nation's most populous state. The rejection came Sunday on a show of credentials after some said they could not bear breaking up the party, however temporarily, to thwart the conservative commentator. The party members were meeting in Los Angeles.

Reform Party presidential hopeful Patrick J. Buchanan lashed out Thursday at Gov. George W. Bush for removing Civil War commemorative plaques from the Texas high court building. "Mr. Bush is kowtowing to the NAACP, quite frankly," Buchanan said at a news conference. "Removal of [Confederate] plaques that respected and honored Southern heritage is an act of political vandalism which tells us that 'compassionate conservatism' is but a synonym for squishy Republicanism."

Liberal activist Lenora Fulani resigned from Patrick J. Buchanan's presidential campaign and withdrew her support, saying the socially conservative candidate has divided the Reform Party by excluding other viewpoints. In a letter announcing her resignation as campaign co-chairwoman, Fulani said Buchanan put his conservative issues above their common interests in political reform, trade and foreign policy.

Leaders of the Commission on Presidential Debates defended their decision to exclude candidates who draw less than 15% in national polls, arguing that anyone falling below that threshold doesn't have a realistic shot at the presidency. Their defense Wednesday came as third party candidates Patrick J. Buchanan and Ralph Nader complained that they can't win if they are shut out of the high-profile prime-time fall debates.