For many, the media coverage of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, a Sanford, Fla. youth, by accused neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, has left something to be desired. But according to Pat Buchanan, a former MSNBC contributor and author of “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” this was just an opportunity the media have been waiting to seize upon.
“These folks in the media see America as ‘Mississippi Burning,’” Buchanan said on Thursday night’s syndicated “The Jason Lewis Show.” “You know, 1964 — [Michael] Schwerner, [James] Chaney and [Andrew] Goodman were lynched by these Klansmen. They see America as full of these people who have got this hatred, this racial hatred in their heart all ready to come out. And they wait, and they wait and they wait until they get a single episode they think that proves their case against America. The problem is with so many — like the Tawana Brawley thing and the Duke rape case — they turn out to be hoaxes.”
Buchanan told Lewis’ listeners that it had appeared that Martin and Zimmerman had gotten in a fight and Zimmerman wound up shooting Martin in the course of the fight. But, he said, a charge of second-degree murder will be tough to prove.
“But the idea that this is second-degree murder is preposterous,” Buchanan said. “And I think that woman, whatever she said — I think she was influenced by the mere threats there are going to be riots or something if they don’t get an indictment.”
But he warned if there is an acquittal in this case, it could result in something comparable to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
“They’ll go wild and not only them but the other folks on the left say, ‘Injustice, if that guy walks, this is horrible,’ and you will stir things up,” Buchanan said. “And I would not be surprised if he didn’t get the same kind of situation — remember when the Simi Valley Four, those cops were acquitted in that first trial? That’s when you had the Los Angeles riots.”
According to Buchanan, that is something President Barack Obama doesn’t need because it might discourage voters in the middle from voting for him.
“If you get something like that, and Lord, I hope we don’t, but things are being stirred up so much,” he continued. “If you get something like that it will damaged Barack Obama severely because he doesn’t want politically certainly this country divided on the issue of race. He got 96 percent, 95 percent of the African-American vote. He can’t go any higher there. But people are looking at this — people in the middle and saying, ‘What is going on? Why don’t we let the law take its course?’”