Conservative MSNBC commentator and one-time long-shot presidential candidate Pat Buchanan is not exactly known for racial sensitivity, nor for defending the rights of racial minorities, nor for shying away from racially controversial statements. So it is all the more significant that Buchanan has condemned former Republican lawmaker Newt Gingrich's campaign against the Islamic cultural center planned for lower Manhattan. Gingrich recently compared the Muslim-Americans behind the center to Nazis, thus crossing a line that even Buchanan says is "too far." Calling Gingrich a "political opportunist" and his argument "absurd," Buchanan said, "There is no valid comparison there."

How do you get more attention than Sarah Palin, who's very good at this, is to go two steps further. I mean, I think bringing the Nazis into the argument is always absurd in American politics because there is no valid comparison there. And secondly, you know, you bring that in and that's all we start talking about.

Talking Points Memo's Jillian Rayfield adds, "This is the same Pat Buchanan who once asked the age-old question 'Did Hitler Want War?' in a column, and who has even dabbled in some out-and-out Holocaust denial in his day."

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