Pat Buchanan fired from MSNBC, blames the left

Pat Buchanan, a controversial conservative commentator, was fired from MSNBC on Thursday, four months after the network suspended him for the publication of his latest book, "Suicide of a Superpower," the Associated Press reported.

Buchanan, who spent 10 years at MSNBC after 20 years as host of CNN’s show “Cross Fire," blamed several liberal organizations for conspiring to bring about his dismissal. 

"After 10 enjoyable years, I am departing, after an incessant clamor from the left that to permit me continued access to the microphones of MSNBC would be an outrage against decency, and dangerous," Buchanan wrote in a fiery blog post on The American Conservative.

MSNBC's President Phil Griffin told the New York Times last month that Buchanan's future on the network was uncertain.

"The ideas he put forth aren't really appropriate for national dialogue, much less the dialogue on MSNBC," Griffin told the Times.

Buchanan's book contained chapters titled "The End of White America" and "The Death of Christian America," and several critics, including the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, and Media Matters, called the book racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic, charges Buchanan denied, according to the AP. 

"I know these blacklisters. They operate behind closed doors, with phone calls, mailed threats, and off-the-record meetings," Buchanan wrote. "They work in the dark because, as Al Smith said, nothing un-American can live in the sunlight."

However, the organizations insist they were public in their criticism of Buchanan's commentary. 

“We sent a letter and made the letter public,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman told the Washington Post, in response to Buchanan's allegations of secrecy. “I would say that I think he outed himself in the book and that’s the straw that convinced a lot of people that what we were saying was true.”

Buchanan, a former Republican presidential candidate, became increasingly out of place on MSNBC, which has emphasized more left-leaning commentary in recent years, according to the AP. However, he maintained a consistent presence on the network, including frequent appearances on host Rachel Maddow's show. 

MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski opposed their network's decision, Politico reported.  

"Even though we strongly disagree with the contents of Pat's latest book, Mika and I believe those differences should have been debated in public," Scarborough wrote on his Politico blog. "An open dialogue with Morning Joe regulars like Al Sharpton and Harold Ford, Jr. could have developed into an important debate on the future of race relations in America."