Chicago Tribune | Televangelist Calls for Chavez’ Death
Yes, he thinks our gummint should send some special ops guys in to kill Chavez, because it’s cheaper than starting a war to take out a nasty horrible anti-Bushite, and by the way the oil won’t stop flowing.
You know what? Pat Robertson is a kook. He’s been saying kooky, wacky, zany things for years. So why is he a major religious leader? Is he the head of a movement made up of other like-minded people? Sometimes I wonder.
Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to “kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
Some people actually would agree with the above statement. With only minor alterations, it sounds like something dating from the time of the Salem Witch Trials, with a similar basis in reality.
UPDATE: So amusing to watch people back away slowly… in some cases, vociferously. It’s delicious, it’s delightful!
NORAH O’DONNELL, ANCHOR MSNBC-TV: What do make of what Pat Robertson said?
MARVIN OLASKY, SENIOR EDITOR ‘WORLD MAGAZINE’: Well Pat’s 75, he’s had a live television show for decades, and sometimes he blurts things out. He doesn’t represent Evangelicals, and I hope that people in Venezuela don’t think that he represents the United States.
O’DONNELL: You mean he doesn’t represent Evangelicals in general? Or when he makes this particular comment out assassinating Chavez because it would be cheaper that going to war with him?
OLASKY: Well both. Biblically, assassination may be used in times of war, last time I looked we were not at war with Venezuela. We’re supposed to pray for those in government and those around the world in positions of leadership, not assassinate them.
So he doesn’t represent a Christian view as far as his interpretation of scripture, and I’m not sure he represents how many people he represents in the Evangelical community.
He ran for president 17 years ago, and at the peak of his popularity he didn’t get a whole lot of votes, so I’m not sure what clout he really these days either.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Bush administration swiftly distanced itself Tuesday from a suggestion by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson that American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, long at odds with U.S. foreign policy.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, appearing at a Pentagon news conference, said when asked: “Our department doesn’t do that kind of thing. It’s against the law. He’s a private citizen. Private citizens say all kinds of things all the time.”
The State Department spokesman, Sean McCormack, said at a briefing in Washington: “Allegations that we are planning to take hostile action against the Venezuelan government are completely baseless and without fact.
“I have been very clear that this is not the policy of the United States government. We do not share his views. And his comments are inappropriate.”
One liberal watchdog group, Media Matters for America, is calling for the ABC Family network to stop carrying Mr. Robertson’s program, and another group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has asked President Bush to repudiate Mr. Roberson personally. Mr. Robertson, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination, has often used his program to drum up support for President Bush and his policies.
In interviews, a few of Mr. Robertson’s allies in conservative Christian political causes distanced themselves from his comments, but many more demurred.
The Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals, said he and “most evangelical leaders” would disassociate themselves from such “unfortunate and particularly irresponsible” comments.
“It complicates circumstances for foreign missionaries and Christian aid workers overseas who are already perceived, wrongly, especially by leftists and other leaders, as collaborators with U.S. intelligence agencies,” he added.
The Venezuelan response:
Winding up a visit to Cuba, Chavez said in response to questions from reporters at Havana’s airport that he did not have information about Robertson’s comments.
“I haven’t read anything. We haven’t heard anything about him,” Chavez said. “I don’t even know who that person is.”
But Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the U.S. response to Robertson would be a test of its anti-terrorist policy and that Venezuela was studying its legal options.
“The ball is in the U.S. court, after this criminal statement by a citizen of that country,” Rangel said. “It’s a huge hypocrisy to maintain this discourse against terrorism and at the same time, in the heart of that country, there are entirely terrorist statements like those.”
Rangel called Robertson “a man who seems to have quite a bit of influence in that country,” adding sarcastically that his words were “very Christian.” He said the comments “reveal that religious fundamentalism is one of the great problems facing humanity in these times.”
MMMMmmmmm! Tasty political snark!