Wow. A TV preacher says the leader of one of our nation’s biggest oil suppliers should be whacked. That’s over the top even for Pat Robertson.
But old Pat “700 Club-Send-Me-Your-Cash” Robertson is calling for a hit on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Although Robertson’s pal GW doesn’t like Hugo very much, the Department of Condeleezza is distancing itself from the nutcase evangelist.
“These comments are inappropriate,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. “They do not represent the policy of the United States. And I would add that any accusations, or any idea that we are planning to take hostile action against Venezuela or the Venezuelan government, any ideas to that regard, are totally without fact and baseless.”
Just the same, I’d be watching for button men if I were Chavez.
I confess that it has been a long while sense I’ve seen the inside of a church. Well it was Easter of 2004 when I worked as a reporter and covered GW, his family and Condi attending services at Fort Hood. But I seem to remember something about God and love. I guess if you think you are God like Robertson seems to do, you can twist supposedly important religious and social tenets like “Thou shall not kill” anyway you want to.
Yes, I’m sure Hugo Chavez doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities as far as our government is concerned. But it is just enormously stupid for Pat Robertson, one of the original gang of Religious Right-wingers, to call for anyone’s killing. It reminds me of the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for a hit on Salman Rushdie. Except the Ayatollah wasn’t as telegenic as Pat. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!