Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has suggested that American agents assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming ``a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.'' An official of a theological watchdog group on Tuesday criticized Robertson's statement as ``chilling.''
Robertson's comment's:
``We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,'' Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's ``The 700 Club.''
``We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator,'' he continued.
``It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.''
``You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it,'' Robertson said. ``It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop.''
GOI: Obviously this Christian zealot does not know how to read because if he did then he would have the commandment, "Thou shall not kill" burned into his memory. Robertson's demand is illegal since President Ford to Reagan have said assassination of head's of state is illegal.
Robertson's comments are sickenly irresponsible since he is a pillar in the Christian community being the head of the Christian Coalition and the nationally syndciated Christian program, "The 700 Club."
Even more disturbing about his comments is that they mirror extremist Muslim clerics calling for the assassination of western leaders.
He should apologize and retract such incendiary comments and Bush should speak out and condemn these remarks. Especially since Bush has relied heavily on the efforts of right-wing Christian extremists such as Robertson for becoming President in 2000 and 2004.
He needs to distance himself from Robertson's comments.
UPDATE: I've been thinking about this some more and marinating it in my brain while listening to radio shows and I think that he should loose his television license. If we fined CBS big time for the infamous Janet Jackson boob exposure then surely this qualifies for a huge fine and more!
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13 comments:
ok...I have to stay out of politics, or I get way to pissed off. However, I had to let you know....your profile pic on this blog is mighty fine!
oops...."too" pissed off...hehe
This looks like another high-profile preacher who is spontaneously combusting.
When a conservative becomes this much of a wingnut I don't think he's dangerous. He is just letting us know that he is fading, fading, fading away ...
shannin: ::blush:: Thank-you.
Tom: Yeah, I agree with you but I think that President Bush should come out and comdemn this kind of talk. We certainly would not put up with an Islamic cleric saying the head of state of a western country should be assassinated.
Chavez comes out looking like a rose in this...
http://dailykos.com/story/2005/8/24/81215/8906
anyone have Robertson's email. It has been removed from the 700 club site....?
jessica: thanks for the link. Yeah, Chavez does come off looking a lot better then Robertson paints him.
James,
I am in favor of letting conservatives babble on. It exposes what and how they really think and is the best advertising FOR the Democrats that there is.
Bush should make it clear that Robertson doesn't speak for the administration, but I think it would be somewhat hypocritical for him to condemn Robertson's words: A few years ago Bush lauded the overthrow of Chavez, the democratically elected president. [Chavez returned to power three days later.]
Robertson has broken a second commandment...still waiting on details...
The Bush administration has not yet condemned the remarks. I guess they really don't believe in it.
Tom: good point.
Robertson says was he was misinterpreted in his remarks about Hugo Chavez:
"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time."
They could, for example, "take him out" to lunch... or even "take him out" to the ballgame. How, oh how could the media have gotten this so wrong? So terribly terribly wrong? Perhaps that he used the word assassination in his immediately preceding sentence had something to do with it.
I gotta agree with your update. Robertson's suggestions were violent indeed. This guy called for the murder of a president on a family show. This stuff is tolerated though because he hides behind God. This stuff needs to stop. I agree Robertson should be fined by the FCC. But I doubt it will happen.
paolo: "Take him out" to lunch!! HAHA!! I LOVE IT!!!!
mj: yeah, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. he has made a name for himself by insulting everything and everyone not associated with his beliefs.
It goes to show that Islam doesn't hold a monopoly on religious fanaticism. Stuff like this sickens me.
On another blog that I read earlier today, there was a lot of talk about how Chavez won in a corrupt election that President Carter (for some reason) endorsed. That was the "fact" presented there, laced with how much opinion I don't know. But if media outlets are now saying that Chavez has better than 70% of his people backing him, perhaps the election was more legitimate than some people want to admit.
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