A Christian Jihad
I probably should be surprised by this fucking insane remark by Pat Robertson, but it seems like par for the course for a political operative who’s been disguising himself as a religious man for more than forty years now. (via Atrios) :
There was a popular coup that overthrew him [Chavez]. And what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing. And as a result, within about 48 hours that coup was broken; Chavez was back in power, but we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he’s going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.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. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don’t think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United … This is in our sphere of influence, so we can’t let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.
Now think about this for a second…Pat Robertson – the founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Coalition – is calling for the murder of another human being. I cannot imagine how any honest Christian can look at this man and not come to the conclusion that he’s, at the very least, a complete fraud. The fact that the more devout members of the WWJD? crowd would follow Robertson rather than decry him as the anti-Christ tell you all you need to know about the personality-driven nature of “mainstream” (read : overbearing, xenophobic, paranoid, mass-media based subset of) Christianity in America.
This sort of thing makes my blood boil. I hate Christian sects that insist that their interpretation of the Bible is the only “true” Christianity, but I feel rather justified in saying that anyone who actively supports Pat Robertson’s ministries at this point is a “bad” Christian. There is no way you can reconcile Pat Robertson’s apparent bloodlust with the teachings of Jesus Christ. Period. Even attempting to justify a remark like this is tantamount to putting “thou shalt not kill” and “love thy neighbor” behind less important teachings like “thou shalt cover they televangelist’s ass”.
As far as the political aspects of a remark like this, I think it’s high time that the Democratic party borrow a page from the Republican playbook and insist that high-profile conservatives like George Bush, James Dobson, Bill Frist, John McCain, Rick Santorum, Tom DeLay and the like go on record about whether or not they agree with Pat Robertson’s call for the killing of Hugo Chavez. Do you agree that Chavez should be assassinated or not? Since you’ve been so willing to speak for Jesus in the past, do you think he’d support sending someone to murder the democratically elected leader of a foreign country?
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The general creepiness of Robertson’s sense of morals was driven home long, long ago to me back in the 1980s when I heard him heap praise on the RENAMO guerillas in Mozambique. At the time they were notorious for wholesale kidnapping, raping and murdering of civilians. (But they were doing it in the name of undermining a pro-Moscow government, so it was OK.)
Comment by David B. — August 22, 2005 @ 4:28 pm
Recently the Atlantic Monthly ran an interesting article on Peak Oil and what might happen to the US and global economies and political systems when the oil runs out. Interestingly, they started the crisis with Venezuala deciding to screw the US by making a deal with China to buy all their oil. So now we want to assasinate the guy? We better hold our noses and play nice if we want to drive our Hummers till the cows come home.
My personal moment of insight into Pat Robertson was learning that while he was a Marine shipped to Korea during the worst parts of the Korean War, young Pat phoned his Senator dad from Seoul (sp?) or Tokyo and arranged to be kept behind the lines while his buddies were moved into battle. Nice guy, if that’s true. My theory is the guy is just plain senile and no one has the guts to tell him. Someone should take away his car keys.
Comment by Tim — August 22, 2005 @ 10:32 pm
did he really just namedrop the Monroe doctrine? does he even know what that was?
what the hell is wrong with these people?
Comment by almostinfamous — August 23, 2005 @ 12:26 am
What exactly would the assasination do?
I am not sure if I agree or not with it, but what I do not agree with is that a man of God is thinking killing ANYONE is a good idea. Then again, many right wing Christians seem to not understand their own religion or the mixed messages.
Comment by Kryten Syxx — August 23, 2005 @ 5:31 am
“…launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism”? WTF?!? Commies AND Muslims…?!?
“Next thing you know they’ll be joining up with the gays and lesbians and Satanists and… Michael Moore!”
Robertson needs to be retired. If anyone in his organization has the guts, they will. Or maybe this is just more red meat for their base.
But you’re exactly right about the political aspect: our leaders need their feet held to the fire — metaphorically, that’s all! — over this question.
“Show me the chapter and verse where Jesus said assassination is just okey-dokey…”
Comment by Jeff (no, the other one) — August 23, 2005 @ 6:32 am
Pat Robertson suggests Hugo Chávez be assassinated
From Media Matters… From the August 22 broadcast of The 700 Club: ROBERTSON: There was a popular coup that overthrew…
Trackback by Danny Carlton: codenamed "Jack Lewis" — August 23, 2005 @ 7:38 am
Yeah, I really enjoyed that whole communist and Muslim extremists sharing the same luanching pad.
I’m so glad they’ve worked out there differences over that nasty little spat in Afghanistan.
Pat Robertson, a man with a vision of peace.
Comment by Stephen — August 23, 2005 @ 8:46 am
WTFWJD? Would Jesus order the assassination of Chavez? This is a man that prays that another seat on the SCOTUS will open up (death of a SC justice?) but wants to stand up for fetuses (feti?) and Schiavo but kill those alive that don’t fit into his world view? I’m missing that whole “Culture of Life” thing, or at least I’m confused and need it explained to me, like Cindy Sheehan would like to have the war (of aggression) explained to her.
And AFAIK, Jesus was a bit of a Communist, wasn’t he? He didn’t think it was right to amass wealth while others suffered. Something about a camel and the eye of a needle. As it is, Pat is probably trying to get the non-passage “God helps those who helps themselves” inserted into the KJV, probably in 3rd Corinthians.
Comment by REB — August 23, 2005 @ 9:06 am
I should note that Robertson is completely consistent here (in the same way a rabid dog consistently foams at the mouth, but monkeyfuck insane consistent nontheless). As a strict isolationist (we’ve got God, the rest of the world can go to hell), he was against the Iraq adventure from the start (one of the few wingnuts who challenged Georgie Porgie on the issue). I’m sure he challenged George (’cause they talk although tomorrow the White House will say Pat “never heard of the Guy” Robertson?) to save money and lives by going after Sadam (and his whole family) and skipping the invasion part. Of course, that would have landed us in precisely the same place we are now, but maybe would have made it easier to steal their oil (less infrastructure damage don’t you know).
Christian’s should be lining up to condemn Robertson and cut him off.
Comment by gord brown — August 23, 2005 @ 5:49 pm
Uptown Ruler at Scrutiny Hooligans points out that Robertson’s plan to assassinate Chavez makes him a terrorist under U.S. law:
” U.S. Law Title 18 Section 2331 which defines terrorism.
(1) the term “international terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping…”
Comment by Screwy Hoolie — August 24, 2005 @ 8:00 pm
I AM JUST SICK of talking about it, hinting at it and knowing euthanizing you animals is the only to cleanse America of evil liberalism. And why not? Bush is in office. If We began a systematic cleansing of America, say, gassing San Francisco and Boston, just who would stop us? The National Guard? The Armed Forces? They’d be applauding! Along with our President! Once We experience the first glorious victory and get the nod from our President, our ranks will grow and We will grow bolder and move to exterminate the scum that gives aid and comfort to the millions upon millions of terrorists here and abroad that are conspiring to bring America to ruin. We must be brave like patriot McVeigh. Once united We can bring freedom to the world instead of negotiating with third world scum in holes like N Korea and Iran. Liberate! Irradiate! Exterminate!
Comment by Likewow — August 27, 2005 @ 9:35 pm