Pat Robertson shows again why the Christian Right is such a laughingstock

In a direct transcript of his August 22 The 700 Club broadcast Robertson clearly says: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.

There was a popular coup that overthrew him.

Crap, late by about 30 seconds. Just when I had something to add to a thread...

scrafinator writes:Unthinking Conservative rule #78:Always remember that you are part of THE TEAM! You must NEVER criticize any other menber of THE TEAM, no matter how crazy they sound or how immorally or criminaly they behave!

Monk writes:I don't think his comments were ambiguous either. He's going to pay a price for those comments and his attempted retractions are going to dig a deeper hole.

You know, Monk, I truly hope you're right. However, personally, I have my doubts that anything will come of this. Not to turn this onto some sort of "right" vs "left" thing, but going on past experiences, I have a feeling that this too will simply blow over.

Tal writes:And it is a far cry from what other Radical Clerics fail to do, retract there statements.

Is anybody surprised that Pat would lie when his tail gets caught in a crack? For someone who supposedy promotes Christian values and the Ten Commandments (though I guess it all depends on what the meaning of "false witness" is, Pat is perfectly willing to play fast and loose with the truth when it suits him. And he doesn't even have the excuse of "lying for Jesus" this time. This is lying to save his sorry butt from having to apologize.