I have believed in this policy since I started studying Ronald Reagan in Junior High, but recently the pattern has reached an apparent spike. Who do we thank for this? Pat Robertson and America's darling, Bill O'Reilly.
It all started in August, when Pat Robertson, in his righteous, "praise Jesus" might,
called upon the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. This stirred up a ton of coverage and denouncements by everyone except Pat Robertson. Yes, he apologized, but he did so in the same kind of "Fine, I'm sorry" tone that a child does when he's caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He wasn't sorry for his statements; he was sorry because people didn't like his statements.
Then there is Bill O'Reilly, who has now twice (in the past month) stirred up controversy by wishing death on foreign leaders. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Bill O'Reilly was on his radio program, when he made the odd-hand remark that he had wished that Katrina had flooded out the UN building, noting that he wouldn't save them. Very smooth, Mr. O'Reilly. To take a fact that was originally pointed out by God (Keith Olbermann), if Katrina had flooded out the UN building, odds are that the same storm would have flooded out the Fox News offices, a mere five blocks away.
But now O'Reilly has topped himself, endorsing the assassination of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
How are we supposed to rally world support when we have people like Bill O'Reilly and "Reverend" Pat Robertson calling for the heads of world leaders? Venezuela, at last check, was calling for the extradition of Robertson to stand trial. I say "GOOD!" Let Robertson stand trial for what he has done, and if God thinks his words were acceptable, surely Robertson will wind up back in this great land.
I only hope it's a matter of time before we hear about Bashar in an uproar over O'Reilly's remarks. To me, they are just as bad. Ally or not.
For me, myself and I, I'm Jim Walker.