Surprised this wasn't blogged before the database went down, so I'm taking it ...
Barely 12 hours after initially denying he ever called for Hugo Chavez' assassination, Pat Robertson is hedging. He issued a written statement that he officially characterizes as a "clarification" of his remarks. A close reading of his statement, and you'll understand why I put "apologizes" in quotes--because this Christian Dem isn't buying it.
I want to take this opportunity to clarify remarks made on the Monday, August 22nd edition of The 700 Club where I adlibbed a comment following a very brilliant analysis by Dale Hurd of the danger that the United States faces from the out-of-control dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. In this story, Col. Chavez repeatedly claimed that Americans were "trying to assassinate him."
[...]
Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him.
If you'd just ended there, Pat, you'd have been fine. But the guy never, ever admits that he initially lied about never calling for the assassination in the first place.
But then, oh then, in true Robertsonian style, he turns his statement into a moment of self-aggrandizing.
The brilliant Protestant theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lived under the hellish conditions of Nazi Germany, is reported to have said:
"If I see a madman driving a car into a group of innocent bystanders, then I can't, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe and then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver."
On the strength of this reasoning, Bonhoeffer decided to lend his support to those in Germany who had joined together in an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer was imprisoned and killed by the Nazis, but his example deserves our respect and consideration today.
There are many who disagree with my comments, and I respect their opinions. There are others who think that stopping a dictator is the appropriate course of action. In any event, the incredible publicity surrounding my remarks has focused our government's attention on a growing problem which has been largely ignored.
When I first heard this last night at work, I figured his sudden change of heart came because ABC's lawyers must have found an out that would have allowed them to pull the plug on their contract with him. For those who don't know, when Robertson sold the Family Channel to Fox, he did so on condition that the network would show "The 700 Club" twice a day. That arrangement screwed any attempt for Fox to build program contitunity, so it dumped the network off to ABC--but the provision is still there. Methinks that ABC got its back up amidst all the criticism.
I had a hunch all yesterday that this incident is going to tank Robertson much the same way that Oral Roberts went in the crapper after his infamous "God will call me home" speech. I still do--especially since we haven't seen anything pass from Robertson's lips instead of his computer.
