Robertson: U.S. should 'take out' Venezuela's Chavez
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/23/robert ... index.html

Christian broadcaster says 'cheaper than starting a war'

(CNN) -- Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

Robertson, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, called Chavez "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly."

"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said. "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one 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."

Robertson accused Chavez, a left-wing populist with close ties to Cuban President Fidel Castro, of trying to make Venezuela "a launching pad for Communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent."

"This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen," he said.

You only hate Pat Robertson because you love Marilyn Manson.

in a weird way I agree with him - i'd rather have a few assasinations than a war... i'd rather have neither, but in an either/or game...

Oh, that Pat!

He needs a reality show or sitcom. James Dobson can stop by and join in the zany hijinks.

I was referring more to the fact that he wants to assassinate a democratically elected leader in general.



Yes.

I couldn't hardly believe it when I read an article about what he said this morning. Someone needs to tell him The Cold War is dead and we need no longer enforce Reagan Doctrine. We shouldn't even be wasting time trying to rid Latin American countries of Democratic Socialists, when we are in the process of eliminating the trade embargo with Cuba.
The fact that Pat Robertson and The 700 still have some credibility and that he is allowed to be viewed as a legitimate political commentator on Cable News Networks blows my mind.

yeah, i saw the quote on cnn this morning. what a piece of scum. advocating the killing of anyone because someone doesnt like their political views or strategies is flat out wrong. what an ass.

and christians wonder why they are "persecuted"

C'mon people. Pat Robertson is as relevant as Mike Morford.

I think the time is right to "take out" Pat, to "exercise that option" on him.

There are followers of Christ and then there are "Christians" (quotations emphasized). Only sometimes are the two the same thing. And there's a lot more of the latter than former.

Elvis is right. Even many conservative christians think Pat all silly.

As to Patty Boy's relevancy: I read today that the 700 Club still gets around 1M viewers a day. Sure, that's a small percentage of the overall populace, but that's still a figure that is hard to discount completely.

As to assassinating Chavez being "cheaper" or whatever (and I'm ignoring the premise that we need to somehow take over Venezuela), what happens after he's assassinated? Does that automaticallly make our natural resource dependency go away? Would we have the requisite follow-through to fill the power vaccuum that would form after such an event? There are too many "what ifs" there for my liking...

i have relatives (quite a few) that would listen to Pat Robertson/James Dobson/Jerry Falwell before almost anyone than the thin bearded man himself.

Pat Robertson is nuttier than squirrel poop.

Whenever I'm driving around my "hometown" area of Upstate, NY, the only talk radio (I'm a Sportstalk obsessive) I can find is Focus on the Family. Fascinating stuff, really...

And I used to live a few miles from the FOTF headquarters in Colorado. Not so fascinating, really...

Whenever FOTF hacks would show up at my Dad's church, he would immediately ask them to leave...yet they still came back every few months.

David Ortiz?

my female coworker hates Chavez, and hates what he's done to the country where she was born, Venezuela. she'd probably help Pat Robertson, as would many others in that country.

Anyone in the Cleveland area should check out 103.3 FM for a few laughs. Half of the time you'll hear "God Music" as I like to call it, but the other half is devoted to bashing fags and praising Jesus. It's fun.

The very definition of hypocrite is Pat Robertson.

On a side note, I've heard that Chavez has a 24/7/365 hr television station devoted to honoring himself.

For all I care, Chavez and Robertson could have a duel with hand grenades while standing 3 feet away from each other with ol' George W refereeing.

There was a referendum either last year or the year before, with some irregularities and charges of fraud from the opposition, despite the election held under the watchful toothy grin of Jimmy Carter.

I have a hard time believing this guy is clean. I may be mistaken, but I think Caracas has 4 mayors, and I also think all of them are opposed to Chavez. Granted, that is only one city, but I find it hard to believe that this guy is pulling 70% approval ratings when the capital and largest city (and 25% of the nation's population) has not one but several elected mayors on the other side.

Generally, taking over the police and shutting down media outlets aren't good points to make on your resume.

Someone smash the tablet that says "thou shalt not kill" over his head.

Yeah, but you assassinate him and then what?

I interviewed Dobson 10 years ago. He's either gotten more politically strident and less interested in behaving biblically or he masked his true intentions back when he was the Dr. Phil of fundamentalists, perhaps biding his time until the Christian Right apparatus was fully in place.

The dude who REALLY bugs me is Dr. D. James Kennedy, though. From the pulpit he's an intellectual, fatherly pastor. Behind the scenes he's one of the architects of the fundamentalist monster that's swallowed politics.

Whoops. I left out the "I don't believe assassinating him is the right thing to do" line. My mistake.

I meant more to cast doubt on Borg's "democratically elected" claim, but I must have gotten off-track looking for the population of Caracas.

What a feather in our expansionist cap that'd be.

And Bush could force all the Moiras, Guillens, Urbinas and Cairos to the Rangers.