As usual, Pat Robertson is not telling the whole story.
TV preacher Pat Robertson is mad at Americans United again.
On Tuesday’s “700 Club,” Robertson groused that Americans United (along with People For the American Way and Media Matters) watch his show every day and alert the media when he says extreme things.
“They have people assigned to monitor every word, and then to take those words, change them often, take connectives out of them, change the sense of it, and then feed it to the, a willing agent in the Associated Press,” grumped the volatile televangelist.
As usual, Robertson is not telling the whole story. It is true that Americans United has a staff member who, among other duties, watches and records the “700 Club” every day. We consider this a hardship post, and to date, no one has been able to do it more than three years.
Sometimes when Robertson says something unusually intolerant or just plain off the wall, we prepare a transcript and alert the media. The Religious Right is extreme, and the American people need to know that. (It’s not always the Associated Press. Sometimes we give the material to The New York Times, The Washington Post or Pat’s hometown newspaper, the Virginian-Pilot.)
What we don’t do is change anything. Our transcripts are word-for-word, straight from Pat’s big mouth. It would be foolish for Americans United to alter the transcripts in any way, since broadcasts of the “700 Club” are online at the Christian Broadcast Network’s Web site. Any reporter can check out what Robertson said right on the CBN site, so tinkering with them would be a sure way for AU to blow its credibility.
More to the point, we don’t have to change the transcripts. The stuff Robertson says is nutty enough on its own. His outbursts are frequently so wacky we couldn’t improve on them even if we wanted to.
Let’s consider some Robertson outbursts for the past decade:
Jan. 2. 2007: Robertson predicts “mass killing” on American soil in 2007, saying God told him personally that this will happen, and that it is a sure thing. “There will be some very serious terrorist attacks,” Robertson said. “The evil people will come after this country, and there’s a possibility – not a possibility, a definite certainty – that chaos is going to rule.”
Nov. 10, 2005: Robertson warns the people of Dover, Pa., that God will turn his back on them because they voted to remove creationist members from the school board. “I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover, if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God,” said Robertson, “You just rejected him from your city. And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. And I’m not saying they will. But if they do, just remember you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, then don’t ask for his help ’cause he might not be there.”
Aug. 22, 2005: The U.S. government should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Robertson tells his audience. “You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if [Chavez] thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it,” Robertson said. “It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability.”
October 2003: Robertson interviews the author of a book critical of the U.S. State Department and concludes that the best thing to do would be to drop a nuclear bomb on that agency. “I read your book,” he said. “When you get through, you say, ‘If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom [the location of the U.S. State Department], I think that’s the answer. I mean, you get through this [book], and you say, ‘We’ve got to blow that thing up.’”
Dec. 5, 2001: Robertson attacks the popular “Harry Potter” children’s books. “Now we’re welcoming this and teaching our children,” Robertson glowered at his audience. “And what we’re doing is asking for the wrath of God to come on this country…. And if there’s ever a time we need God’s blessing, it’s now. We don’t need to be bringing in heathen, pagan practices to the United States of America.”
Sept. 13, 2001: Two days after the horrific terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 dead, Robertson blames it all on advocates of church-state separation, remarking, “We have a court that has essentially stuck its finger in God’s eye and said we’re going to legislate you out of the schools…. We have insulted God at the highest levels of our government. And, then we say, ‘Why does this happen?’ Well, why it’s happening is that God Almighty is lifting his protection from us.”
June 8, 1998: Robertson warns residents of Orlando that God will smite them if city officials agree to fly rainbow flags (a symbol of the gay-rights movement). “This is not a message of hate; this is a message of redemption,” Robertson said. “But if a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation, if it’ll bring about terrorist bombs; [if] it’ll bring earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor, it isn’t necessarily something we ought to open our arms to. And I would warn Orlando that you’re right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don’t think I’d be waving those flags in God’s face if I were you.”
This is just a sampling. Remember, Robertson has been at this for a long time. If you want to go back into the archives, pick up a copy of my 1996 book The Most Dangerous Man in America? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition. I will concede the book is a little dated now, but it contains a lot of the crazy stuff Robertson said in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s – most of it taken from his program, his books or other public pronouncements.
It seems Robertson is concerned over how he is being perceived and perhaps even his place in history. As someone who has followed Robertson’s career for more than 20 years, I have some advice: If you don’t want to be seen as an extremist, Pat, then stop going on television and saying extreme things.
© 1947 - 2009