White House To Robertson: Shut Your Piehole
I’m not really sure why it is that every time Pat Robertson says something stupid, the White House is expected to condemn it. After all, every time Michael Moore toots his horn, does Harry Reid issue a statement? Nevertheless, it was a smart move to get in front of this story:
The White House sharply criticized Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson on Friday for suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine punishment for “dividing God’s land.”
“Those comments are wholly inappropriate and offensive and really don’t have a place in this or any other debate,” presidential spokesman Trent Duffy said as Bush traveled to Chicago for a speech.
Doesn’t this whole dynamic of ‘Robertson shoots off his mouth, Republicans are expected to condemn’ feed into the stereotype that it is the Republican party that speaks for people of faith? Wouldn’t you think that would be an image the Democrats would want to change? Yet if Howard Dean has been asked or issued a reaction, I haven’t seen it.
And why is it that the idiotic Robertson is held up as some sort of proxy for the Religious Right? Do you know anyone who listens to anything this guy says? Seriously, do you? The whole business is quite wearying…
Mark, I don’t know anyone either – but then again, I don’t travel in those circles. Additionally, I don’t know anyone who listens to James Dobson, but he’s right behind Robertson in the crazy department, at least with regards to some of the statements he’s made over the past few years.
If the Religious Right wants to be taken seriously in the future by those of us who don’t necessarily share their views, then they obviously need better leaders than the ones they’ve had in the past, as well as the present. Whatever happened to people like Billy Graham?
The religious any-wing needs to go bye bye. Although, Pat is good for some mid-day humor.
Pat is a bit unhinged as is Dobson, but I think I can answer the question about “does anyone listen to anything this guy says?” Sadly, the Bush administration does…and that’s why they are forced to speak out. The President should stop taking phone calls from these guys and then he wouldn’t have to comment.
dmac, there are still several people like Billy Graham — his son Franklin and daughter Anne, for instance — but such people are not heard from in the MSM as often as Robertson, Dobson, and Falwell because they don’t say idiotic things (at least I’ve never heard Franklin Graham or Anne Graham Lotts say anything this ridiculous), and the press can’t use them to make all people of faith to look like lunatics.
“After all, every time Michael Moore toots his horn, does Harry Reid issue a statement?”
The difference is that Michael Moore never ran for his party’s nomination for President –
It was a stupid thing to say.
I will have to disagree with some comments on
Dobson, though. He does have some good advice and has helped a member of my family by sending out helpful information for a special need at that time.
I’ve never much agreed with Pat Robertson.
Yeah, Dobson is in a bit of a different category – he makes moral judgements on issues that many people are uncomfortable with, and that’s his right and their right – but I haven’t seen him ever make just flat out crazy statements like Robertson…statements I often disagree with, yes, but not of the lunatic variety…
peter, come on – a political party is responsible for the views of every person who tried to run for president under its banner? I doubt you really believe in that standard – the real question is, did he get anywhere? I think we all know the answer to that…
“The difference is that Michael Moore never ran for his party’s nomination for President.”
Well Peter, that was 18 years ago, and anyone can run for a nomination. Robertson didn’t get anywhere when he ran.
Al Sharpton has said his share of doozies and has spent a career as a crooked race hustler, yet no one demands the Democrats answer for everything he says just because he’s run for their nomination.
Regarding Robertson, I read some guy joking that more and more he’s sounding like a mob thug. “You know, I think Ariel is swell, but you know, my boss, he’s one angry guy. He’s getting really P-O’d at what Ariel’s doing. It sure would be a shame if something were to happen to him.”
Perhaps Dobson is not as bad as Robertson, but the “Spongebob Squarepants” controversy did not put him in a good light – I mean, for cryin’ out loud.
He’s also made statements that are dead – set against stem – cell research, and I have a huge problem with that kind of thinking. Of course he has a right to his opinions, but many of them seem quite intolerant, at least in terms of considering other viewpoints.
Mark:
Plenty of bloggers and regular blog readers (myself included) jump over any idiotic comment from Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, “SE” Kos, et al. and go after any Democratic officials who defend them. And while Reid doesn’t try to distance himself from the MooreOn crowd (he even attended a conference w/ Kos, if I’m not mistaken), that’s because Reid is an idiot. Keeping your distance from moral cretins (and Robertson’s post 9/11 comments were actually more vile than Moore’s, IMO) is not just the right thing to do, its good politics.
True, the MSM excercises a significant double standard when it comes to how Republicans treat “their” sons of bitches vs. how the Democrats do, but that’s a point for another day. Today, Robertson said something truly despicable, and he deserved to be slapped for it. By everybody.
Oh, I don’t disagree, Sean – I’m glad the Bush administration condemned the comment – but wouldn’t you agree there seems to be some sort of expectation? For example, if Bush didn’t say anything – don’t you think we’d see headlines of the ‘Bush Silent On Robertson Comments’ variety?
It’s not the condemnation I object to, but the expectation – last time I checked, Pat Robertson is not in the Bush cabinet…
OMG! I’m going to defend Senator Reid, et al! Silence does not equal endorsement, period; or until Reid says that Moore speaks for him, at least. But, it is notable and noteworthy that the White House moved swiftly to criticize Robertson, and not just because it was politically expedient, but because it is right and Robertson is such a complete and utter tool.
Btw Pat, I want no part of a God that would stoop so low as to punish wrongdoing as you claim he has done in New Orleans (via Katrina) and with Ariel Sharon. What happened to the omniscent, omnipotent, and benevolent god the 700 Club is selling?
Well, no, I don’t think that a political party is “responsible for the views of every person who tried to run for president under its banner” — but when they call for the death of the head of state of an ally, I think you make an exception –
Also, I think the audience here is Al Jazeera and the Arab world as much as for domestic ears — it is a smart move, not least because you know that Robertson will be quoted throughout the Arab press, and a quick denunciation from the White House is the right thing to do –
As for Al Sharpton: I think there is a difference between buffoonery and suggesting that Sharon’s death (or 9/11) is God’s way. Also, when Jesse Jackson made the Hymietown remarks, he was roundly condemned by the Democrats -
tst: Reid may not have said Moore speaks for him, but he has said “SE” Kos does, at least by implication, owing to his fawning over him by attending that strategy session, or whatever it was. And while calling the thugs who kill our soldiers “Minutemen” was pretty vile, I think dismissing the murder of American soldiers with a callous “screw ‘em” was somehow worse.