WaPo reports Pat Robertson has apologized for his fatwa on Chavez - BUT

[Nothing Without Hope]

as you might expect, he followed GOP tradition in first trying to get away with saying he never made such a statement as calling for Chavez' assassination. Unfortunately for him, there was proof that he did so he had to retract this lie. (Oops - there goes ANOTHER commandment!)

His excuse for calling for Chavez' assassination: he was frustrated at US government inaction toward a man who has "found common cause with terrorists."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/24/AR2005082401470.html?nav=hcmodule

Robertson Apologizes for Calling for Assassination

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 25, 2005; Page A03

The Rev. Pat Robertson apologized yesterday for calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he spoke "in frustration" over the U.S. government's inaction toward a man who has "found common cause with terrorists."

(snip)

Robertson, 75, at first responded by insisting that his remarks had been misinterpreted by the news media.

"Wait a minute, I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our Special Forces should 'take him out,' and 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping," he said on yesterday's edition of his flagship show on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

Yesterday evening, however, Robertson issued a written clarification acknowledging that he had used the word "assassination." He said he had ad-libbed his original comments Monday, which included the sentence "I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it."

(snip)

Here's a compilation of some of the earlier threads on Hugo Chavez and some of his history, the US involvement with Venezuela, Robertson's outburst of saying what the neocons believe but generally keep decently secret, the response from various quarters to Robertson's outburst, and even an article on how the secretive right-wing Catholic group Opus Dei has been involved in South American coups:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1689644
Thread title: Venezuela's Chavez Presents Land Titles to Indigenous Groups
NNN0LHI LBN Tue Aug-09-05 08:44 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1687268
Thread title: Venezuela warns against US invasion
cal04 LBN Tue Aug-09-05 02:10 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1722617
Thread title: Reuters: Chavez offers cheap gas to poor in U.S.
Newsjock - LBN Tue Aug-23-05 09:54 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4440384
Thread title: Support Chavez; Buy CITGO Gas
goodhue - GD - Tue Aug-23-05 10:27 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1719323
Thread title: Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuela's president
owillis LBN Mon Aug-22-05 04:50 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1721829
Thread title: Media Matters Calls on ABC Family to Discontinue Robertson Broadcasts
paineinthearse -LBN Tue Aug-23-05 03:34 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2029862
Thread title: US Fingerprints on Venezuelan Coup
Al-CIAda GD-P Tue Aug-23-05 07:52 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4430637
Thread title: AP picks up the Robertson assassination threat
Newsjock GD Tue Aug-23-05 12:12 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1722608
Thread title: Venezuelan Ambassador Says Embassy Flooded With Support
cal04 LBN Tue Aug-23-05 09:48 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4439697
Thread title: Chavez and Bush: a photographic essay
Minstrel Boy GD Tue Aug-23-05 09:32 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1723104
Thread title: Chavez lashes back at Robertson ("I don't even know who that person is")
sabra LBN Wed Aug-24-05 01:19 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4435268
Thread title: Complain to the FCC about Pat Robertson.......(Link here)
Webster Green - GD - Tue Aug-23-05 02:10 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2030937&mesg_id=2030937
Thread title: LATimes on Robertson's fatwa on Chavez: "A Call for Assassination Brings {a Cry Of Outrage”}
Nothing Without Hope GD-P Wed Aug-24-05 04:05 AM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2032756
Thread title: Ron Jacobs; "Hugo Chavez and the Men Who Claim To Speak For Jesus"
Nothing Without Hope GD-P Wed Aug-24-05 06:44 PM
(This is the one on Opus Dei's involvement.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2033901
Thread title: Greg Palast on Chavez and why Cheney and Robertson hate him
AllyCat GD-P Thu Aug-25-05 09:47 AM

And don't forget the two threads of Robertson cartoons!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4445437
Thread title: *** TOONS: Pat Robertson, Compassionate Wacko Edition ***

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4453738
Thread title: *** TOONS: Pat Robertson, Extreme Wacko - PART II***

Here's my personal favorite:



edited to add the excellent thread on the Greg Palast article to the compilation of posts.

[AntiCoup2K4]

1. He didn't apologize. He lied. Blatantly.

And liars go to Hell, Pat :grr::evilgrin:

[gratuitous]

2. Pat: Two things

Shut.

Up.

[Caution]

3. Please stop using the term fatwa.

In Islam a fatwa is an edict, a ruling, your implication is that it is a death sentence. It is not. I'm an atheist but if I were a muslim I owuld find this incredibly offensive.

From Wikipedia:

A fatwa (Arabic: ????) plural fat?wa (Arabic: ?????), is a legal pronouncement in Islam, issued by a religious law specialist on a specific issue. Usually a fatwa is issued at the request of an individual or a judge to settle a question where ’’fiqh,’’ Islamic jurisprudence, is unclear. A scholar capable of issuing fatwas is known as a Mufti.
Contrary to what is believed by many non-Muslims, and even by the majority of Muslims, a fatwa is not binding on all persons professing the Muslim faith. The only ones who are obliged to obey any specific fatwa are the mufti who issued it and his followers.
<snip>

The overwhelming majority of fatwas are on mundane matters (for examples see the archives linked below). Those declaring war or pronouncing death sentences are not at all representative, despite the attention they draw in English-language media.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatwa

[oscar111]

5. if not fatwa, what word to use?

pls help us with the language

[oscar111]

6. Robertson's PAST

got married to an obviously preggie girlfriend, so he lied for many years about the date of the wedding

His dad was a US senator for many years.

failed the bar exam so many times, he finally just gave up trying

the "7OO" in his church's name stands not for a group of saints, but

a club of moneybag big-donors to his early efforts.

His church's name really means

"the club of 7OO big-money donors to this church"

rather focused on money, it seems

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. Just as he's focussed on diamonds and oil in Venezuela now. He's such

an obvious fraud, you have to wonder about the people who continue to support him - not the knowing and cynical neocons, but the poor people who send him their savings. What a malignant parasite.

[Caution]

18. how about "threat" ??

fatwa immediately associates him with Islam in a very negative manner.

[Karenina]

22. Or patwa?

:silly:

[OneTwentyoNine]

23. LOL....there you go......n/t

[OneTwentyoNine]

24. Is that what it means?I always thought it was a description of Limbaugh.

Learn something new everyday around here.:silly:

[Orrex]

4. His "apology" was as anti-Christian as his call for assassination

I read his entire press release and am unimpressed. He apologized only because of the flap that resulted from his comments, rather than because of sincere regret for his murderous statement.

An apology of expedience is no apology, and certainly any God worth worshipping can see through Robertson's false contrition at least as easily as I can.

Additionally, Robertson's apology took the form of "Maybe I shouldn't have said it, but I was right to say it because of these reasons..." A true, sincere apology wouldn't have been packaged in a laundry list of justifications.

To me, three things are clear:

1. Robertson really does want Chavez to be assassinated
2. Robertson wanted the publicity boost that his insane
proclamations always bring (and have brought him once again)
3. Robertson wanted the publicity boost that his false
apology brought him (and continues to bring him)

He's a dangerous, hateful bigot who should be stripped of his tax-exempt status and should be tried as an international terrorist. If Dubya has any integrity (a phrase that is hard for me to type even as a hypothetical), he will call for Robertson's immediate imprisonment. Thousands of Iraqis who are far less dangerous and far less influential than Robertson have been imprisoned for years without trial; the least we can do is treat radical cleric Robertson to the same.

[oscar111]

8. RECOMMEND FOR GREATEST PAGE butt at bott of Orig Post

[oscar111]

10. final apolog. NOT on tv it seems

Needs to be on his tv show.

says final apology is in written form.

Pat says he "ad-libbed" the comment. somehow that does not apply to a seasoned commentator's tv talking. We do not expect all of a commentator's speaking, to be read from a script.

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. The "ad libbed" comment part was very strange - he seemed to be saying

that unless he reads it from a written script, he isn't responsible for its content. It's another way to claim he wasn't ressonsible for what he said on his broadcast about assassinating Chavez. This was after his first self-defense - the traditional GOP denial that he said it - fell through. He really does have a lot in common with Bush. No wonder McCain onced called Bush a "Pat Robertson Republican":
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4439583
thread title: Flashback: McCain Labels Bush a "Pat Robertson Republican"

[oscar111]

14. "ad-libbed"- so, Judge, when i, zeke, shouted "gonna get ya" i was not

reading from a script, i was

JUST AD-LIBBING,

so dismiss this trial. I am not to be held accountable for ad-libs.

[Orrex]

13. Good points!

Robertson also claimed that he was so upset that, as a result, he spoke without thinking. You correctly quote him as using the phrase "ad-libbed," which is obvious nonsense. He's on a scripted, taped, and edited program, and, as you point out, he's a seasoned commentator. He's been at this for decades, and if he's too unstable to maintain professionalism while discussing a minor dictator, perhaps it's time that Robertson retired.

[oscar111]

15. Good Point Orrex! I didnt realize tha

the show was an edited one.

Pat could have sizzored out anything he didnt really mean 1OO%

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. So true. He knowingly calls for murder, then lies about it, then lies

about it being in an unedited program. Obviously a very pious fellow - at least about his investments in Venezuela. i heard he was heavily into diamonds, and his own statement about assassinating Chavez mentioned the oil at least twice.

I suppose the same kind of Kool-Aid drinking people can believe in Robertson as can still believe in Bush. No thinking person could.

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. Here are threads calling for his removal from the air, with addresses:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4435268
Thread title: Complain to the FCC about Pat Robertson.......(Link here)
Webster Green - GD - Tue Aug-23-05 02:10 PM

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1721829
Thread title: Media Matters Calls on ABC Family to Discontinue Robertson Broadcasts
paineinthearse -LBN Tue Aug-23-05 03:34 PM

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. Well-said, Orrex. I agree with you. I hope that some of the people he

has previously duped finally see through his lies to his hate and greed.

[oscar111]

12. moved by oscar

[Nothing Without Hope]

19. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

25. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. Here's a FOX NEWS VIDEO CLIP that you must see. This guy is worse than

Robertson! He calls for the murder of Chavez and other world leaders, says Bush has the legal power for it, and adds that Chavez is like Hitler and Mussolini. Hannity just kept egging him on. The nutjob, a regular Fox News guest identified as a "former CIA agent," was allowed to claim that these murders were necessary to protect the US.

What can we do about this? I thought that calling for the murder of foreign leaders was illegal, but a poster in that thread says it is not.

Here's the thread. i hope you'll agree that SOMETHING needs to be done. Complaints to the FCC at least, and of course to Fox, but what else?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2039206
Thread title: FOX VIDEO- Hannity eggs on guest who wants multiple world leaders murdered

[Nothing Without Hope]

27. John Dean cites two laws, says Robertson's DEATH THREATS WERE ILLEGAL!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2039206&mesg_id=2039974

Very interesting article by Dean, citing precedents that make this very clear. We need to make it clear that this violent language calling for murder is a CRIME and we need to PROSECUTE not only Robertson but also the even more egregious (excepr for the hypocrisy) case that aired on Fox News on Aug 24. Here's that thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2039206
Thread title: FOX VIDEO- Hannity eggs on guest who wants multiple world leaders murdered

[kbm8795]

28. He LIED

and his butt should be kicked OFF the air. It continues to be an outrage that this man's programming is broadcast on a supposed "family" channel.

I don't want children viewing his tirades. And I'm telling ABC that their broadcasting days into MY household are over.

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. Here's an excerpt showing that GOP claims that Hitler was "elected too"

are a lie:

The GOP ranters also like to say that Hiter was elected, but he never was. Chavez received a solid majority in a truly democratic election - he's a democratically elected national leader, I'd say moreso than Bush is. Re the "Hitler was elected too" lie, here's a passage from a good article posted at CounterPunch:

http://www.counterpunch.org/chuckman08252005.html

Why Pat Robertson Isn't Treated as a Terrorist

By JOHN CHUCKMAN
August 24, 2005

(snip- much more; I recommend the whole article)

Religion, politics, journalism, and even academics serve the American worship of power and greed. I had a brief exchange recently with an exalted fellow from one of America's many well-financed propaganda mills tarted up to resemble research organizations. This exalted fellow had been on a national radio interview, interestingly enough on the same subject of Venezuela. Apart from inaccurate claims about a new broadcast network established in Venezuela while he made a case for American interference, when reminded that Mr. Chavez was democratically elected, he chimed in with, "So was Hitler!"

Hitler, despite huge expenditures and desperately hard campaigns, never received more than just over a third of votes. He was appointed Chancellor, after a long series of backroom manipulations, by the Republic's ancient and exhausted President von Hindenburg. Hitler's rise more closely resembles that of some of America's favorite shady men in Iraq and Pakistan than it does that of a man whose election was closely scrutinized and declared fair by international watchers.

I couldn't let such an inaccurate claim stand and looked up his outfit on the Internet. There, on a page resembling something from a university or research center, was a large quote from Rush Limbaugh about the tremendous job they were doing. What kind of a research institution quotes Rush Limbaugh? There were also, importantly, links for bequests and gifts. And there was an e-mail link to the man on the Venezuela case.

My particular exalted fellow answered at length, accepting the truth of my correction, but making a mighty effort to turn someone's getting one-third of the vote into a de facto election. There were paragraphs of labored reasoning larded with unnecessary facts, perhaps from a history text quickly consulted before replying. He missed the point entirely of respecting a genuinely democratic decision. Here is the kind of analysis being touted across America in an effort to influence the world. And these people do influence the world.

(snip)