Pat Robertson--Spawn of Satan

The insane, vile twit called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on his 700 Club show:

ROBERTSON: There was a popular coup that overthrew him [Chavez]. And what did the United States State Department do about it? Virtually nothing. And as a result, within about 48 hours that coup was broken; Chavez was back in power, but we had a chance to move in. He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.

You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, 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.

Hugo Chavez is smart, articulate, and has won election after election by wide margins. He has offered hope to millions of poor people in Venezuela and throughout South America, and with $65 a barrel oil, he is actually in a position to deliver on his promises. I've seen the man in person; he is a far greater man than either George W. Bush or Pat Robertson could ever hope to be. And anyone who knows anything about the 2002 coup attempt in Venezuela knows that the coup was led by a small group of very wealthy politicians. The popular uprising was what restored Chavez to power.

The only thing that Chavez has done that really bothers the powers in Washington is that he has objected to the (re-)imposition of the neoliberal economic model--the IMF/World Bank model where the corporations get the wealth and people of Latin America get the shaft. I understand why this pisses off the Cheney/Clinton crowd; but why should Pat Robertson hate the man so much that he calls for him to be killed? Chavez continues to sell us oil, and he poses no military threat to us whatsoever.

In any case, lunatics like Robertson should not be permitted to incite violence on their TV shows.