Robertson vs. Chavez

I am about 3/4 done on a very long post about academic freedom, religion, and political correctness. Expect that either tonight or tommorow. In the mean time the Economist had a very funny article about Pat Robertson. Enjoy:

WHAT Pat Robertson prays for can come to pass. He prayed for a vacancy on the Supreme Court and—lo!—Sandra Day O'Connor retired. But the decreasingly popular televangelist seems to notch up more misses than hits. His fulminations against oral sex do not seem to have nipped the practice in the bud (or so we are told). And his warning that “earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor” would strike Disney World for hosting a “Gay Day” came, alas, to nought.

So Hugo Chávez, Venezuela's populist president, can probably sleep easy, despite Mr Robertson's suggestion this week that he be assassinated for defying America. “We have the ability to take him out,” he told his tele-flock on August 22nd, “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.”

Mr Robertson's relations with strong-arm dictators have not always been so unfriendly. He was rather chummy with Mobutu Sese Seko, the pink-champagne-gargling robber-despot of Zaire. And the erstwhile Republican presidential candidate gnashed his teeth when America helped depose Charles Taylor, the tyrant of Liberia, whose men carried out abortions with machetes, killing the mother as well, for fun.

Mr Chávez affected to be unruffled: “I don't know who this person is...what he opines makes no odds to me.” But he must be delighted. Mr Robertson has put him where he loves to be: at the centre of media attention and of the rhetorical hostility of “American imperialism”. The Bush administration, however, was swift to disavow the rant and Mr Robertson eventually apologised. Mr Chávez's officials said it exposed the hypocrisy of America's “war on terror”.

Mr Chávez has claimed in the past that George Bush plans either to assassinate him or to invade Venezuela to quash his “Bolivarian revolution”. He has used this as a pretext for forming an armed militia, which in practice is likely to be used to crush his opponents at home. Mr Robertson's outburst comes as American officials are trying to tone down a war of words with Mr Chávez, which many recognise has achieved little but the alienation of other, better governments in Latin America.

Cheers,

Mr. Alec