I can just imagine Karl Rove turning on the cable news stations yesterday, hoping to gauge how well his week-long offensive in defense of the war in Iraq is going, and finding that the only thing anyone wants to talk about is a crazed TV preacher — and close Bush/Rove ally — who’s created an international incident.
As far as the GOP and the Bush Machine are concerned, Robertson has not only created a mess for himself by calling for Hugo Chavez’s assassination, he’s taken the news cycle off into a different and unhelpful direction. Rove hates it when his guys are off-message, but when your base is mentally unbalanced, message discipline is occasionally too tall an order.
Unable to think of much of a defense, Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network haven’t had much to say. There was one response, early on:
A spokeswoman for the Christian Broadcasting Network told the BBC: “We are at a time of war and Pat had war on his mind when he made the comments.”
How terribly persuasive. There’s a war in Iraq, there’s a war in Afghanistan … and Robertson hates to see Venezuela get left out. Yeah, that ought to placate his critics.
One of the more entertaining unintended consequences of this farce is that Robertson has helped Chavez tremendously.
“This is pure gold for Chavez,” said Moises Naim, editor of Foreign Policy magazine, who served as Venezuela’s minister of trade and industry and played a central role in starting economic reforms in the early 1990s. “He could not have wished for anything better to happen.”
Chavez is many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. When a politically-influential American, who’s closely allied with the president and the president’s political party, goes on national television to declare that “we have the ability to take [Chavez] out and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,” it’s like a gift-wrapped present.
After all, Venezuela knows that Robertson is not just some guy.
Bernardo Álvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador in Washington, said: “Mr. Robertson has been one of the president’s staunchest allies. His statement demands the strongest condemnation by the White House.”
Congratulations, Pat, you’ve strengthened Chavez’s hand on the international stage.
Closer to home, Robertson has also caused a rift among in the evangelical community, many of whom want nothing to do with Robertson’s lunacy.
The Rev. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, released a statement saying Mr. Robertson should “immediately apologize, retract his statement and clarify what the Bible and Christianity teaches about the permissibility of taking human life outside of law.”
The Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals said he and “most evangelical leaders” would disassociate themselves from such “unfortunate and particularly irresponsible” comments.
“It complicates circumstances for foreign missionaries and Christian aid workers overseas who are already perceived, wrongly, especially by leftists and other leaders, as collaborators with U.S. intelligence agencies,” Mr. Cizik added.
In other words, Robertson has not only helped Chavez on the diplomatic front, he’s hurt Christian missionaries’ opportunities in Venezuela. After all, if Chavez believes evangelicals from the United States want him dead, the Venezuelan government may become a little less flexible when it comes to missionaries’ efforts.
Robertson’s 700 Club has been on the air for decades now; you’d think he’d realize by now that his critics watch the show. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened.