Robertson’s rant is no joke

Fundamentalist evangelist Pat Robertson’s call for the murder of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is not just the impulsive mouthing off of a right-wing crack-pot. It is a serious matter, not just for what was said, but for who said it.

During his 700 Club TV show on Aug. 22, Robertson said, “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.” What Robertson was referring to was Chávez’s warning that the White House was planning to assassinate him.

Pat Robertson is not just another run-of-the-mill racist, warmongering, misogynous bigot. Robertson is also a close ally of the Bush administration. He is one of those high on Karl Rove’s list of “base builders.” He formed the Christian Coalition to help get Bush elected. He is on speaking terms with members of the White House political machine.

What came out of his mouth on TV is what is undoubtedly being whispered about in the inner circles of the Bush administration. His public comment helps to both promote and set the stage for an assassination.

The Venezuelan Revolution poses a major problem for the Bush administration. Hugo Chávez has enormous mass support, as expressed in two presidential elections, the overturn of a U.S.-backed coup by an outpouring of the masses, a failed recall referendum and the obvious general enthusiasm of the workers and peasants for his profound reforms.

Invasion and military intervention in Venezuela is a difficult option for Bush, particularly when the resistance is tying down 138,000 troops in Iraq. Assas sination is the method of choice under such circumstances. After a U.S.-backed invasion was humiliatingly defeated at the Bay of Pigs in 1962, the CIA tried to assassinate Fidel Castro numerous times.

Robertson used the airwaves in his incitement to the murder of the president of Venezuela. If anyone is caught whispering a threat to someone else against the president of the United States they can be charged with terrorism and held in jail.

Robertson’s threat was not whispered but broadcast live to a TV audience of hundreds of thousands. Has Bush given the appropriate response to this terrorist threat?

Bush has not denounced the threat nor Robertson. The rightwing has been compli cit by its silence. No legal action has been taken against Robertson. No punitive action has been taken against the ABC Family network which broadcast the threat. If the so-called “war against terrorism” were anything but an excuse to conquer independent countries, Robertson would have been arrested by now and be on his way to jail.