Deny Everything

(Note: Now updated with correct spelling!)

Who is this guy Pat Robertson and why is he such a liar?

What's even worse than suggesting that the US should assassinate Venezuelan president Chevez to solve our diplomatic differences, is his politician-like denial of his own statements.

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; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP, but that happens all the time.

Hmm. You didn't say assassination? What about this quote?

If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.

So he's right, he didn't say "assassination" he said "assassinate." He didn't use the passive noun form of the word, he used the present-tense verb form. Our mistake sorry about that, please continue.

I think we really ought to go ahead and do it.

Is Pat Robertson prepared to deny that we does not include him, and that it is not referring to the assassination of the Venezuelan president? If so, Mr. Robertson is abusing the English language in a remarkable mind-bending way.

As far as this quote is concerned:

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 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.

So Mr. Robertson wants to "get rid of" Chevez and "take him out", and we need "covert operatives" to do it. Considering we were just talking about assassination as a cheaper solution than going to war, it's pretty reasonable to assume that Robertson is referring to assassination here to. But Robertson says he just wants to kidnap Chevez. Oh well, it's not as violent but this quote is just icing on the cake anyway.

I believe in freedom of speech and so I don't object to Robertson saying what he feels, I just don't like liars. Maybe Robertson forgot he said the first quote involving the words "assassinate" and "go ahead and do it", but you'd think that before correcting the press on the specific garbage that spewed from his mouth he'd check a transcript.

Even CNN reported that Pat Robertson denied calling for Chevez's assassination "despite contrary video evidence". I'm happy CNN is exposing Robertson's statements for all to see and standing up to his bullshit. The full video of Robertson's comments are available on their site. Gotcha Pat.

In conclusion, Pat Robertson is either a liar, an idiot, or both.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/24/robertson.chavez/index.html