US State Department protests televangelist's nuclear threat
Thu Oct 9, 3:21 PM ET



WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US State Department has lodged a vehement complaint with prominent conservative televangelist Pat Robertson for comments suggesting that its Foggy Bottom headquarters should be destroyed with nuclear weapons, officials said.


Spokesman Richard Boucher called the remarks -- which Robertson made last week on his nationally televised "700 Club" program -- "despicable" and a senior department official said a protest had been made "at the highest level."


"I lack sufficient capabilities to express my disdain," Boucher told reporters when asked about Robertson's comments. "I think the very idea, though, is despicable."


The senior official said Robertson had been made aware of Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites)'s extreme outrage at the tone and content of the remarks.


"That's not the way one expresses an opinion in Washington," the official said, adding that Robertson's conduct had been "outrageous."


Robertson, who has been a frequent critic of the State Department, made the offending comments during an interview with a like-minded critic of US diplomacy, columnist Joel Mowbray, who has written a book entitled "Dangerous Diplomacy: How the State Department Threatens American Security."


"I read your book," Robertson said, according to a transcript of the interview posted on his Christian Broadcasting Network's website (www.cbn.com).


"When you get through, you say, 'If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom, I think that's the answer'," he said.


"I mean, you get through this, and you say, 'We've got to blow that thing up.' I mean, is it as bad as you say?" Robertson asked.


Mowbray responded: "It is."


Mowbray's book accuses the State Department of endangering the security of the United States by allegedly cavorting with sponsors of terrorism, negligence or incompetence in the visa issuance process and ignoring the travails of US citizens abroad.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=sto...92152&printer=1
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Ooooookkkkkkaaaaayyyy...............

I guess contamination is next to Godliness.

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Originally posted by billgerat
...Ooooookkkkkkaaaaayyyy...............

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The Robertson/Falwell fucking freak show has brought you yet another chapter in their "Proving Darwin is Wrong" series.

Don't shoot him, he does amuse me.

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welcome to lala-land

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Why don't we just ignore the political Christianists and not give them this publicity that they strive for, okay?

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Were I looking to start a fight, I would point out to the advocates of "public participation in government" that Robertson, Ralph Reed, and their cohorts have probably brought more new voters into the political arena over the past twenty years. Presumably, however, this is not what the opponents of voter apathy had in mind.

I'll restrain myself, though, on the grounds that Robertson is, and always has been, a jackass.

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Originally posted by CHiPsJr
Were I looking to start a fight, I would point out to the advocates of "public participation in government" that Robertson, Ralph Reed, and their cohorts have probably brought more new voters into the political arena over the past twenty years. Presumably, however, this is not what the opponents of voter apathy had in mind.

I'll restrain myself, though, on the grounds that Robertson is, and always has been, a jackass.

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Both sides like to think that they speak for the great "silent majority" out there, and that if more people were involved in the process, they'd fall naturally into their own column. My own feeling is that we ought to be thankful that these people don't participate in the public decisionmaking process, as they are, by and large, morons, regardless of their political stripe.

Robertson, Reed, and the like have done a particuarly terrific job of bringing their crew to the polls and herding them to the party line. And while it is not the case that all fundamentalists Christians are stupid, there are certainly a great many of them who had effectively disenfranchised themselves through extreme anti-intellectualism.

It is ironic, isn't it, that the same people who complain about voter apathy and advocate mandatory voting and the like seem to also be the people screaming loudest about the agenda of the Christian right?

You wanted government by the people, right? Very well. The people believe in Jesus, but not so much in evolution. The people want low taxes AND high social spending AND high defense spending AND ESPECIALLY elaborate, untouchable middle-class entitlements. The people want all criminals--defined as people whose lifestyle differs from their own--locked up forever if not executed outright. The people want a life of perfect safety and security and will gladly trade as much freedom as necessary to get it.

Thank God that most of the people are apathetic, or we'd have all of the above, and more.

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Instead of thanking God for the collective apathy of the population because it is the only defense against the tyranny of the majority, perhaps it would make more sense to actively oppose all legislative and executive actions that erode the checks that are currently in place to protect the minority. Instead of measuring each individual issue against the yardstick of "will it make my life safer/easier/richer right now?", people who are concerned about what will happen should the apathetic majority ever be awoken should weigh each individual issue against the milemarkers of "what precedent does this set?" and "what impact does this have on the process of legislative/executive change?" and "are we currently standing on a slippery slope in this matter?".

Maybe then there would have been at least a ripple of legitimate outcry with each of the Patriot Acts. Maybe then people would have taken action when the "sunset date" on Patriot I came and went without seeing the sun set on the additional powers it granted. Maybe then the ACLU would stop being called "the criminal lobby". Maybe then we wouldn't be ok with a secret "court" that holds the power to grant wiretap warrants with no public record. Maybe then we wouldn't be able to wage war without having to declare it, thereby avoiding all of the limitations that our predecessors have put in place to protect our country from one man crusades.

As long as the majority, apathetic or otherwise, is unable to maintain a perspective that looks more than 9 months into the possible future, we will continue to be tricked into giving up the balance of our rights, in easy nickel and dime payments. I've resigned myself to its inevitability. I just hope it happens while my knees are still good, so I can put my foot up some ass during the next Revolution.

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They should ship his ass to Gantonimo Bay as a premptive measure.

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Originally posted by Cage
Instead of thanking God for the collective apathy of the population because it is the only defense against the tyranny of the majority, perhaps it would make more sense to actively oppose all legislative and executive actions that erode the checks that are currently in place to protect the minority.

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