posted
I'm not giving him a pass on this. I just don't think I have the right to tell him what he believes or meant to say as only he knows (if he even knows himself, which is questionable).
He may have said X and meant Y. Like you said but trust me, we've all had our Mom's call us by one of our brother's or sister's names before.
And George W. almost seems to have a speech impediment when it comes to what he wants to say vs. what he can.
Posts: 1533 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:He may have said X and meant Y. Like you said but trust me, we've all had our Mom's call us by one of our brother's or sister's names before.
The refusal to issue any kind of retraction pretty much confirms that when he said "Y" that is what he meant. Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't presume to tell him what he believes. He can believe whatever he wants.
I am a thinking individual, however, and have no obligation to check that at the door when discussing Pat Robertson. The man has years of public speaking experience. He did not stumble over his words. He didn't say something cryptic that people misinterpreted. He said "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability." And in case someone wants to argue that "take him out" might mean, oh, I don't know, "to dinner" maybe, he continued "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."
Now, if this is a case of saying X and meaning Y, well then we really can't hold anyone accountable for whatever they say on the airwaves, now can we? This is a case of "misspeaking" like Janet Jackson's recent fiasco was a case of "wardrobe malfunction".
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't know if they have speechwriters on the 700 club or not. I don't watch it. If he does leave it as is without a retraction or at least clarification, then that makes him even dumber IMHO. If he claims he never said that, he's wrong.
Either way, anything he says is pretty much "Meh" to me.
Posts: 1533 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm not particularly fond of extremists, whether what they agree with me or not. Usually (but not always) they end up saying something so completely and utterly foolish that they end up hurting the cause they so adamantly support.
Posts: 459 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote: Now, keep in mind I'm not a Robertson fan - he actually wouldn't like me very much, I don't think, we disagree on theology as well as other things. But, I will give credit where it is due. He claims he never called for assassination and that he was misinterpreted. Which one would expect him to say, and that's no surprise. But what was a surprise is that he was interviewing someone from a Human Rights organization about Venezuela and that person spoke about how he disagreed with what Pat said, and how he didn't condone assassination and Robertson let him talk, and didn't argue, simply said he appreciated the man stating his views.
So, I give him credit for at least trying to defend the statements and trying to distance himself from actually calling for the killing of another person, and for allowing dissent to be aired on his own tv show without interrupting or trying to silence the dissenter.
Belle,
I'm honestly confused. What kind of credit does he deserve for lying about what he said? His response shows neither a willingness to stand for what he originally said or the willingness to admit he screwed up. Many articles highlighting both is comments about being "misinterpreted" and this from his original remarks:
quote:"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it," said Robertson Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."
Not that I'm a fan of any media these days, and I'm pretty much on the AP "fecal roster" right now, but this sounds like the AP interpreted his comments exactly right. It's scary that there are enough people who take him seriously to keep his show a profitable enterprise.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote: Here's my idea, if Pat Robertson wants him dead, then let him go do it.
I suspect that if Robertson set foot in Venezuela, he'd be immediately arrested for "Crimes Against Sanity." Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I caught a bit of the 700 Club while channel surfing this morning. Robertson was speaking around the subject of his previous statement, but he sure didn't appear to be recanting it or even trying to recast it in a different light.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:The stuff going on in Venezuela- he's a pretty big reason why gas prices have gone up in my opinion. Oil is Venezuela's biggest export- and they either have or ship out more than they do in the Middle East I know (maybe both)
Your information is wrong. The US imports more oil from Venezuela than from the middle east, but total oil production and reserves in the Middle East are several times greater than Venezuela. As of 2002 (sorry most recent list I could find). Venzuela was the 8th largest producer of oil in the world falling behind Saudi Arabia, Former USSR, USA, Iran, China, Norway, and Mexico.
Although Venezuelan oil exports were down 19% in 2003 do to political upheaval, they are now above the 2002 levels. Despite its conflicts with the US, Venezuela is now selling the US more oil than ever before and it is folly to suggest they are at fault for high gas prices.
The three biggest factors in the currentt high gas prices (in no particular order) are
1. Increased demand for oil in China and India do the economic boom in those countries.
2. Troubles in Iraq. Oil exports from Iraq are currently at about 1/2 their 2002 levels, which is a much bigger drop in global exports than the 2003 drop in Venezuela. Continued fighting keeps the oil prices up.
3. The weak US dollar. The dollar is worth less than 75% of the 2002 value.
[ August 24, 2005, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: The Rabbit ]
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
