In light of the fact that the White House has yet to condemn Pat Robertson's call for the assassination of Hugo Chávez, it's interesting to go back and look at how the Bush Administration invariably treats Robertson with kid gloves.
As Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States, states:
"Reverend Pat Robertson is no ordinary citizen. Robertson ran for president of the United States. The Christian Coalition, whose leader is Reverend Robertson, has close to 2 million members and receives millions of dollars every year. In 2000, his support was key in giving George W. Bush the primary election win in South Carolina, which clinched his nomination for the Republican Party for the office of president. Mr. Robertson has been one of President Bush's strongest allies. His statement should be strongly condemned by the White House."
No matter how outrageous and incendiary Robertson's remarks, the White House never condemns him. This pattern becomes readily apparent when one reviews the softness with which White House spokesmen Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan have dealt with Robertson's outrageous statements over the years.
Below are some interesting exchanges -–excerpted from four White House press briefings-- concerning Robertson’s inflammatory remarks.
(Thanks to the weblog Flogging the Simian for compiling these excerpts from White House press briefings).
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February 25, 2002
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/02/20
020225-16.html
MAJOR GARRETT (CNN): Ari, on Thursday on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson said -- and I quote him directly here -- "I have taken issue with our esteemed President in regard to his stand in saying Islam is a peaceful religion. It's just not, and the Koran makes it very clear." Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham -- both of whom are not, incidentally, known here at the White House -- have said more or less the same thing.
So I wonder if you could offer the President's reaction to their assessment that Islam in its totality is not exactly a peaceful religion, and how it conflicts with what the President has tried to say, both publicly and worldwide about Islam?
ARI FLEISCHER: Major, I haven't talked to the President directly about what Pat Robertson has said. But I would refer you to the visit the President took to a mosque on September -- I think it was the 17th. Within one week of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, the President visited a mosque here in the Washington community to send a signal that Islam is a peace-loving religion. And throughout the various meetings that the President had with members of Congress, even in the week prior to that, right after the attack, the President urged members of Congress to remind Americans that Arab Americans love our flag just as much as anybody else and that Islam is a religion of peace.
MR. GARRETT: Does he believe these comments from someone who is as well-known and as widely watched as Reverend Robertson undermined that attempt by the President to send this message?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think all Americans, virtually all Americans, agree with the President on that position. Anybody who doesn't is stating an unfortunate view.
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October 9, 2002
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20
021009-3.html
LES KINSOLVING (Radio Talk Show Host): Ari, a Washington Post editorial on Sunday strongly criticized the President for what they termed “averting his gaze” from the defaming of Islam and the gross distortions which they attributed to the Reverend Franklin Graham, the Reverend Jerry Falwell, and to Pat Robertson. And my question is, does the President agree with the Washington Post's claim that these three are, "defaming with great distortions," so that the Washington Post editors are better informed on comparative religion than these three Baptist Church leaders?
MR. FLEISCHER: Les, I'm not familiar with the specific quotes you cited, so --
MR. KINSOLVING: You didn't read the Washington Post on Sunday?
MR. FLEISCHER: I was, as you know, not in Washington on Sunday, I was traveling with the President. So forgive me if I missed an editorial.
...
MR. KINSOLVING: Falwell called Mohammed a terrorist, the prophet Mohammed.
MR. FLEISCHER: Assuming, of course, that that's an accurate quote -- I haven't read it, myself -- the President's views on Islam are well-known. The President has said many times in his visits to mosques and his visits with Muslim leaders and his invitations for Muslim leaders to come here, as an important signal of America's openness and welcoming of Muslims, that Islam is a religion of peace.
MR. KINSOLVING: And so he will disagree publicly with these three church leaders?
MR. FLEISCHER: You know the President's position, it is exactly as I stated --
MR. KINSOLVING: Why can't you say whether he repudiates their remarks or not?
MR. FLEISCHER: Simply because I'm not aware of specifically what they've said, David. But there should be no --
MR. KINSOLVING: The remarks have been out there for some time and are pretty well documented.
MR. FLEISCHER: Again, I don't -- I have a long pattern, as you know, if I haven't seen the remarks, I always want to make certain that everything I'm hearing is accurate. But there should be no misunderstanding, you've all seen it with your own eyes, you've traveled on the trips the President has taken to these mosques and to these visits. It's a very important part of America's openness and tradition of tolerance.
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December 10, 2002
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/12/20
021210-11.html
CONNIE CHUNG (CNN): Follow on Islam, just for a moment. Has the President broken with his friends, Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson because of this situation? Has he spoken to them directly?
ARI FLEISCHER: Connie, I can only describe to you what the President feels in his heart and what he speaks and what he is proud to say. I don't say it in reference to what anybody else may or may not say. My job is to characterize to you accurately, and I hope with a little feeling today, about what the President thinks, because I think it's really important that you understand the depth to which the President, as a man of faith himself, believes in what he says when he talks about Islam being a religion of peace.
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October 14, 2003
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/10/20
031014-3.html
RUSSELL MOKHIBER (Corporate Crime Reporter): Scott, a couple things. Pat Robertson said this weekend that he wanted to nuke the State Department. The direct quote is, "If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom, I think that's the answer. You've got to blow that thing up." Does the President have any reaction to that?
SCOTT MCCLELLAN: Yes. I think that, one, he has since said that he should not have said that and changed what he said. But I do not view those as helpful comments. And it was wrong for him to say that.
