Who is Pat Robertson?

Last week the ultra-right wing US fanatic Pat Robertson made a public statement on TV calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez. Josh Lucker in the USA looks at who Pat Robertson is and looks at his track record.

"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." - Pat Robertson

This was the statement made by Pat Robertson referring to the democratically elected President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, on the 700 Club on August 26th. This should hardly be surprising for anyone familiar with the ravings of this self-important religious demagogue and his worldwide, multi-million dollar Christian broadcasting empire. No, this was par for the course for Pat.

Even among conservatives, the statement caused quite an uproar. Senator Norm Coleman and former Senator Bob Dole both referred to the statement as "stupid." While many in Washington, even the most rabid anti-Chavistas, recoiled and have attempted to distance themselves from this statement, the fact remains that there is a very serious threat to the sovereignty of the democratic process in Venezuela posed by those in positions of power in the US, who do not limit themselves to making threats on bad television shows but are also consciously working to remove Chavez by force. For instance, Donald Rumsfeld's statement that "our department doesn't do that kind of thing," would be amusing if the fact that it was an outright lie was not so serious.

The seriousness of the threat is evidenced directly in statements made by retired Colonel David Hunt and ex-CIA operative Wayne Simmons commenting on Robertson's statement. Hunt stated on "Morning in America" that assassination "should be on the table." He continued, "I'm suggesting that we use it as a tool to get those guys nervous."

Simmons, on the ever-so-balanced "Hannity and Colmes" (read "Hannity and His Lap Dog") commented that Chavez has "armed himself with the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia," which plays into the lie being spread by Washington, that Chavez is in league with the FARC, in order to spark a war between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the right-wing puppet government in Colombia. As if that wasn't enough, Simmons also stated that, "He should have been killed a long time ago," which is an interesting statement, since according to Rumsfeld, "our department doesn't do that kind of thing."

The backlash internationally was equally strong in its condemnation as well as being far more sincere. Bernardo Álvarez, the Venezuelan ambassador to the US, demanded that the US "respect our country and its president." Vice President José Vicente Rangel stated quite correctly that it "is a huge hypocrisy to maintain an anti-terrorist line and at the same time have such terrorist statements as these made by Christian preacher Pat Robertson coming from the same country." Chavez had a far more simple response, basically stating that he didn't even know who Robertson was and that he "couldn't care less." This recent event has brought to the forefront the need to briefly examine just who this Pat Robertson character is and how much influence he and his ilk really have.

Robertson's Support of Dictatorships

Whilst Robertson is busy condemning the democratically elected Chavez to an assassin's bullet for being a "dictator", let's take a brief look at Robertson's own history in the realm of supporting authoritarian regimes and other reactionary international political groups.

Robertson was a strong supporter of the Contras against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Contras were terrorists (you've probably heard that term before). Many of their attacks targeted civilian populations and they were cited by almost every international human rights organization for violent abuses of human rights. However, this didn't stop Pat's support.

He was also a supporter of the El Salvador regime as rightwing death squads were rampaging through the country. The death squads even killed religious leaders, but I guess Pat would say it was worth it! He supported various other adventures in Latin America over the years but let's get to the real fun one.

In Liberia, Pat was a rabid supporter of Charles Taylor. He condemned the US's involvement in his ousting despite the fact that the UN had brought Taylor up on war crimes. Later, it was even revealed that Taylor had harbored members of Al-Qaeda! You know, that group that Robertson says he hates so much. Well, why would he support such a man? Robertson had $8 million invested in a Liberian gold mine. Now that is genuine bourgeois morality for you! There's a similar story with Mobutu in Zaire, only you have to replace "gold" with "diamonds."

So, basically Pat supports dictatorships when it benefits him to do so. Pat's idea of a dictatorship could be summed up as this: "If they won't broadcast my show or I can't make money out of them, they are a dictatorship. If I can, they are a democracy." It is a convenient, self-interest ideology for Pat, but it fails as a serious international politico-economic analysis. Now, let's take a look at his disturbing "end times" prophecy.

Pat's Apocalyptic Vision

Pat and his friends believe that the world is coming to an end. In fact, Pat uncritically supports the actions of the Israeli state, not for any reverence for the Israeli people, but rather because in his warped world vision the Jewish people have to be there in order for Pat's Jesus to come back and kill them. And then he has the nerve to call anyone the least bit critical of the actions of the Israeli state an anti-Semite! As Marxists, we support the working people of the entire world, Palestinian or Jew, Iraqi or American, Venezuelan or Russian. We fight for a Socialist Federation of the Middle East as part of a World Socialist Federation for the betterment of all the workers, poor and oppressed.

This is not what Pat wants, however. In order for his vision to be complete, all the Jews that refuse to convert to Christianity are to be struck down by his oh-so-loving savior. Combine that with his good friend Jerry Falwell's assertion that the "antichrist" is alive today and that he is a "middle-aged Jew", and we see clearly who the real anti-Semites are!

The Religious Right

So, what role do these far right religious extremists play in American politics? At first glance, it would appear that they play a significant role. Robertson's network alone reaches millions of homes in the US. Some have even claimed that the elections of 2000 and 2004 were actually decided ultimately by the "value voters" that make up the core of Robertson's audience, although the weight of this claim is debatable. Nonetheless, on the surface, they appear to be quite powerful.

However, a little more critical examination reveals some faults in this analysis. Ultimately, we still live in a bourgeois republican democracy. In the final analysis, the capitalist class controls the levers of the state (the political institutions, the military, the police, etc.). The state amounts to armed bodies of men and women, and who controls these armed bodies, the Religious Right or the big bourgeoisie? Of course it is the bourgeoisie, the Religious Right representing only one section of the bourgeoisie as a whole, dragging behind them a few million of the more backward layers of society.

They are merely being used by the rightwing of the bourgeoisie for the realization of their political ends. When they have exhausted their usefulness they will be thrown away like last week's garbage. An excellent example of just how this process works in action can be witnessed in Gaza. Those far-right Zionists, who had occupied parts of Gaza with the backing of US imperialism, have just been evacuated by force because their presence there is now seen as a liability. The Israeli ruling class can get more political mileage out of their evacuation than if they remained. The bourgeoisie really couldn’t care less about these people, then or now. That's not really the point as far as they can see, for the capitalist sees only profit. And the same will be true of the supporters of the Religious Right that help the Republicans get elected if they ever become a liability.

At the present time, the Religious Right acts as a sort of mouthpiece for the more extreme policies of the right. This time, however, it appears that they overstepped their bounds. While there is no doubt that many within the Bush Administration feel the same way as Robertson, they would prefer not to have things like that said publicly. They prefer quiet assassinations and military coups that they "had nothing to do with." Just do not believe them, because they are about as honest as Robertson!

August 30, 2005

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