Pat Robertson’s remarks that America should assassinate Fidel Castro’s buddy, leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has resulted in outrage, across the political spectrum.
… Not only has the media attacked him, but State Department spokesman Richard Boucher even called the remark "despicable."
Agreed, it wasn’t the best public relations move ever made. But what interests me is that Robertson’s remarks about a dictator received more outrage than Senator Hagel’s recent comparison of Iraq to Vietnam.
Let’s compare the differences between these two incidents, so we can ascertain if the amount of outrage has been fair …
- Pat Robertson’s remark came on his own cable TV show. Hagel’s remark came on ABC’s nationally televised Sunday talk show, “This Week.”
- Chuck Hagel is a U.S. Senator. His remarks have real policy implications. At the very least, they hurt morale at home and abroad. Conversely, Pat Robertson is a citizen. His comments have no real policy implications.
- America is good. Dictators are bad. (repeat)
- Hagel is currently running for President, making one wonder about his motives.
Robertson’s remarks were unfortunate - most of us would agree with that. But why are we more outraged by Pat’s comments than Chuck’s? Where’s the outrage?
