Mullah Robertson

At first, Mullah Pat Robertson of the American Taliban tried to explain away his call for a hit on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by saying he'd never mentioned the word, "assassination." Here are the details from Salon's War Room:

"August is a slow news day but it seems like the whole world is talking about my comments about Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez," Robertson said on his TV show today. "I didn't say assassination. I said our special forces should take him out. 'Take him out' can be a number of things including kidnapping. There are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted." Which is all well and good, except of course that Robertson did use the word "assassination" when he talked about Chavez Monday, and he made it clear beyond any question that that's the fate he was suggesting for the Venezuelan president. "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," Robertson said Monday. ''It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war . . . and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

When confronted with this new "videotape" technology, Mullah Robertson relented:

"Is it right to call for assassination?" he said in the statement. "No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."

But Robertson still has a few irons in the controversy fires. People for the American Way notes that this month, Robertson and his 700 Club television programme have been praying for yet another vacancy on the Supreme Court--one way or another. Check out the link above, where they've included a video of this jaw-dropping spectacle.

Heavyweight televangelist Pat Robertson made headlines for his comments on Monday’s 700 Club that the U.S. military should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but it was not the first time the extremist right-wing televangelist leader turned multimillionaire media tycoon appealed to a higher power to eliminate people he deemed inconvenient. In fact, on The 700 Club the very next day, Robertson led his viewers in a prayer for God to give them another Supreme Court vacancy – “in one way or the other.” Of course, such vacancies only occur when justices retire or die. Robertson has led such over-the-air prayers almost daily for the last two months, as part of his “Operation Supreme Court Freedom.” As he explained on August 1, “[W]e’re praying that God set us free from those who distort the Constitution to impose their own political views and take away our nation’s time honored affirmation of faith in God.” He has called for a “restoration” of the Court to the “original intent” of the Constitution, and has said that additional vacancies will help prevent a “tyranny of an oligarchy.” The 700 Club airs twice a day on ABC’s The Family Channel.

As per that broadcast relationship, Atrios notes:

I don't know if there's anything that can nullify the agreement - such as if Pat Robertson starts raping goats on the air - but ABC bought into a deal which requires them to run the 700 Club free as long as Robertson wishes.