Friday, January 06, 2006

Apology du Jour

The Rev. Pat Robertson, that most loathsome so-called man of the cloth, has a long-standing habit of saying outrageous things – which are widely disseminated – and then apologizing later after the damage has been done.

As I noted yesterday in “Ariel Sharon: The Path Suddenly Gets Steeper,” Robertson told his “700 Club” television audience that God’s wrath prompted Israeli Prime Minister Sharon’s massive stroke.

As inevitable as the rising and falling of the tides, Robertson today apologized for his remark. Or I should say sort of apologized:

[My own] ignorant remarks are another manifestation of God’s anger.

To which he added:

If Christians would read the Bible, instead of just watching TV, they would understand that people who claim to know exactly why God does what He does are usually false teachers. God disciplines American Christians for their willful ignorance of the Scriptures by having me embarrass them every 60 days or so with another ridiculous remark.

Okey-dokey, Pat.

All this got me to thinking about why the media quotes Robertson in the first place. Dan McQuade, major domo at Philadelphia Will Do, the Philadelphia Weekly's blog, also wonders:

Okay, here's the deal: What the f--- does this moron have to say to stop getting major national attention? Does he have to eat a puppy on live television to stop being quoted seriously by major journalists? I would call him a retard but that would seriously be offensive to all people with a mental handicap. I know that it's good to have all sides to a story, but this isn't a side of any f---ing story. You might as well ask The Recorder Lady what she thinks about Ariel Sharon's health. You'd probably get a more coherent answer.

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