There are two kinds of Republicans: hypocrites and honest hypocrites. There is one Republican value: winning. Values are something they use to win, but when they're pushed to the wall, they abandon them all to the virtue of the win. Pat Robertson shows us how it's done.
Via RightWingWatch, a classic moment where Robertson quotes one of his favorite politicians, Lyndon Johnson:
I believe it was Lyndon Johnson that said, ‘Don’t these people realize if they push me over to an extreme position I’ll lose the election? And I’m the one who will be supporting what they want but they’re going to make it so I can’t win.’ Those people in the Republican primary have got to lay off of this stuff. They’re forcing their leaders, the frontrunners, into positions that will mean they lose the general election. Now whether this did it to Cain I don’t know, but nevertheless, you appeal to the narrow base and they’ll applaud the daylights out of what you’re saying and then you hit the general election and they say ‘no way’ and then the Democrat, whoever it is, is going to just play these statements to the hilt. They’ve got to stop this! It’s just so counterproductive!
This comes from the guy who says things like this:
Robertson told viewers of “The 700 Club” on CBN that divorce would be OK in a situation that involves something as terrible as Alzheimer’s.
"I know it sounds cruel but if he's going to do something he should divorce her and start all over again," he said, "[and] make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her."
If ever there was anyone who was forcing politicians into weird positions, it's Robertson. He's the guy who sends it out over the airwaves to grannies across the nation who are already scared out of their wits by the crazy email conspiracies they receive, courtesy of Liberty University and its friends. There's a whole list here.
Still, I give him credit for speaking the truth on some level. If you look past all the fluff, what he's really saying is that these wingnuts are too vocal right now. He's not against what they're saying; he just wants them to quit saying it out loud so their frontrunner can lie enough to get elected. There you have it: right-wing values writ large in one short video clip.
