Robertson's remarks call for strong rebuke from White House

Published in USA Today Letters Section, August 26, 2005

If a major religious figure in any other nation were even to hint at the assassination of the president of these sovereign United States, he, and perhaps his country as well, would be excoriated for dangerous extremism and branded a terrorist — or worse.

When Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson publicly calls for the assassination of the duly elected president of the sovereign nation of Venezuela, the best and most conciliatory comment the Bush administration can muster up is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's embarrassingly noncommittal, "Our department doesn't do that type of thing." This is ineffectual at best, and implicitly approving at worst ("U.S. denounces assassination idea," News, Wednesday).

I must concur with Bernado Alvarez Herrera, the Venezuelan ambassador to the United States, who stated, "Mr. Robertson has been one of this president's staunchest allies. His statement demands the strongest condemnation by the White House."

The same demand would be made by us of any other nation, and ignoring this imperative rightly invites accusations of hypocrisy and double standards at a time when we should be trying to mend our international reputation, not stubbornly and pridefully flout it.