Pat Robertson is a dangerous idiot -- Part Quatre

By Michael J.W. Stickings

It really isn't news when Pat Robertson says something stupid, or stupidly idiotic, or idiotically stupid, or just plain insane, but with Parts Un, Deux, and Trois behind us it makes sense to keep the record going. (Of course, we've missed far more than we've included in this ongoing series, but at least we've recorded some of his dangerous idiocy.) And what is it now? A prophecy for 2007:

Evangelical broadcaster Pat Robertson said Tuesday that God has told him that a terrorist attack on the United States would cause a "mass killing" late in 2007.

"I'm not necessarily saying it's going to be nuclear," he said during his news-and-talk television show "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

"The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that."

Robertson said God told him about the impending tragedy during a recent prayer retreat.

God also said, he claims, that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September.

Of course, something like this may happen this year. A major terrorist attack is likely, if not in 2007 then within the next few years. But that doesn't mean Robertson isn't full of shit. He is. In some way he's like a Red Sox fan who predicted a World Series win year after year. (Or like a Maple Leafs fan here in Toronto predicting a Stanley Cup win year after year.) At some point it was bound to happen. And it did. (Though not yet for the Leafs -- thankfully (I'm a Habs fan)). It's all quite laughable, but what distinguishes Robertson from that Red Sox fan is his influence. He may not be the evangelical leader he once was, but he still has his followers. Many of them. And they don't think he's full of shit. Probably because they're full of shit, too. Or because they just don't know any better, so deep are their delusion and desperation. And as long as he has his followers (including Tom DeLay and, indirectly, Mitt Romney), he's a dangerous idiot.

For more, see Steve Benen (one of the best at picking apart the idiocies of the religious right), Wonkette (which pulls no punches), and Sarah Posner (who looks at the ongoing influence of Robertson's "empire").