Stardate 20030715.1111

(On Screen): There can be no better demonstration of the inadequacy of the terms "liberal" and "conservative" as they're used in American politics today than this report about Pat Robertson.

I'm not sure there's a person in the US that I oppose more strongly politically than Pat Robertson; he's perhaps rivalled only by Noam Chomsky. But at least Chomsky doesn't try to use the power of God politically (preferring instead to rely on the unseen forces of Marxist historic inevitability). Robertson, on the other hand, has gone public with this:

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson urged his nationwide audience Monday to pray for God to remove three justices from the Supreme Court so they could be replaced by conservatives.

"We ask for miracles in regard to the Supreme Court," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club."

Robertson has launched a 21-day "prayer offensive" directed at the Supreme Court in the wake of its 6-3 June vote that decriminalized sodomy. Robertson said in a letter on the CBN Web site that the ruling "has opened the door to homosexual marriage, bigamy, legalized prostitution and even incest."

The same letter targets three justices in particular: "One justice is 83-years-old, another has cancer and another has a heart condition. Would it not be possible for God to put it in the minds of these three judges that the time has come to retire?"

Judging from the descriptions, Robertson was referring to Justice John Paul Stevens, who was born in 1920, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had colon cancer surgery in 1999. The identity of the third justice was unclear.

From this, he's coming perilously close to praying that Stevens and Ginsburg die if they won't retire; certainly that's what a lot of people will read his request to mean.

But whether he means that or not, I consider this entirely inappropriate. This approaches Oral Roberts on the "over the line" scale. (Roberts once faced financial crisis, and made the announcement that if contributions didn't pick up, "God would call him home" i.e. he'd die. Even other televangelists condemned that particular stunt.)

It's a free nation, and Robertson has a right to say what he wants. But he brings no credit on himself with this crap, which is just fine with me. Robertson hit his high-water mark a long time ago, and he's been increasingly marginalized ever since. This will only help make clear just what a loon he is, and reduce his credibility and influence even further.

Every political wing has its rock-throwing loonies. The Republicans have come to realize that on balance the Robertson form of Christian Conservatism is more of a liability than an asset. They haven't formally repudiated him, but they no longer pay him much attention.

The Democrats right now, on the other hand, seem to be arguing about whether they should move closer to their own rock throwers, such as Naderites and Chomskyites. They're no more net assets to the Democrats than Robertson is to the Republicans, because embracing them would alienate an even greater number of centrists. However, I suspect that the Democrats won't be able to resist doing so anyway, and by doing so will commit political suicide.