by Mark Silva
Today, it appears, on the first day of the accounting of the human toll taken by an earthquake of historic proportions in Haiti, we already have gotten a glimpse of the better angels of humanity and the darker voices in the face of such a crisis.
The people of Haiti, who for so long have gotten "a raw deal,'' deserve the world's attention, in the words of one world leader who knows the history of the region and the immediacy of the challenge well, former President Bill Clinton.
Yet the people of Haiti asked for what has befallen them, in the judgment of another leader in his own realm, the Rev. Pat Robertson, who had the gall today to suggest on his Christian Broadcasting Network program that Haitians are paying for a deal made with the devil.
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson said today. "They were under the heel of the French ... and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French...
"True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal,'" Robertson said. "Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."
The mind reels at the inhumanity of such a suggestion.
Fortunately today, most are summoning a more noble spirit.
Cinton, the former president of the United States whose own personal failings bear no elaboration today, had teamed up with another former president, George H.W. Bush, to spearhead a drive of humanitarian aid for the victims of the tsunami that overwhelmed the coast of Indonesia five years ago, with a death toll that may well be exceeded by the earthquake that rocked Port-au-Prince this week.
Before this temblor struck, Clinton was named special envoy to Haiti for the United Nations, whose own mission in Port-au-Prince was leveled this week, with many of the U.N.'s own people missing.
"We know there are fatalities,'' Clinton said today, in an appearance on CNN. "We don't know how many. And that's the same for the people throughout the island... We still have lots and lots of people with missing family members. And we just have to -- to keep hoping that we'll have more rescue teams down there....
"But it's a... devastating problem,'' Clinton said. "Last night, the streets of Port-au-Prince were littered with wounded people sleeping and -- and the bodies of those who had perished. And we're going to have, I think, another three or four really hard days of just clearing through the rubble to find the living and those who have died....
"When... the four hurricanes hit here in 2008, there was a general sense that while everybody was very forthcoming with help, we hadn't coordinated the work of the people on the ground in Haiti with the American military well enough and we hadn't focused enough on the basics -- on water and food and first aid supplies and shelter,'' Clinton said. "So that's why I've been so insistent tonight.
"We need to do the first things first, get through the first two weeks, then do what's necessary to help people recover and to sustain themselves while they're recovering. And there has to be very close coordination between the United States military and any other military assets we have and this U.N. force on the ground under the command of the Brazilians.... So I think we're absorbing the lessons we learned in the tsunami and Katrina and -- and in dealing with the -- the hurricane season in Haiti two years ago...''
The former president's wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has cut short a trip to Pacific nations that she was taking to return to Washington to oversee relief efforts underway.
"Hillary and I went to Haiti on a delayed honeymoon trip in December of 1975,'' Clinton said. "And she has been so upset about this that she's doing everything she can do at State, with AID. We -- we've loved that place for a long time. And we -- we think the people have gotten a raw deal time and time again and they keep coming back.
"And they'll come back again if people will see them as their fellow human beings,'' Clinton said. "They're hurting, but they're good people. And they need our help.''
Comments
if you think Pat is out of his mind...again, please join this facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Never-Ending-Horror-of-Pat-Robertson-makes-me-writhe/279716970534?v=wall#/pages/The-Never-Ending-Horror-of-Pat-Robertson-makes-me-writhe/279716970534?ref=mf
Posted by: pjcanary | January 13, 2010 9:45 PM
Robertson is a dog. What a ridiculously inappropriate thing to say. On multiple levels. First, you have to be completely detached from reality to believe what he said. Second, even if you did believe that, you would have to be a tactless jerk to say it on a day when thousands of people lost their lives.
Posted by: Herbie H. | January 13, 2010 10:05 PM
Ok, Mark, Robertson's comments were dumb. I'll give you that.
But can you honestly say that Bill Clinton served Haiti well when he was president? Didn't he help spearhead the reinstallation of Aristide as president? What exactly did Aristide ever do that helped or benefitted the people of Haiti?
Robertson's comments may be stupid, but he certainly didn't harm the people of Haiti the way Clinton did. Haiti has been screwed up for decades. Robertson had nothing to do with that.
So, Mark, I think you would be better directing your scorn and condemnation at those who actually did Haiti wrong. Robertson is not one of those people.
Posted by: John D | January 13, 2010 10:08 PM
When evaluating a Pat Robertson comment, consider the source. The guy is seriously unhinged, and nothing that he says is to be taken seriously. It would be best if the media would stop reporting on him, and let him sink into the obscurity he so richly deserves.
Posted by: DaveB | January 13, 2010 11:14 PM
That anyone takes anything Pat Robertson said seriously is sad enough. It is even worse that such a puerile thinker professes to know anything about God or what God wants. He should be the poster child for why humanity does not serve itself falling victim to the religiously driven zealots who care first and foremost about filling their bank accounts.
Posted by: Eric | January 13, 2010 11:22 PM
Obviously a bizzaro with thousands of followers who inhale the dirt he kicks up as gospel. A human parasite just like the ones that had the audacity to blame Hurricane Katrina on the people of New Orleans.
Posted by: toothfairy | January 14, 2010 12:22 AM
Here's a video of the Haitian ambassador responding to Pat Robertson on Rachel Maddow's show:
http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2010/01/rachel-maddow-haitian-ambassador.html
Posted by: Matt | January 14, 2010 12:27 AM
For once I have to commend B.J. Clinton, even though 9/11 was planned under his nose for three years and he shot at and on the wrong target, he's right on this one.
Good for him.
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | January 14, 2010 2:00 AM
This is Obama's Ruanda.
I have no doubt he will lead a humanitarian response as magnanimous as Clinton's response to Ruanda was inadequate.
Posted by: ornery | January 14, 2010 3:09 AM
Decent people don't say things like that in a tragedy, it's as simple as that.
Posted by: Grandblvd03 | January 14, 2010 5:02 AM
Didn't a prominent Democrat Senator just make racist remarks? Yes. Did you care? NO. You have no credibility.
Pat Robertson is wacky; so is Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and most of the current nutjobs that are in control of our government. I'm much more worried about them than a preacher on the fringe. Your guys are on the fringe and they are in control. That's scary.
Posted by: Free to Watch Whatever I Want | January 14, 2010 5:21 AM
I have to wonder why posters would ask why anyone would listen to what Robertson has to say. Didn't the past administration use 150 alumni and put them in our justice system? Was he not a republican presidential candidate? Wasn't he and the Christian Coalition sued for their support of the republican party?
Posted by: bill r. | January 14, 2010 8:14 AM
Pat Robertson is a showman. He loves the attention his outrageous comments bring him. Just like Rush Limbaugh.
Why, they're twins sons of different mothers; one wraps his intolerance and hate in the flag and patriotism and the other in God and religion.
Same hate and same intolerance. Should we expect anything different?
God instructs his people to
" test the spirits...by their fruit you shall know them.." Pat Robertson's "fruit" is rotten and unscriptual. He fools some people by hiding behind
"reverend" but not all.
Decent caring people need to step up to the plate and do the right thing for their fellow human being. Politics can wait another day.
Posted by: writerofwrongs | January 14, 2010 8:45 AM
Aren't those Republican-Libertarians, sweet people? Just overflowing with God's love and they show it, ever chance they can? Robertson is lucky, God isn't the vengeful God, he worships. Otherwise, Robertson would be in deep do-do !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, IL | January 14, 2010 9:40 AM
bill r., there are lots of guys who were Republican presidential candidates. (I could name a few marginal characters on the Democratic side too.) Alan Keyes was a Republican Senate candidate. Does that mean that we have to take seriously what he says, too?
Posted by: DaveB | January 14, 2010 9:50 AM
For Pat Robertson (or, for that matter, any and all the OTHER jeezus-loons who say they're speaking on behalf of god) to make pronouncements in the name of his god is a direct violation of the commandment not to use the Lord's name in vain (no, it DOESN'T pertain to saying "godd*** it" when you whack your thumb with a hammer -- it means using god [and his name] to assume his authority). According to the bible that Robertson SAYS he believes in, absolutely 100% word for word, from front to back cover -- and that all of us MUST bellieve in exactly the way he believes in it or be damned forever and ever amen -- the punishment for this is death.
He's apologized for doing this before, when he blamed 9/11 on gays and abortionists. Apology from this garbage pile on legs is no longer acceptable.
Posted by: Op109 | January 14, 2010 10:52 AM
Does that mean that we have to take seriously what he says, too?
Posted by: DaveB | January 14, 2010 9:50 AM
I'm not so sure that 25% of the vote is considered marginal. Buchanan was very popular with the RR base of the republican party because they talked the game of family values. The point being that sometimes it is the talk and not the substance of the candidate that attracts the right. It could be that 10-15 years from now that when Palin speaks with her divisive approach, you will be calling her "marginal".
Posted by: bill r. | January 14, 2010 11:18 AM
Pat Robertson is insulting any good Christian and any good American by slamming a religious country like Haiti while at the mercy of a natural disaster.
Haiti is the second Western Hemisphere country to declare its independence after ourselves. Their experiment in democracy was tinted because it happened to be started by slaves seeking freedom, so Robertson is reinforcing the racist prejudice against Haiti. Its hard to use consider Robertson has any compassion for humanity considering his track record of lobbying against average Americans with every breath.
To top it off the sleaze are trying to raise money using the tragedy in Haiti.
Posted by: Sally | January 14, 2010 7:54 PM
Hey Mark, how about an apology and retraction? At no point did Dr. Robertson actually blame the earthquake on “a pact to the Devil”. Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath. If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them.
In getting the story wrong, YOU are guilty of the very thing YOU accused Robertson of doing: taking advantage of a human tragedy to further YOUR own ends. At the end of the day Mark, you are in the great company of other great liberal fabricators such as Jake Tapper, Alan Colmes, Rich Shapiro, John Cook and Mike Potemra. All of you were wrong in your Headlines and story’s. You should be ashamed!
Posted by: Robert | January 18, 2010 4:59 PM