robertson waffles on assassination apology

it'd take a team of top-flight surgeons to remove Rev Pat's foot from his oral cavity.

Robertson apologizes for remark on Chavez
Call for assassination result of 'frustration'

Alan Cooperman, Washington Post
Thursday, August 25, 2005

Washington -- The Rev. Pat Robertson apologized Wednesday for calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he "spoke in frustration" over the U.S. government's inaction toward a man who has "found common cause with terrorists."

"Is it right to call for assassination?" Robertson said. "No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."
...

Earlier Wednesday, Robertson, 75, insisted that his remarks had been misinterpreted by the press.

"Wait a minute, I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out,' and 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping," he said on Wednesday's edition of his flagship show on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

On Wednesday evening, however, Robertson issued a written clarification acknowledging that he had, in fact, used the word "assassination."

A video of Monday's telecast shows Robertson's exact words were: "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."
...

This is not the first time that Robertson has issued a convoluted apology. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he appeared to agree with the Rev. Jerry Falwell on a "700 Club" broadcast that the attacks were God's punishment for feminists, gays, lesbians and liberal groups. But Robertson later said he had conducted the interview with Falwell over a studio monitor and had not fully understood what Falwell was saying.