Former governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) delivered the commencement address today at Pat Robertson’s Regent University, praising the televangelist who has repeatedly spouted hateful and bigoted remarks.
From the excerpts of Romney’s speech released this morning: “This university, its students, its alumni and the faculty serve as an example of Dr. Robertson’s dedication to strengthening and then nurturing the pillars of this community and our country: education, fellowship, and advancement.”
Some examples of how Robertson “strengthens” and “nurtures” education and advancement in our country:
Robertson on the vote in Dover, PA in support of evolution science:
I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city.
Robertson on September 11:
Two days after the terrorist attacks, Mr. Robertson held a conversation with Jerry Falwell on Mr. Robertson’s TV show “The 700 Club.” Mr. Falwell laid blame for the attack at the feet of “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians,” not to mention the A.C.L.U. and People for the American Way. “Well, I totally concur,” said Mr. Robertson.
Robertson on Islam:
I believe it’s motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with. … [T]he goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination.
Robertson on former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke:
Robertson suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s recent stroke was the result of Sharon’s policy, which he claimed is “dividing God’s land.”
Robertson on assassinating Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez:
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.
Robertson on the federal judiciary being a greater threat than al Qaeda:
Q: You’ve said that Liberals are engaged in an all-out assault on Christianity…and that the out-of-control judiciary, and this was in your last book “Courting Disaster” is the most serious threat America has faced in nearly 400 years of history, more serious than al Qaeda, more serious than Nazi Germany and Japan, more serious than the Civil War?
Pat Robertson: George, I really believe that.