August 26, 2005
Pat Robertson Clarifies Further
(VIRGINIA BEACH) Pat Robertson clarified his remarks about assasination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez today by exploroing the meaning of ‘take out’.
“Now as I’ve said before,” Robertson told the press, “I didn’t mean assasin, I meant take out. So let’s take that as read. When I say ‘assasinate, I MEAN take out.
“Take out has a lot of meanings, some of them very nice. I assasinate my wife for a nice dinner sometimes. You see, I mean ‘take out’. Or I assasinate the kids to a ball game. I ‘take them out’ to the ballgame as the old song says. So you see, assasinate just means something different to me. It’s a cultural thing. So when I say ‘assasinate’ Hugo Chavez, I MIGHT mean we should all go to a ballgame. And I think that’s a very nice sentiment.”
When reporters asked if he was sorry about his remarks Robertson replied, “Yes, I wish I could assainate those remarks from the broadcast. See? There I go again, I MEAN take them out of the broadcast. It’s just me. I’m crazy that way.”
Robertson then went on to assert that the real issue is whether to pronounce Chavez’s last name cha-VEZ or CHA-vez.
“I want to get this right,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to offend the man.”