Pat Robertson threatens to start his own 3rd party:
- Influential American evangelist Pat Robertson said Monday that Evangelical Christians feel so deeply about Jerusalem, that if President George W. Bush were to “touch” Jerusalem, Evangelicals would abandon their traditional Republican leanings and form a third party.
Evangelical Christians – estimated at tens of millions of Americans –
overwhelmingly support Bush for his pro-Israel policies, Robertson told a Jerusalem news conference Monday.
But if Bush shifted his position toward support for Jerusalem as a capital for both Israel and a Palestinian state, his Evangelical backing would disappear, Robertson indicated.
“The President has backed away from [the road map], but if he were to touch Jerusalem, he’d lose all Evangelical support,” Robertson said. “Evangelicals would form a third party” because, though people “don’t know about” Gaza, Jerusalem is an entirely different matter.
I think most evangelicals are pro-Israel because they’re pro-Bush/GOP, not the other way around. But a megalomaniacal figure such as Robertson – who ran for president in 1988 and managed to round up 3 million volunteers – could create a full-on Christian Zionist party.
- “I see the rise of Islam to destroy Israel and take the land from the Jews and give East Jerusalem to [Palestinian Authority Chairman] Yasser Arafat. I see that as Satan’s plan to prevent the return of Jesus Christ the Lord,” said Robertson, a Christian broadcaster.
Has Laurie Mylroie heard about this?