Lead by Example, Part 2

Crooks and Liars has a rundown of who has and hasn't spoken out about Pat Robertson's call for murder. From Bloomberg, we see that Republicans Norm Coleman and Mel Martinez call his remarks "irresponsible" and "incredibly stupid". To say the least. The Carpetbagger Report shows a few people in the Bush Administration not agreeing with Robertson, such as Rumsfeld and McCormack - of course, not agreeing and condemning are two different things. They also show that this isn't the first time Robertson has had verbal diarrhea.

And that brings up two damn interesting questions - Pat Robertson does this kind of thing a lot. His warnings that Florida would be nailed by hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and meteors (!) for Gay Day at Disney should have moved him into the "nutcase" file for good. (And his claims that his prayers diverted a hurricane may also have been a tipoff.) Yet the Republican party still feels he's a central part, a needed part, due to his control of the Christian Coalition.

So, how nutty does Robertson have to get before the Republicans actually start slamming him and refusing to allow him any influence? And how crazy does he have to act before the members of the Christian Coalition decides they'd rather have a leader with, say, sanity?

And the scariest question of all - how does a nutjob like Robertson claim to be acting in God's name...and people still follow him?