| Robertson was a guest on
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
on Sunday. Asked asked if judges were a more serious
threat than terrorists, Robertson responded, “It
depends on how you look at culture. If they look over
the course of 100 years, I think the gradual erosion
of the consensus that's held our country together is
probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists
who fly into buildings. And I think we have controlled
Al Qaida. I think we'll get Osama bin Laden. We've won
in Afghanistan. We won in Iraq. And we can contain that.
But if there's an erosion at home, you know, Thomas
Jefferson warned about a tyranny of oligarchy. If we
surrender our democracy to the tyranny of oligarchy,
we've made a terrible mistake.”
In the letter, obtained by RAW
STORY, Lautenberg says he was shocked at Robertson's
remarks.
“It was shocking to hear your cavalier dismissal
of the atrocious 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon by describing them as “a few
bearded terrorists who fly planes into buildings,”
wrote Lautenberg in his letter to Reverend Robertson.
Lautenberg went on to write, “To suggest that
members of the federal judiciary are somehow in the
same class as “a few bearded terrorists”
is an assault on the men and women on the federal bench
who safeguard our rights under the Constitution everyday.”
In a separate letter to Sen. Majority Leader Frist,
Lautenberg asks Frist to condemn Robertson's comments.
“I hope you will join me in condemning such harmful
and heated language and call on Reverend Robertson to
publicly apologize to every family who has lost a loved
one to terrorism. Your silence on this matter would
send a resounding signal to the entire country that
the radical right controls the leadership of the Republican
Party,” Lautenberg wrote in his letter to Majority
Leader Frist.
The letter to Robertson, and the following letter to
Frist, are included below. RAW
STORY has also posted the letters in text form.
###
Reverend Pat Robertson
Founder and Chairman
The Christian Broadcasting Network
977 Centerville Turnpike
Virginia Beach, VA 23463
Dear Reverend Robertson,
It was shocking to hear your cavalier dismissal of
the atrocious 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon by describing them as “a few
bearded terrorists who fly planes into buildings.”
It is hard to believe that an American could so coldly
describe the murder of more than 3,000 human beings,
the demolition of facilities thought of as indestructible
and the crushing psychological damage to our national
confidence.
We now live under constant threat of another terrorist
attack, visible at airports and major public facilities.
And the cost to guard against “a few bearded terrorists”
is billions of dollars each year.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to fight “a
few bearded terrorists” have taken the lives of
over 1,500 American soldiers and seriously wounded thousands
more.
I urge you to publicly apologize to every family that
has lost a loved one on 9/11 and on the battlefields
of Iraq and Afghanistan fighting the global war against
terrorism.
To suggest that members of the federal judiciary are
somehow in the same class as “a few bearded terrorists”
is an assault on the men and women on the federal bench
who safeguard our rights under the Constitution everyday.
Not until I heard what you had said would I have ever
believed a man of such deep faith could single out our
courts, and not terrorists, as America’s Public
Enemy Number One. Every family who has lost loved ones
at the hands of terrorists deserves nothing less that
a full and forthright apology from you.
Sincerely,
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG
###
May 3, 2005
Dr. Bill Frist
Majority Leader
United States Senate
S-230 – U.S. Capitol
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Frist,
As I am sure you are aware by now, during an appearance
on last Sunday’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos,
the Reverend Pat Robertson commented that federal judges
posed a greater threat to our country than “bearded
terrorists who fly planes into buildings.”
I have sent a letter to Reverend Robertson calling
on him to apologize publicly to the families who lost
loved ones on September 11th, as well as to the families
of those who have been killed serving their country
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The almost constant assaults on our federal judges
by the radical right of the Republican Party has now
caused one of its most prominent spokesmen to claim
judges, not terrorists, are the number one threat to
this country. I hope you will join me in condemning
such harmful and heated language and call on Reverend
Robertson to publicly apologize to every family who
has lost a loved one to terrorism. Your silence on this
matter would send a resounding signal to the entire
country that the radical right controls the leadership
of the Republican Party.
Sincerely,
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG
###
Article originally published May 3, 2005. |
