Spectacular insanity is the only explanation for why Pat Robertson called for President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela to be assassinated on his Christian Broadcasting Network show, “The 700 Club.” Draft-age students, pay attention; this guy has the president’s ear and advocates the violent overthrow of Venezuela’s government. Here’s Robertson’s lunacy quoted directly from Thursday’s Chicago-Sun Times.

“You know, 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. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator.”

Let’s start at the beginning of that sentence.

Hugo Chavez does think the U.S. is trying to kill him, and the U.S. was behind a coup that overthrew him for two days in 2002.

It is certain the Bush administration refused to condemn it, as CNN reported.

That’s bad. I’ll tell you why later.

While a little cyanide is cheaper than a war, I think most countries dislike their president being assassinated.

Perhaps just enough to impose economic sanctions.

If post-war Iraq is any indicator, current U.S. foreign policy seems to stop, rather than enhance, the flow of oil.

As for having the ability to kill a nation’s leader, the U.S. tried to kill both Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro for years, and they’re still breathing.

The CIA can’t seem to hit its own foot with a 12-gauge shotgun firing buckshot.

I’d agree we don’t need another $200 billion dollar war. We can’t seem to resolve the one we’re in. As for being a strong-arm dictator, Chavez was re-elected in a referendum in 2004 with 58 percent of the vote. On top of that, the BBC reported that, “former U.S. President Jimmy Carter endorsed the results, saying they tallied with the findings of his referendum monitoring team.”

That’s why it’s bad for Bush not to condemn the 2002 coupe. Apparently, Bush doesn’t frown on leaders being overthrown who are later legally re-elected.

Perhaps he’s jealous; Chavez won by a better margin than Bush did in both of his campaigns.

Besides that, Chavez has made himself unpopular with Bush by being friendly with Castro’s Cuba, and by supposedly supporting Colombian terrorist organizations.

Hmm … an oil-rich nation has relations with nations we don’t like, and is rumored to support terrorism. If we invade, let’s hope it’s true this time.

One can imagine Bush might listen politely to Robertson. He led the Christian Coalition in 2000, when, according to CNN, it “helped jump-start President Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign after his New Hampshire primary loss.”

CNN has reported some of Robertson’s other illogical remarks.

“He has suggested in the past that a meteor could strike Florida because of unofficial ‘Gay Days’ at Disney World, and that feminism caused women to kill their children, practice witchcraft and become lesbians,” CNN reported.

Well, after Robertson and Bush take care of Venezuela, NASA can get that meteor for them, and Congress can ban feminism. I hope Bush thinks he’s nuts, too.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.