Pat Robertson, of all people, warned George W. Bush back in March, 2003, that he should prepare the American people for the fact that war with Iraq would be difficult, messy, and cost many American lives. Bush dismissed Robertson's concerns by saying "We're not going to have any casualties."

It's a sad day in America with Pat Robertson is more sensible and more level-headed than the President. CNN (via Eschaton) reports:

"You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' I mean he was just sitting there like, 'I'm on top of the world,' " Robertson said on the CNN show, "Paula Zahn Now." "And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties.' " Robertson said the president then told him, "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."

"I mean, the Lord told me it was going to be A, a disaster, and B, messy," Robertson said. "I warned him about casualties."

Most intelligent observers didn't need to talk to God to figure that there were serious dangers that faced America in Iraq. Granted, if handled correctly it could have turned out fine and so there were at least in theory reasons for one to feel confident. Such confidence could not, however, have justified pretending that dangers and problems did exist — at least, not for anyone in the reality-based community.

Asked why Bush has refused to admit to mistakes on Iraq, Robertson said, "I don't know this politics game. You know, you can never say you were wrong because the opposition grabs onto it: 'See, he admitted he screwed up.' "

Considering the fact that Robertson has run for president himself and has spent a great deal of time working for the election of conservative Republicans, I don't think that anyone can believe that he doesn't know the "politics game."

"Even if he stumbles and messes up -- and he's had his share of stumbles and gaffes -- I just think God's blessing is on him," Robertson said.

Naturally, the fact that Bush ignored his rational warning doesn't mean that Robertson has any intention of toning down his support. After all, God told him the Bush is the recipient of divine blessings, something that should be more than enough to ensure his reelection. If Bush doesn't win, though, that will simply mean that Christians have been so inadequate in their faith that God has decided to hand America over to Satan.

People should note that Bush's response to Robertson is completely consistent with Bush's attitude generally: when people tell him something that he doesn't want to hear and is different from what he has already decided, he ignores them. They are lucky if they ever get a chance to speak to him again. This is the faith-based president who changes reality in order to conform to his Will. Anything contrary to his Will simply doesn't exist.

 

Update: The White House has moved quickly to do damage control and is insisting that Robertson is all wrong:

White House and campaign advisers denied Bush made the comment, with adviser Karen Hughes saying, "I don't believe that happened. He must have misunderstood or misheard it."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "Of course, the president never made such a comment."

Of course, they aren't any more credible than Robertson is. A year or two ago, no one would have believed such comments to be true of Bush. Today, many do believe that they could be true. Even if they aren't, what does that say about people's confidence in George W. Bush?

Some of his supporters, the people who eschew the reality-based community, think Bush's comment is spot-on. For example, here is Orrin Judd:

Harsh as it may seem at first thought, the President was right.

We mourn the loss of every human life, particularly of men and women serving the nation and the cause of freedom, but casualties in the War on Terror have been so minimal as to be insignificant by the standards of any previous global conflict against totalitarianism. They were stunningly low in the regime change of Iraq--lower than anyone, besides the President and his allies, dreamt possible. There are barely more KIA today--even after we've stayed in country an additional 18 months to help deal with Iraq's domestic insurgency--than we lost in just the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during WWII.

Right.

Because the casualties thus far in Iraq are lower than some arbitrarily chosen incident in America's past, that's just the same as saying that the conflict in Iraq has resulted in no casualties. Therefore, Bush demonstrated amazing prophetic powers when he said that there would be no casualties in Iraq. Over a thousand have died and several thousand more injured, but those are not casualties.

And if anyone out there thinks that they are casualties, well that just means that you are wasting away in the reality-based community. The faith-based community, under the leadership of George W. Bush, is creating a new reality in Iraq — a reality where being killed or maimed does not make you a casualty. Remember that.

I hear that they will be adding the Book of Bush to the "Prophets" section of the Old Testament any day now. Don't anyone get any funny ideas of burning it, though — Ashcroft will have monitors inserted in them all.

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