Has Pat Robertson Completely Lost it?

[scaeagles]

I don't think Rush ever said Obama was trying to steal their money. Perhaps I am wrong and someone could quote it to me where he did.

From what I've read, he said they will most likely capture your email address (as they did with something else....forgot the entir story) and start soliciting compaign money from you via email.

[Alex]

No, he asked the caller (who called to ask why you'd give money for Haiti at whitehouse.gov instead of to the Red Cross, missing the fact that all whitehouse.gov does/did was provide a link directly to the Red Cross). He never explicitly said "Obama is going to steal money you donate." He certainly suggested that donated money through the Obama administration would not make it to Haiti. Perhaps he meant that it would all be spent buying releif supplies in the United States that would then be shipped to Haiti but that strikes me as too credulous an interpretation.

Rush asked if the caller would trust that such money really would get to Haiti.

Here's the transcript of this portion of the show (I've bolded the relevant sentence), you can find it on many web sites so if you distrust me I'll leave it to you to search for it so you can pick one you trust:

RUSH: We’re going to start in Raleigh, North Carolina. Justin you’re first today. Great to have you with us.

CALLER: Mega Rush Baby dittos. My question is, why did Obama in the sound bite you played earlier, when he’s talking about if you wanted to donate some money, you can go to WhiteHouse.gov –

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: — to direct you how to do so. If I want to donate money to the Red Cross, why do I need to go to the WhiteHouse.gov page and –

RUSH: Exactly. Would you trust that the money is going to go to Haiti?

CALLER: No.

RUSH: Would you trust that your name is going to end up on a mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes.

CALLER: Absolutely.

RUSH: Absolutely right.

CALLER: That’s the point.

But even if all he had said was "they will most likely capture your email address" this would also be a bogus attempt to direct people away from an information source for how to help in Haiti since the site in no ways solicits information or accepts (at least this was true then, I'm sure it is still true now) donations directly.

[Alex]

Oh, and the Haiti stuff at whitehouse.gov has changed since I looked at it next week. Which I should have known without looking since the Clinton/Bush announcement was made.

If you go to whitehouse.gov looking for information on helping Haiti, here's what you get:

A video of Bush and Clinton saying why help is needed.
A link to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund web site.
Instructions for using text message to donate to the Clinton Bush Fund (similar to the one set up for Red Cross).
How to contact the State Department if you are a citizen looking for information on friends/family in Haiti.
Links to individual government agency pages detailing how those agencies are responding to the earthquake.
And some images you can use on your own Web site to help promote helping Haiti.

Very nefarious stuff, but still no data collection at all (so no email lists) and the Obama administration is not directly collecting funds (so no skimming).

But what about the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund? That is being run through both the William J. Clinton Foundation (Clinton's privately run aid foundation) and the the Communities for Texas foundation (another private foundation with which George W. Bush is affiliated). So if you have a distrust for either Clinton or Bush you can donate through the other one (which is why the sitting president always tries to get one former president from each party for these things).

[scaeagles]

I would defintiely say that is ridiculous for Rush to suggest the money would not go to Haiti. Agree 100%.

[bewitched]

LOL!

Pat Robertson voodoo doll on ebay- proceeds to help Haiti earthquake victims.

[Chernabog]

^^ That is fvcking awesome. There is also a Rush Limbaugh voodoo doll where the proceeds go to Haiti relief charity.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Love that!!

[Betty]

It's been pulled.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Betty

It's been pulled.

No; its just been relisted.