The Reverend Pat Robertson claims that in a discussion with President George W. Bush before the US invasion of Iraq, Rev. Robertson said to President Bush "Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties." According to Reverend Robertson, President Bush replied "Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."

As Mike McCurry, adviser to the Kerry campaign, said: "We believe President Bush should get the benefit of the doubt here, but he needs to come forward and answer a very simple question - was Pat Robertson telling the truth when he said he didn't think there'd be any casualties or is Pat Robertson lying?"

Is there any evidence that Rev. Robertson might lie at times? Within the single article sited above, Rev. Robertson states both that President Bush will win the 2004 Presidential election by "a blowout" and by "a razor-thin" margin. Rev. Robertson claims that "The Lord told me it [the invasion of Iraq] was going to be, A, a disaster and, B, messy." President Bush claims that "God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam [ Hussein], which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East." At best, God told President Bush to do it and Rev. Robertson what it was going to be like. But a less generous interpretation of these conflicting claims of divine guidance might be that one of these gentlemen is mistaken. Actually, that is the generous interpretation - the blunt interpretation is that these two grown men are claiming their imaginary friend, an invisible monster that lives in the sky, tells them anything they do is okay. And if they seem to get mixed signals from their super-special ghost-pal it's because... uh... Clinton got a blow job! Yellow alert! Abortion! HOMOSEXUALS!!!

Let's examine Rev. Robertson's record. God told the New York Times that he (Robertson) was destined to become President of the United States. Rev. Robertson stated that he would only hire Jews and Christians in his administration. He claimed that the reason the attack on the United States on September 11th 2001 was such a success "is that God Almighty is lifting His protection from us." Rev. Robertson's television network CBN was the main contributor to the Contras in Nicaraguan - this was recognized by the Contras, who named one of their units the Pat Robertson Brigade. Rev. Robertson has publicly prayed for the death of Supreme Court judges that do not agree with the voices in his head. Strangely enough, it was Rev. Robertson's claim that he had served in combat during a time of war - a false claim - that led to his downfall. That doesn't seem to have troubled President George W. Bush; perhaps God likes Bush better, and the lie stuck this time. Rev. Robertson has had heavy investments in the blood diamonds and blood gold of Africa, owned fraudulent health care companies, and race horses. And although Rev. Robertson conducts "faith healing," you can be sure that when he got cancer he went to a doctor.

So... yeah, there's some evidence to support the idea that Rev. Pat Robertson tells lies. President Bush too. Maybe there isn't really a God, eh? Maybe electing people, or supporting people financially, who claim their brains are haunted is the exact opposite of a good idea.