"Christian" Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club

On Monday,Pat Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club": "We have the ability to take Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez 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," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

"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," Robertson said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela was studying its legal options, adding that how Washington responds to Robertson's comments would put its anti-terrorism policy to the test.

The comments reveal that religious fundamentalism is one of the great problems facing humanity in these times,

"It's not true that most conservatives are stupid people,it's just that most stupid people are conservative".