White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today responded to comments about the Haiti earthquake by televangelist Pat Robertson and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, calling the remarks “stupid.”
Robertson had said Haitians “swore a pact to the devil” hundreds of years ago, which resulted in the country being “cursed by one thing after another.”
Asked about that today, Gibbs said, “It never ceases to amaze that in times of amazing human suffering somebody says something that could be so utterly stupid. But it like clockwork happens with some regularity.”
Limbaugh, on the other hand, suggested that the Obama administration would use contributions to the Red Cross to gather information about donors.
“Would you trust that the money is going to go to Haiti?” Limbaugh said. “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?”
He also said Obama was so quick to begin assistance to Haiti in order to boost his “credibility with the black community, in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.”
In response, Gibbs said, “In times of great crisis, there are always people that say really stupid things. I don’t know how anybody could sit where he does, having enjoyed the success that he has, and not feel some measure of sorrow for what has happened in Haiti. I think to use the power of your pulpit to try to convince those not to help their brothers and sisters is sad.”
