MSNBC's Willie Geist noted with astonishment on Morning Joe that Pat Robertson, a leader of the religious right, "sort of outed his producer on his show the other day.""Our producer showed me something several years ago," Robertson stated on a broadcast of the 700 Club. "He was bragging that he doesn't drink any alcoholic beverages ... but he does ingest a paste of cocoa -- not cocoa like chocolate, but coca like cocaine -- and he said that's what keeps him strong. He gets it from Evo Morales down in Bolivia."
"As I understand, the distribution of cocaine and its derivatives are against the law, but he was bragging on the fact that he uses it. Maybe that accounts for some of his erratic behavior," Robertson concluded, laughing.
"I think he's just a man with a very interesting perspective on things," suggested Robertson's co-host."Well, that's one way to get it. You get yourself hopped up on coke, and it'll do it for you," laughed Robertson.
President Evo Morales of Bolivia is a former coca grower and champion of the rights of indigenous farmers to continue raising the coca plant that Bolivians have been using as a mild stimulant in its unprocessed form for thousands of years. However, the idea that he would be supplying refined cocaine to American tourists appears to be some sort of elaborate joke on Pat Robertson's part.
In August 2005, Robertson raised a storm of controversy when he called on his show for the assassination of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who is known as an ally of Morales. "We have the ability to take him out," Robertson said of Chavez, "and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."
Whatever Robertson may have had in mind, the hosts of Morning Joe appear to have taken his remarks at face value. Joe Scarborough commented in amazement, "It's a lot different from when my grandma used to watch the 700 Club.
