Media Reveal Robertson’s ‘Awful’ Side

Scouring the Web in my usual hunt for a column topic devoid of fiscal cliffs, failed Plan Bs and foreign fiascoes, I cruised by HLN’s Robin Meade’s Morning Express just long enough to catch the subhead, “Robertson Slams ‘Awful Looking’ Women,” accompanied by a shot of the unmistakable face of the 700 Club’s leading televangelist leering over Ms. Meade’s shoulder.

Like the bar room habitué in Jim Croce’s song, Roller Derby Queen, who is captivated by the sight of “The meanest hunk o’ woman that anybody ever seen,” I was drawn to the story as surely as if I’d been promised a ringside seat to a train wreck. And I wasn’t disappointed in the least.

The nonplussed Meade was reporting on Robertson’s latest gender-bashing gaffe, a weird and rambling explanation of why he believes marriages in trouble might have something to do with the “ugly” appearance of wives whose looks are responsible for all their problems. This episode, sparked by a letter to Maxim (a veritable fount of marital advice) and reported in Christ.Culture.News from a teenage boy who wanted to know how to get his video-gaming dad to pay more attention to his mom, showcased Robertson’s sensitive side. “It may be your mom isn’t as sweet as you think she is,” octogenarian Pat said, “She may be kind of hard-nosed.”

Not content to leave one insult alone, Robertson continued with a story of a priest who says to “an awful looking” woman parishioner who seeks help in understanding why her husband is drinking so much, says, “Madam, if I was married to you, I’d start to drink, too.” Badaboom, badabing—except that’s an old joke infamously (and wrongly) attributed to an exchange between Winston Churchill and Lady Astor (Lady Astor: “If I were married to you, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Churchill: “If I were married to you, I’d drink it.”).

We’ve been there before with Robertson, as the Huffington Post reported in the wake of the awkwardly anachronistic marriage master’s latest bliss-counseling . In 2010, a 700 Club caller asked Robertson how to get her husband to stop flirting with other women. “Well, he’s doing it because he wants affirmation that he is still a man, that he is attractive — and he gets an affirmation of himself … But you need to not drive him away or start hassling and hounding on him, but make yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let’s go out here, let’s go there, let’s go to the other thing.”

The other thing? If that means any network that doesn’t feature a clueless woman-basher with Neanderthalic sympathy for knuckle-draggers, by all means, let’s all go to the other thing.

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