Get Your Mitt Off That Prophecy

Posted by Sarah Posner at 5:06 AM on January 3, 2007.

It shouldn't come as any surprise that Pat Robertson has issued another loony prediction, this time of "mass killing" of Americans on U.S. soil sometime in 2007. "The Lord didn't say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that," he mused on national television.

Before we get all inflamed about how Robertson represents an entire swath of conservative voters and their wingy leaders, let's remember that in their circles Robertson is yesterday's news. Any homage to Robertson's ability to channel God is entirely ceremonial, and, in fact, largely absent. Robertson is long past his heyday and his ability to rally voters. Sure, people watch the 700 Club (I think). But Robertson has no political sway, outrage over his outrageousness just gives him more attention than is warranted in light of his actual influence.

But Robertson's empire, and the operatives he's cultivated there, is a different matter entirely. So that's why it's noteworthy that Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney -- under scrutiny for having once aspired to be to the left of Ted Kennedy on gay rights but of late has publicly scorned his own Massachusetts as a modern day Sodom -- has reportedly signed up Robertson's protege Jay Sekulow as an advisor to his campaign.

Sekulow, who heads up the Robertson-founded American Center for Law and Justice, one of two the two major legal powerhouses on the Christian Right, is not given to prophecies of a Biblical sort but whose political barometer is valued in Republican circles. Sekulow is the sort of person who flies Antonin Scalia on one of his non-profit's airplanes for a speech at Robertson's Regent University, teaches training classes for the Justice Department, and advises Bush on judicial nominees. (His track record is a bit spoiled by his early support of Harriet Miers.) Through his daily radio and television programs, Sekulow manages to keep his followers updated on wingy legal issues large and small, as well as rally them for support of political causes, and, of course, encourages them to pony up cash for the effort.

Sekulow's circle of influence is a family affair: according to a Legal Times investigation from 2005, which in my view has received far too little attention, Sekulow's family runs a closely-held network of non-profits which they have used to enrich themselves, with donors footing the bill. Other family members include his sons, Jordan (who was the Bush-Cheney campaign's youth organizer) and TV star Logan ("for those who still labor under the misconception that Christian television is boring and uncool, Logan Sekulow has arrived in the nick of time"), and his brother Scott, a messianic rabbi. Sekulow himself is "a Jewish lawyer from Brooklyn who came to believe in Jesus."

Is it Robertson that should get all the attention? Maybe we should focus more on Sekulow.

Tagged as: mitt romney, pat robertson, jay sekulow

Sarah Posner is an investigative journalist whose work has appeared on Alternet, The American Prospect, The Gadflyer, and in other publications.