The panda in winter

Claws out, eyes atwinkle, evangelist Pat Robertson plans to talk on but hold his tongue at times | Marvin Olasky

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — These should be diamond days for Pat Robertson. He'll be 76 next month. The 45th anniversary of the first Christian Broadcasting Network telecast is coming on Oct. 1. Next week he was supposed to be the main speaker at the closing banquet of the National Religious Broadcasters.

But instead of basking in the renown that could be his as the founder of five major Christian institutions, he is receiving enormous criticism for ad libs made on The 700 Club over the past half-year. The two most talked-about were his suggestions that the United States assassinate Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and that God punished Ariel Sharon with a major stroke because the Israeli prime minister did not hold onto Palestinian areas.