Pat Robertson For President — “Marijuana should be legalized”

Just kidding on the Presidential thing… But of the many trippy roles God’s man Pat Robertson has assumed over his five-decade-long career as an evangelical trailblazer — including his ill fated attempt at our nation’s Highest bully pulpit as a presidential candidate and growing inflammatory voice of the religious right, his next act  will take the cake. Mr. Robertson’s newest elevated guise may perhaps surprise more than a few of his now dazed and confused followers .. the most stunned of which: the marijuana legalization advocate community.

“I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol,” Mr. Robertson said in an interview on Wednesday. “I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.”

Mr. Robertson’s Kushed out remarks echoed his elevated statements he had made last week on “The 700 Club,” the signature program of his Christian Broadcasting 420 Network, and other comments he made in 2010. While those earlier remarks were largely dismissed by his followers, Mr. Robertson has now apparently fully embraced the idea of legalizing marijuana, arguing that it is a way to bring down soaring rates of incarceration and reduce the social and financial costs.

“I believe in working with the hearts of people, and not locking them up,” he said.

Mr. Robertson’s remarks were hailed by pro-legalization groups, who called them a potentially important endorsement in their efforts to roll marijuana penalties back  and prohibitions, which residents of Colorado and Washington will vote on this fall.

For his part, Mr. Robertson said that he “absolutely” supported the ballot measures, though he would not campaign for them. “I’m not a crusader,” he said.