Are you an evil person - or whatever else?

While Mitt Romney was playing his allegiance-to-God card in Virginia Beach  over the week end, the Rev. Pat Robertson was hanging out near the speaker.  There's never any doubt about  the preacher/TV host's own political loyalties. As he succinctly put it,  Democrats "are the party of gays, godlessness and whatever else."

The worrisome thing about Robertson's chilling comment  is the bit about "whatever else".   With so broad a category, you can sit around forever  trying to figure out whether you will be subjected to the Lord's vengeance for being in the "whatever else"  category.  As a long-time journalist, I fear I might be. Would people who didn't vote for Sarah Palin be designated for Hell?

I tried to clarify the remark  with Mitt, who was busy trying to strap Ann's dancing horse to the roof of his car  as they headed  for some R&R at a private lake.  With his tight-lipped smile, he assured me that although he had enormous respect for the Rev. Pat  ,"it wasn't the language I would have used."

(He later issued a statement that old  preachers like  Pat  "are people, too."