Here at our plush Washington, DC offices, we've been checking in with the coverage of the California wildfires all day. Currently, CNN has an aerial shot of a large house in Lake Arrowhead that's been all but consumed in flames. This being CNN, we're obviously expecting to hear about which America-hater fled this domicile, but, thus far, they aren't making with any details.

When we tuned in this morning, the thought occurred to me, "It's only a matter of time before one of our leading lights of religious extremism tells us that these wildfires are God's doing." And sure enough, Pat Robertson stepped up to deliver.

Pat Robertson: "With all of our modern technology, we can't control the weather."

Co-host: "Yes, but God can."

Pat: "God can."

Co-host: "Which is why we need to pray."

Pat: "You see that thing in Katrina, just all the work that we could do, we couldn't stop those winds coming in, those waves, and in a sense there's nothing the people can do right now. The weather is dry, it's hot, and it's in God's hands, so I think the thing we ought to do is a lot of praying."

Well! Overall, Robertson goes pretty easy on the people of San Diego, offering that God's hand in these wildfires may be stayed by prayer. It's certainly a stark contrast to those who said Hurricane Katrina was the product of divine retribution. And San Diegans are reliably conservative. Still, we're guessing that Robertson might have forgotten that this happened just over a month ago. When he does, don't be surprised if a measure of bellicosity returns to his comments on the wildfires. Just remember: this also demonstrates that he doesn't get his news from an all-seeing, all-knowing source.

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