alternatehistory.com

No one expected Pat to get as far as he already had that March night, just before Super Tuesday. He was an inexperienced businessman at best, and an old kooky Bible thumper or even cult leader at worst. Except that a Bible thumper was exactly what the GOP was asking for.

The rise of Carl Sagan terrified the conservative base. The very idea that an agnostic scientist who had been divorced twice and who espoused such shockingly communistic ideas as universial healthcare and a national housing program could gain so much ground sent them into a panic. Pat Robertson was a direct product of that panic.

Bush struggled to answer what Robertson could with a snap of his fingers. When asked about social issues, Bush said he would work to promote conservative values. Robertson said he would pass an amendment against abortion and that liberal ideas were undermining America. This was, of course, firebrand crazy

And to stop a soft-spoken man of science, voters wanted to bring a man with a flamethrower in one hand and a Bible in the other.

--Keith Olbermann, The 700 Clubber