Waiting for Mr. Robertson

Ten days after the release of Bill Sizemore’s “The Christian with Four Aces” in our Spring 2008 issue, we have been contacted by Chris Roslan, spokesman for Pat Robertson. (Roslan’s PR firm Dera, Roslan, & Campion also represents Alice Cooper and the Institute for Human Origins, the group that discovered the remains of the early human “Lucy”; publicity work, it would appear, is not subject to cognitive dissonance.) Mr. Roslan didn’t sound any too happy about the article—wanted to know our fact-checking procedures, who had vetted the piece, and so on. But the real purpose of the call was to request the opportunity for Mr. Robertson personally to rebut the article. I have welcomed that rebuttal and offered to feature it prominently on our website. The ball is now in Mr. Robertson’s court.

While he’s at it, maybe Mr. Robertson also will look into acquiring VQR, as he has announced he is considering doing with Sizemore’s home paper The Virginian-Pilot. We’re trying—without much luck, I might add—to rustle up donors for a VQR endowment, so we find ourselves willing to listen to all offers. On the other hand, if you value the kind of publication that commissions long articles investigating Pat Robertson or delving into issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in Jamaica or introduces remarkable new writers like Glen Retief or features beautiful and urgent poetry like Mary Szybist’s “I Send News: She Has Survived the Tumor After All“—just to name a few examples from the current issue—then you might consider clicking on the “Support VQR” button directly above these words.

I can’t promise to heal you if you place your hands on your television set, but we will keep the phone lines open.