Pat Robertson to Republican candidates: Take the extremism down a notch, will ya?

Chris Moody
·Political Reporter

Pentecostal televangelist and "700 Club" host Pat Robertson has some advice for the Republican presidential candidates: Stop pandering to the far right, or lose in 2012.

On his television program Monday night, Robertson, a Christian conservative who obviously has a pragmatic streak, warned that conservative GOP voters were pushing the primary candidates into taking positions on issues that could haunt the party's presidential nominee as he or she seeks to woo the more general--and more moderate--American electorate in 2012.

"Those people in the Republican primary have got to lay off of this stuff. They're forcing their leaders, the front-runners, into positions that will mean they lose the general election," Robertson said. "You appeal to the narrow base and they applaud the daylights out of what you're saying, and then you hit the general election and they'll say no way."

"They've got to stop this! It's just so counterproductive," he added. "Well, if they want to lose, this is the game for losers."

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