What Exactly Did Pat Robertson Say About Romney's Mormonism and What Did He Mean?

While discussing the 2012 presidential election, The Christian Broadcast Network's (CBN) Pat Robertson, 82, made a curious statement on "The 700 Club Monday" -- one that's causing some to wonder where he stands on Romney's Mormon faith.

Robertson began the show by delving into Romney's attempt to appeal to evangelical voters. As The Blaze noted over the weekend, the Republican presidential candidate delivered a commencement address at Liberty University. During his speech at the evangelical college, Romney reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.

He then turned to the other elements surrounding Romney's candidacy.

"It looks like the people who were worried about his Mormonism, at least that crowd is diminishing somewhat," he said. "The question is, if you have two candidates, you don't have Jesus running against someone else. You have Obama running against Romney."

The first portion of this comment -- which focuses upon the proportion of evangelicals who have stated an uncomfortableness with voting for a Mormon -- has been explored in-depth on The Blaze before. Based on polls, proclamations and related information, it seems Romney's faith does, indeed, seem to be a diminishing factor.

But it is the second piece of Robertson's commentary that is intriguing. It could, of course, be interpreted in two ways. First, Robertson may have been saying that there is no perfect candidate in any election. This, of course, wouldn't be an attack on Romney's faith; it would be a more general statement about the current political schema.

Intrepid BuzzFeed reporter McKay Coppins, though, took the commentary to be centered upon Romney's Mormon belief system. Coppins wrote, "The host of 'The 700 Club' reminds Evangelicals that Romney is their best choice — even if he is Mormon."

But as The Blaze reported back in October, Robertson has pledged not to make any more political endorsements. And he's called Romney "an outstanding Christian." As we previously reported:

Robertson said he would continue to comment on the news of the day and noted he likes Mitt Romney’s politics. He said he considers the Mormon candidate “an outstanding Christian,” but declined to say if he would be OK with a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the White House. Both Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman are Mormons seeking the GOP nomination, and many evangelicals are skeptical of the Mormon faith’s claims to Christianity.

Considering these elements, one wonders if Robertson really was invoking Romney's faith -- or merely making a grander opinion about the general race (or about some of Romney's views that have been dubbed a bit more moderate of left-of-center and, thus, un-Christ-like).

Watch Robertson's commentary from today's "700 Club," below (Jesus comments start around 4:00):

(H/T: Huffington Post)