WASHINGTON — Tragedy often brings out the best in some people. And sometimes, it brings out the worst.

Please direct your attention to Exhibits A and B, Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.

No one should be surprised that Robertson invokes God's wrath or Satan's trade-offs when horror hits. Whether it's a hurricane, a terrorist attack or an earthquake, one can be fairly certain that Robertson's Ouija board will point to a supernatural explanation.

Invariably, he blames the victims or some third-party behavior favored by Satan and frowned upon by God. What was behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11? America's moral decay. Hurricane Katrina? Abortion. Haiti's earthquake? A deal with the devil.

How is one to interpret such an assertion? Apparently, Robertson was referring to a Voodoo ceremony in 1791 that some historians believe was a spark for the revolution. The call to revolt was issued by Dutty Boukman, a voodoo priest and leader of the Maroon slaves. The resulting uprising, which ultimately led to Haiti's independence, claimed the lives of thousands of colonialists and slaves.

Does Robertson really think that the devil is collecting on his debt by destroying thousands of lives in the earthquake and maiming countless more?

Robertson's "700 Club" is soliciting prayers as well as donations, some of which will find their way to Haiti's destitute and displaced. But having to hear from Robertson and entertain his devilish interpretations of events is a high price for charity. If the people of Haiti are cursed, as Robertson insists, it is partly the legacy of slavery — surely the devil's work? — that is to blame.

In Robertson's literal world of superstition and fear, a tectonic fault's rupture might signify a belch of the beast, but in the real world of science and knowledge, it is a natural, if disruptive, occurrence that bears no malice toward any particular man, woman or child.

That we are having this conversation is ridiculous — obviously, one would hope. That some of the million daily viewers of "The 700 Club" might pray and tithe to the speaker of such bile is far scarier than any voodoo curse.

Equally ill-timed and foolish, if not nearly as insane, were Limbaugh's remarks upon news of the earthquake:

"This will play right into (President) Obama's hands — humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community — in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community of this country." The latter part of the quote is a clear reference to Sen. Harry Reid's comments about Obama's light skin being a political plus.

Is it possible that Limbaugh doesn't know Haiti's history also includes the post-slavery oppression of dark-skinned descendants of slaves by the lighter-skinned descendants of colonialists who bred with the enslaved?

Surely, there should be the occasional time and place when circumstances transcend the usual and free us from the race-baiting and ignorance-pandering panhandling that characterizes so much of American politics: When God and Satan are given a holiday from the news cycle. When a president can be granted the pure motives of a good nation. When science isn't an insult to the divine and no demon earns credit for human misery.

Haiti is one of those places. Now should be one of those times.

Kathleen Parker is a columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group.