Bill Bennett, the talking head who made a career out of talking and writing on virtue, has stepped in it again — in a controversy not quite as damaging as his past gambling mini-scandal but that may further shrink the number of people who find his commentary credible — and his post-controversy comments are sure to make him even more controversial.
First, what’s going on:
Democratic lawmakers and civil rights leaders denounced conservative commentator William J. Bennett yesterday for suggesting on his syndicated radio show that aborting black children would reduce the U.S. crime rate.
The former U.S. education secretary-turned-talk show host said Wednesday that “if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose — you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” Bennett quickly added that such an idea would be “an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do.” But, he said, “your crime rate would go down.”
We had our post all written with Bennett’s apology (below) but then saw this via NewsMax (which added some background of its own):
Responding to his critics, Bennett told the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes”:
“I’ll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence . . . . He should make no judgments at all about other people. He shouldn’t be in the Senate.”
Neither Kennedy nor Dean nor Reid has ever condemned Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who rose to the rank of Grand Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan based on his ability to recruit new members.
In an autobiography released earlier this year, Byrd said the Klan was a “fraternal group” made up of “upstanding’ people” – a characterization which drew no protest from Reid, Kennedy and Dean.
So — as you will see below — the Democrats pushed the political button and Bennett has now pushed the polarization button.
Actually, if you read Bennett’s comments in context they do not seem to be what critics are making them out to be. As Andrew Sullivan (who is not a Bennett fan) aptly puts it in a post: “I too was sent dozens of emails calling Bennett out on his alleged racism. But it seemed unfair to me, given the full context of his remarks which are empirically hard to refute and whose immorality he went at length to emphasize.”
But, like everything, this flash-mini-controversy has become D vs R, L vs C — a skirmish to see who wins, where the actual issue at hand becomes nearly lost in the noisy process.
Flagging dumb comments doesn’t always work these days. Why? Because in this age of spin, many people believe that the first, unedited version is what really lurks in a person’s soul — and the soul is supposed to be Bennett’s specialty.
So the backtrack isn’t likely to work. His comment after about the crime rate going down solidifies the self-inflicted wound. More from the Washington Post:
Bennett’s comments, flagged by the liberal news media watchdog group Media Matters for America, were quickly condemned by Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who issued a statement demanding that Bennett apologize. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) circulated a letter, signed by 10 of his colleagues, demanding that the Salem Radio Network suspend Bennett’s show.
Wade Henderson, the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, demanded that the show be canceled.
“Bennett’s statement is outrageous. As a former secretary of education, he should know better,” Henderson said. “His program should be pulled from the air.”
A spokeswoman for Salem Radio Network did not return three calls requesting comment.
Calling for the show’s cancellation? In your dreams.
Talk show hosts on the left and right make outrageous comments ALL THE TIME, accusing two Presidents of murder (Bill Clinton somehow arranged to have Vince Foster murdered; George Bush was guilty of murder in the case of Katrina). It’s expected that when you turn on a radio talk show of the right or left you will probably get someone who has an open mouth versus an open mind.
So it’s highly unlikely it’ll impact his radio show one bit (if anything he may GAIN listeners) — but it will further undermine the damage to his overall image and credibility that occurred when it turned out that the man who lectured the Clinton adminstration and many other Americans on virtue, and who wrote some excellent books on virtue for adults and kids dropped millions on gambling.
Since then, Bennett has slowly regained respectability with his apology due to the general healing that truly takes place in America where politicos, big-headed actors and public figures are sometimes (not always) given a second chance. Nothing wrong with that. Some of Bennett’s supporters also decided that gambling wasn’t really a vice, which also helped..
But aside from an interview as a critical “get” by Katy or Diane due to this controversy, it’s hard to imagine that his phone will be ringing off the hook in the future from mainstream TV producers who want a talking head. Why get someone who carries more baggage than a Skycap at O’Hare?
Bennett’s first explanation (versus is NewsMax one) via ABC News, was probably not enough to undo the damage due to his hubris (read: fun trips to Las Vegas while writing on virtue) — and plus the fact that there’s political gain to be had in some quarters by putting the worst interpretation on his comments:
In an interview with ABC News, Bennett said that anyone who knows him knows he isn’t racist. He said he was merely extrapolating from the best-selling book “Freakonomics,” which posits the hypothesis that falling crimes rates are related to increased abortion rates decades ago. “It would have worked for, you know, single-parent moms; it would have worked for male babies, black babies,” Bennett said.
So why immediately bring up race when discussing crime rates? “There was a lot of discussion about race and crime in New Orleans,” Bennett said. “There was discussion – a lot of it wrong – but nevertheless, media jumping on stories about looting and shooting and gangs and roving gangs and so on.
“There’s no question this is on our minds,” Bennett said. “What I do on our show is talk about things that people are thinking … we don’t hesitate to talk about things that are touchy.”
Bennett said, “I’m sorry if people are hurt, I really am. But we can’t say this is an area of American life (and) public policy that we’re not allowed to talk about – race and crime.”
And here it is in a nutshell:
Robert George, an African-American, Republican editorial writer for the New York Post, agrees that Bennett’s comments were not meant as racist. But he worries they feed into stereotypes of Republicans as insensitive. “His overall point about not making broad sociological claims and so forth, that was a legitimate point,” George said. “But it seems to me someone with Bennett’s intelligence … should know better the impact of his words and sort of thinking these things through before he speaks.”
Indeed, here’s a checklist of why Bennett’s comments were unwise (we’ll leave the “dumb” part to others):
- He already lost some credibility due to the question about his gambling. That narrowed the audience of those receptive to his views but did not destroy it. He would have been under attack anyway, in some quarters, because he is a prominent figure on the right. He put the political bullets in the gun himself with the gambling — just reloaded it with his comments and pulled the trigger on Hannity and Colmes in terms of going beyond his existing conservative constituency.
- He has made conservatives look bad. This may be defended by some on the right but it will look awful to many blacks, independents and to some Democrats. They’ll think it was merely the slip of a tongue the first time.
- In the way 21st century politics works, with people jumping over every political opening to advance their own side and tear down the other, it is going to give Democrats a field day.
And, according to ABC, they’re already having it:
Democrats expressed outrage, ranging from demands for an apology to requests that the Federal Communications Commission suspend Bennett’s show.
“Republicans, Democrats and all Americans of good will should denounce this statement, should distance themselves from Mr. Bennett,” said Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill. “And the private sector should not support Mr. Bennett’s radio show or his comments on the air.”
“I’m not even going to comment on something that disgusting,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. “Really, I’m thinking of my black grandchild and I’m going to hold (off).”
You can read Conyer’s letter sent demanding the show’s cancellation here. You can read the NAACP’s demand that he apologize here.
Bottom line: no matter what his intentions, how his friends (or even enemies) defend him, by the relentless rules of the game in 21st century America as a political commodity Bill Bennett will be damaged goods except to those who already agree with him. On the other hand, if his foes press taking his radio show off the air, Bennett will garner lots of support from even many who criticize him. If he’s given the boot for a big mouth, than many talk show hosts on the right and left ought to bend down, too.
But Bennett has heightened the controversy. It was bad enough that he made the original comments, that he tried to quickly qualify them. It was bad enough when his foes leaped on it to make it a political issue. And it was bad enough when he decided to go on the offensive against the Democrats.
Bill Bennett had a mouth dysfunction and, when his critics pushed the political button, he pushed the polarization button.
The old World War II saying still holds: “The slip of a lip can sink a ship.”
UPDATE: While many conservatives are defending Bennett and what he said, the White House isn’t:
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House on Friday criticized former Education Secretary William Bennett for remarks linking the crime rate and the abortion of black babies.
“The president believes the comments were not appropriate,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
A CROSS SECTION OF OTHER SITES OF VARYING OPINIONS ON THIS ISSUE:
Charging RINO
Brad DeLong
Cut On The Bias
John Cole
Crooks And Liars
Newsbusters (a GREAT new site)
Outside The Beltway
Americablog
California Conservative