Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Racism in America

It's alive and well. Unfortunately. Obvious examples emanate from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Bill Bennett provides another.

Bennett has made morality and personal responsibility an integral part of the political debate. Bennett portrays liberals as inherently less moral than conservatives, more given to excusing personal weaknesses, and unwilling to confront the vices that destroy families. During the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Bennett was among the president's most unrelenting detractors.

But there's one vice Bennett hasn't attacked...gambling. Perhaps that's because he's a heavy gambler with estimated losses in the millions. Now we also know Bennett is a racist.

Media Matters has the story:

Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."

How many Republicans will need to publicly admit their racist views before the average American voter realizes the GOP is inherently racist?