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Bennett defends radio comment on race, crime as 'hypothetical'
By MICHAEL A. FLETCHER and BRIAN FALER
Washington Post
10/1/2005


Associated Press
William Bennett is under fire from Democrats, civil rights leaders and the White House.



WASHINGTON - Conservative commentator William Bennett on Friday defended comments he made on his radio talk show suggesting that aborting black children would reduce crime, saying he was merely musing about a hypothetical argument and he made plain to listeners that he was not stating his own position.
Bennett, a former U.S. education secretary and national drug czar, is under fire from Democrats, civil rights leaders, black conservatives and, as of Friday, the White House and Republican National Committee for saying on Wednesday that "you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

He followed this by adding immediately that such a thing would be "an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do."

On Friday, with the storm over these comments intensifying, Bennett released a defiant statement saying critics unfairly had pulled his comment out of context: "A thought experiment about public policy, on national radio, should not have received the condemnations it has."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, in a statement typical of a parade of similar comments from Democrats, denounced the remarks and called on Bennett to apologize. "Bill Bennett's hateful, inflammatory remarks regarding African Americans are simply inexcusable," he said. ". . . Are these the values of the Republican Party and its conservative allies?"

The White House and other Republicans made haste to say that the answer to Dean's question is no. Asked President Bush's reaction to Bennett's remarks, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "The president believes the comments were not appropriate."

Similarly, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who has been reaching out to African Americans and other minorities, called Bennett's comments "regrettable and inappropriate." But Mehlman also lashed out at liberals whom he accused of engaging in racially divisive rhetoric when it suits their political interests. "What's much worse is the hypocrisy we've seen from the left."

The combative Bennett, whose syndicated radio show is broadcast on the Salem Radio Network, offered no apologies. He explained that his comments came in response to a caller who suggested that Social Security would be in better financial shape if abortion were illegal, leaving more people to pay into the system. Bennett cautioned against making such far-reaching arguments and drove home his point by offering what he called "a noxious hypothetical analogy" to reducing crime by aborting black children.

Bennett's statement went on to say that "the whole issue of crime and race" has been on people's minds in light of the situation in New Orleans, and is aired frequently in academic settings. Given that, he called his comments barely noteworthy.

Michelle Bernard, senior vice president of the conservative Independent Women's Forum, said Bennett's remarks underscore why many African Americans distrust conservatives even if they share similar values on some social and religious issues.

"In choosing to use the hypothetical genocide of black children as a way to reduce crime in the United States, Bennett shamefully traded on the pervasive stereotype that it is African Americans who are responsible for all of the crime in the United States," she said.

perhaps we should get himn one of these

http://www.tshirthell.com/shirts/products/a332/a332.gif

So what's up with the Blackface avvy???

Originally posted by Grinning Goku
So what's up with the Blackface avvy???

its a clown circus leader called papa lazarous from the league of gentlemen

i hope i dont have to answer that question any more

http://www.lunacynet.com/league/images/s2_laz.jpg

http://www.lunacynet.com/league/images/s3_lazarou.jpg

He was responding to a caller who said to make abortion illegal cause than there'd be more people to pay taxes and social security would be in better shape. I think that he was taking her shitty logic that illegalizing abortion would help social security and compared it to keeping abortion legal cause it would decrease the crime rate.. he singled out blacks cause of prison statistics, crime statistics, ect. If you take it literal he sounds like a racist douchebag but if you look at the whole argument he was just using an extreme example to prove a point, something I'm sure most of us have done here on KMC..

I still think he should be canned, radio show hosts (don't laugh) SHOULD be objective, just because it's your show doesn't mean you can make outlandish analogies and subjective comments. It's just plain stupid.

I think what he meant was crime rates have nothing to do with abortions, and used blacks as an example, nothing more.

Frankly I still say it should be legal, just privately funded. I'm not going to try and take people's rights away, but I don't want my tax money to have the blood of children on it neither..

Crime rates have probably been decreasing because..

#1: We're at war. In times of war there is no playing around.
#2: Vicous nature cycles. People are more worried about a hurricane then a thug.
#3: Republicans in office. They don't **** around. They will kill you if given half the chance. Discipline is the key.

If what Afro Cheese says is true, then the guy did nothing wrong. Maybe poor judgement to use blacks he could have expected some shit to come from that, but he did nothing wrong.

I prefer the following comments to stir up trouble:

...and...

the funny thign is that in freakonomics, he talks about poor people who have abortions, not black people. it's funny how bennett's mind immediately goes to black poor people...

Originally posted by FeceMan
I prefer the following comments to stir up trouble:

...and...

Christ, what topic is that from?

Originally posted by Grinning Goku
Christ, what topic is that from?
Believe it or not, 'The Official Symbiote Thread!'.

Originally posted by FeceMan
Believe it or not, 'The Official Symbiote Thread!'.

How the hell does someone end up talking about religion in a comic book thread? Bwahahaha..people are stupid...

Well, I guess democrats ARE like a symbiote, feeding off the money to keep themselves alive and destructive..

But the majority of this forum agrees that this man was just stating his views and that ofcourse, the left was wearing thier race-coloured glasses trying desperately to distort his words and failed misrably. I, nor the majority of people here, see anything wrong. And this case has been settled.

Originally posted by whobdamandog
How the hell does someone end up talking about religion in a comic book thread? Bwahahaha..people are stupid...
Actually it was my fault. Check the last two pages for my accidental faux pas that led to anti-Christian fanaticism.

i can't believe anyone is shocked by this. This is classic Bennet. In fact, here are some more of Bennet's theories on sociology: 1. Drug offenders should be publicly beheaded (except Rush Limbaugh, apparently), 2. Inner city youth from Washington DC (majority black) should be locked up in a barge on the potomac, 3. poor children should be forcibley removed from their parents and put into orphanages until they can be adopted by rich families, and 4. Gambling is immoral unless the Gambler is William Bennet in which case losing several million dollars is responsible and equivelant to responsible drinking.
God, he's a fat, old, elitist, racist **** and should be treated as such,and it surprises me that Bill and Hillary Clinton consider him a great guy and used his input on all their social policies.

It's not racist, it's his personal preference. Thats exactly what every racist on this site will say.

Originally posted by whobdamandog
How the hell does someone end up talking about religion in a comic book thread? Bwahahaha..people are stupid...

Indeed they are we have a guy in comic book v forum who goes on about the Kabbalah and comics all the time. Thing is he can't spell Kabbalah.