I'll 'bet' you never thought you'd see William Bennett, author of "The Book of Virtues" and other books on morality, say he was quitting gambling amid media reports that he lost $8 million in the last decade playing slot machines and video poker ... now did you?
I like Bill, he was a guest on my radio talk show on multiple occasions. I'd gamble every nickel I have just to see Dr. Bennett's moral clarity back on the table for round two as U.S. drug czar or even our U.S. secretary of education again. That he'd risk rolling the dice on this magnificent career is a shame.
That he had a phenomenal reputation to sully is a wonder in a day and age that minces the truth into a mushy relativist gumbo. Five will get you 10 that Bill would like to have back his 8 million with interest, and regain his former choir boy image.
Yep ... Bill would have been the odds-on favorite to stay 'pure' throughout an entire lifetime. Too bad.
But I actually have observed more than the typical 'piling on' ceremony in the heralded halls of liberalism. I smell hypocrisy of the first order, and my message to the salivating jackals, aka 'the leftists and their complicit press': Get over it!
When your man ex-President Clinton slept with an intern (well, kind of anyway) his daughter’s age, and lied under oath in a court of law about it (he’s a sworn officer of the very court he lied to), you had two reactions: silence and denial.
When Trent Lott said a silly thing that could have been interpreted as saying something he didn’t say … you had a full case of 'conniptions.' I'm no fan of Trent Lott, just a fan of hanging men ONLY for the crimes they actually commit!
Conversely, when Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, former Grand Dragon of the American Knights of the Klu Klux Klan, used the vile 'N' word on TV, nary a word, much less outcry, was observed from the fourth estate. Remarkable.
When the original abolitionist party of Lincoln recently pointed out the hypocrisy of holding a Democratic Party meeting on a site used against Negro slaves in the Old South … your silence was deafening! Only 'PC' pressure caused you to back out, not decency.
When former Vice President Gore told us he invented the Internet, that he and Tipper were the inspiration for the script of 'Love Story,' that he plowed 80 acres with a mule when he was a kid, that his dad led the fight for civil rights in the 1960s South (he actually fought against it, till nearly the end), where were you?
Where was the follow-up on the Gennifer Flowers story?
Where was the inside look at all the 'Jane Does' of Clinton's investigated legacy?
You followed the Bush daughters through various college high jinks involving under-age drinking. But how about Albert Gore Jr.’s marijuana and speeding charges, amazingly lost on a back page and in small print, or never mentioned at all?
When we all reviled in horror at last year’s decision against the Pledge of Allegiance by San Francisco’s ill-famed '9th Circus Court of Schlemiels' … you were there to condemn (you had no political choice but to do so) the decision made by yet another liberal panel of judges that YOU appointed!
Your senators and congressmen and congresswomen are no strangers to anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, sedition in wartime, defamation of our president’s character during a time of war … how far shall we take this list?
Back to our fallen comrade in moral arms, brother Bill Bennett …
He’s clearly goofed up. Though gambling is generally now legal, and he is well over 21 and can afford it, he is a moral crusader who needed to be as clean as the good Rev. Billy Graham.
Dr. Bennett is a devout Catholic and, near as I can tell, a true believer. I once listened to Pope John Paul speak with disdain regarding his church's generally indulgent view of gambling. He, the pope, was 'agin-it. '
I am generally 'agin-it' too. Mostly because of the stewardship thing, though. As in: Could ol' brother Bill have put $8 million to work in a higher and better way? You bet (sorry about the pun)!
Here’s a hot tip: Forget the pick-six at Pocono Downs. Bet big on brother Bill’s comeback. Though now the underdog, he’ll parlay his decency and come up the odds-on favorite yet again. Yes, the smart money is still on Bill Bennett!
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