[MHGinTN]

Sauce for the goose ...

[MHGinTN]

Ker-ping

[MHGinTN]

Ping-a-ling ... the real reason the Bennett story was pumped to the level of an 'outrage'.

[MHGinTN]

Ping

[randita]

Thanks for the ping. Your essay is well written and I agree with much what you said. Politics is a rough and tumble game. It always has been, and even though it seems much rougher as of late, that's still nothing compared to other times in our nation's history.

Contol of the multi trillion dollar pot of $$$ sitting in D.C. makes politics an extremely high stakes game and each party is going to pull out all the stops to maintain as much control as possible over doling out the kitty to their constituencies.

But although I agree with your assertion that the "outrage" against Bennett's gambling has been manufactured, the facts of his gambling escapades have not. This is a quote from one of the left-wing articles about the gambling and it is a result of investigative reporting. Even if you throw out the anecdotal comments by casino employees, there is still a paper trail. To his credit, Bennett has apologized for his gambling and says he will not do it again. He did not, however, deny the facts of the reports.

Bennett has been a high-roller since at least the early 1990s. A review of one 18-month stretch of gambling showed him visiting casinos, often for two or three days at a time (and enjoying a line of credit of at least $200,000 at several of them). Bennett likes to be discreet. "He'll usually call a host and let us know when he's coming," says one source. "We can limo him in. He prefers the high-limit room, where he's less likely to be seen and where he can play the $500-a-pull slots. He usually plays very late at night or early in the morning--usually between midnight and 6 a.m." The documents show that in one two-month period, Bennett wired more than $1.4 million to cover losses. His desire for privacy is evident in his customer profile at one casino, which lists as his residence the address for Empower.org (the Web site of Empower America, the non-profit group Bennett co-chairs). Typed across the form are the words: "NO CONTACT AT RES OR BIZ!!!"

I stand by my condemnation of Bennett's gambling excesses. He has been in politics a long time and knows that you dare not give your opponents ammo to use against you. Bennett gave them an arsenal. As a result, he has damaged his credibility as a moralist, at least for the near future.

I was one of the very few in this forum who staunchly defended Trent Lott (though not a great fan of his) against the manufactured outrage. I defended Lott because I truly believed his comments were not racist, but were just an awkward attempt to praise an old man at his retirement. Others said Lott was a seasoned politician, he shouldn't have given his opponents the ammo. I disagreed strongly and said the GOP should stand by him or they would invite more of this manufactured outrage in the future.

But I think the Bennett incident is different. Bennett, who has made his career and fortune on a moralist platform, intended to gamble, gambled to the extreme and tried to hide it. It's a pattern of behavior that's documented. Lott's was a mere slip of the tongue, I believe.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Thank you for this... written very well.

Your posting about the strength of the military, not only against terrorism, but also as voters for Bush caught my attention.

I am not really familiar with NY politics, but I have been wondering if Hillary has been doing enough to pacify the New Yorkers who were ravaged on 9-11, and vow never to forget. I am aware that NY is a heavy Democratic state. However, wouldn't 9-11 have caused another psychological shift among the voters? Or, has Hillary stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the President, just ENOUGH to satisfy the voters... drumming up support for relief dollars, emphasizing homeland security, calling for a bigger police force to combat future terrorism, etc?

You are more than correct in stating this is politics as usual, especially using the class-warfare and personal destruction angle.

As I have stated before, this Democratic mindset is so difficult for me to accept, especially because I truly believe that the world completely changed on September 11th, and I had hoped that the average American would have woken up to the dangers of the world. My fear is that they will naively think of the "good-ole" days under Clinton, and never realize that Clinton had passed the buck, and refused to face the growing evil against America. He is party to the terror in America. And, his wife will eagerly want to turn the page, put 2001 behind us, and spend her way into re-election, should she win in 2004.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

his spending of his own earned money, in union shop casinos, is helping to support jobs for the very middle and lower income people the goons of character assassination are trying to manipulate into distrusting, envying, and hating the Bill Bennett’s of America!

Good point. Casinos value their high rollers very much. They call them "whales". You can bet that the casinos will launch a full investigation as to who leaked the documents. One thing is for sure, the casino employees(unionized) will miss him. I "bet" the cocktail waitresses are very upset. I'll "bet" he was a big tipper.

[MHGinTN]

Bump to the top ... it has been too long without a new trumped up divisive issue, the last being 'Bush lie about WMDs'. Watch for it, the dems will be bringing out some new story very soon. You can count on it, especially witht he toons getting so much air and suffocating the dem prez candidates.