Why Do Conservatives So Quickly Abandon Their Own?

Cathryn Crawford

[Cathryn Crawford]

Isn't it true that a lot of the bashing of Bill Bennett is simply due to the fact that conservatives naturally rejoice in the misfortunes of their own? The ability of the conservative movement to abandon their own people when they are even slightly attacked by the liberal/media establishment is absolutely astounding.

Why are conservatives so quick to judge their own? Are we afraid? Are we so afraid of being tainted by a scandal that we will so easily turn away at the first sight of blood?

This is a serious and long-term issue among conservatives that deserves to be adressed.

[Cathryn Crawford]

It happens. It's all over. I just watched it happen on FNC and NBC...and I didn't even get to CNN or ABC.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Who was bashing who? What was said? I am just wondering, but I never see the bashing that you describe...JFK

[Cathryn Crawford]

Hey, hey, hey...I wasn't being silly. Staring at this nasty color on my toenails proves I threw my money away.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Mort Kondracke, Mara Liasson, and Fred Barnes...saying that the only way he could redeem himself was to lead the anti gambling movement. How stupid.

[BADROTOFINGER]

I would hardly call Liasson and Kondracke conservative. While I didnt hear what Barnes said, what Bennett did was in a sense unhealthy. I still hold him the highest regard, however...JFK

[Cathryn Crawford]

How is gambling bad for society in general?

[Cathryn Crawford]

I know about Mort and Mara (what a pair) but Barnes surprised me.

[Political Junkie Too]

How is gambling bad for society in general?

When lottery tickets are "for the schools?" No, wait...

-PJ

[metalurgist]

Great answer. My feelings exactly and expressed better than I could ever say it.

Who says Bennet is a conservative. When Mr. Virtue urged Bush the first to sign the AWB, he showed his true colors, Rino gray.

[BADROTOFINGER]

I would say that conservatives tend to address the subject, and not dodge it with counter attacks like the left does. That is a sign of intellectual honesty, and something to be praised. Unfortunately leftists possess no such honesty, and many of the masses dont like to think hard enough to discern a difference...JFK

[Cathryn Crawford]

LOL

[fml]

I'm with you there. Libs seem to like their heros because they are screwups and therefor no better than themselves. Conservatives seem too eager to dump our guys because they are NOT perfect enough. I'm not sure I made any sense but, I just don't see the harm or hypocracy in a good man gambling.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Conservatives are more intellectually honest...but overreact a lot to keep from being tainted by the stain of scandal.

[Cathryn Crawford]

You make a lot of sense...

[habs4ever]

You make an absurd analogy to trading, or as you see it, investing in the market, and gambling.To an amateur, it could be so, but to a pro,who calculates risk, has a proven expectancy of return, has disciplined parameters for entering and exiting trades, and also BEGINS the process with a hard and fast EXIT strategy, it isn't gambling at all, but speculating, and there is a world of difference between that and sitting in front of a slot machine, yanking a lever, hour after hour...

It is the difference between being a professional and a piker.Oh, a pro doesn't gamble, and he knows the odds going in and realizes he doesn't have to play, only when it suits him and the returns are suitable for the risk taken.He can control when and how he trades.Does that sound like Mr Bennett?

Face it, Bennett has a gambling addiction.When he sorts it out, he then should should re-enter the public square and have his views aired, but until he beats it, he is tainted goods, and his weak rationalizations for his addiction underscore that he knows it himself.

[Cathryn Crawford]

He has a LOT of money. He can AFFORD to gamble LOTS of money.

THE MONEY ISSUE IS RELATIVE.

That being said, I also see no evidence that he's an addict.

[fml]

For crying out loud, does every one with a bad habit (bad being an opinion) qualify as an addict? If thats the case I need potato chip therapy.

[Dick Bachert]

You may not believe this, but I actually respected Bennett and am saddened that he, like Newt (my former Rep), has given the dark side the bullet for his own execution.

[Cathryn Crawford]

The hellish thing about what you just said is...shh, don't tell anyone...what he did was okay! There was nothing wrong with it! People CHOSE to make a big deal about it. It's just crap.

[habs4ever]

When you go through $8mil, yup, that's an addiction, considering the type of game played.It wasn't 5 card stud with Taki,Jimmy Goldsmith and John Aspinall in Whites Club in St James,London with hands of $250,000. Care to guess how many pulls of a lever it takes to bet that amount? How much time is spent on LOSING hour after hour and the kinds of lies he tells himself as he stays up all night, pulling that lever?

He can't control his urge to play and lose.He is intelligent enough to know the slots have a huge vig for the house and yet...he's drawn to them and does it over and over.Just how would you describe such behaviour knowing you are going to lose over time and still wager huge amounts on that? Shouldn't you bet those sums to win?