[Liz]

They've done studies on compulsive gamblers. For most it's not about winning large sums (or mascochistly wanting to lose). Gamblers get addicted to "living on the edge." They gamble to get an emotional high, to teeter on a mental tightrope. Even when they win they go back for more and lose most of it.

[Howlin]

Sounds a lot like politics, doesn't it?

[Rodney King]

I still have difficulty understanding how anyone with half a brain could go and piss away money like that. I used to go with my buddies to sasinos, and I would drop 100 or 150 bucks as part of the evening. But I was never under any illusion that I could outsmart the casino. It was just the cost of the evening.

[dfwgator]

Hey Bill, Denial just ain't a river in Egypt.

[swarthyguy]

It's his money and he can do with it what he wants.

Of course, if he hadn't lectured the USA on our lack of values, he wouldn't be caught with his proverbial pants down.

[PISANO]

I am a gambler. Not addicted, never lost the rent money. It is NOT whether I win or lose (that is secondary), it is the thrill of the game, the unknown, the quest.

[steve50]

It gives gamblers the same buzz drug users get. Climb back up on your soap box bill, you can't make any more of a hypocritical fool out of yourself.

[ex-Texan]

He is still in denial. No one can afford to lose even one million playing cards or especially sucker games like craps and roulette. He talks just like a gambling addict.

[Hacksaw]

What I am wondering is how secure high rollers will feel going to casinos if they will end up reading about themselves in the papers later.

[shadeaud]

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.........NOT

[Ken H]

Family values advocate William Bennett rejects reports that he lost $8 million at casinos over 10 years but acknowledged it was "a lot of money."

Bennett's first statement about his losses when this story came out was that he came out "pretty close to even".

Lying about gamblng losses is still lying.

[George W. Bush]

Given the smarmy tone of his little morality books and how he promoted them as holier-than-the-pope and the general theme of self-denial and self-control, this explanation sounds like a big ol' lie.

Just because it was legal doesn't mean much. If he'd been a heavy drinker or smoker, that would have been legal too, just like the gambling.

Bennett, a has-been moral hypocrite. He'll never publish again unless it's a book about his gambling addiction. He's going to wish he had that $8 million back in his pocket, I think.