The Man of Virtues Has a Vice (Bill Bennett gambles)

Newsweek ^ | 1/2/03 | Jonathan Alter and Joshua Green

[Callahan]

May 2 — In his best-selling anthology, “The Book of Virtues,” William J. Bennett writes: “We should know that too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing…[We] need to set definite boundaries on our appetites.”

DOES BENNETT? The popular author, lecturer and Republican Party activist speaks out, often indignantly, about almost every moral issue except one-gambling. It’s not hard to see why. According to casino documents, Bennett is a “preferred customer” in at least four venues in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, betting millions of dollars over the last decade. His games of choice: video poker and slot machines, some at $500 a pull. With a revolving line of credit of at least $200,000 at each casino, Bennett, former drug czar and Secretary of Education under Presidents Reagan and Bush, doesn’t have to bring money when he shows up at a casino.

(link for full article)

[HenryLeeII]

Yes, let me get this straight: Sodomizing young interns good, legal gambling bad. Hmm...

[mabelkitty]

HOLY CRAP!!

I do this once every week-end.

Who is creeping around spying on people. Has GOT to be the homosexual agenda folks. They are the only ones with moles and dogs in the media. Figures.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[optik_b]

Sounds like he hits the Vegas strip and Atlantic Cities ones. What about the Indian reservations?

[mabelkitty]

I don't know.

Jimmy Carter's mother went to Studio 54, and I would never step foot in that Sodom of New York.

[discostu]

the institution doesn't bankrupt people, their addiction does. People can and do get addicted to just about everything, that doesn't mean just about everything is evil. If he's under control and has become a degenerate blowing the family fortune on longshots then who cares. He even doesn't espouse on it in his books thuse keeping him away from hypocrisy. See it's this kind of insisting that every aspect of everybody else's life is your business that irritates so many moderates away from the conservative movement. Busybodies are all vile annoying people regardless of their political bent, leave the guy to his life.

[mabelkitty]

DAMN! SIGN ME UP FOR THAT COURSE!!

[Mr. Mojo]

Smoking pot is illegal. Gambling is not, at least in Atlantic City and Vegas.

Do you honestly think that if pot were legalized Bennett would then automatically change his position on the issue, ceasing to label it 'immoral'? It has nothing to do with legality.

[CA Conservative]

However, please don't hold yourself out there as the king of morality and then secretly indulge in your own vices.

It doesn't sound like he was trying to keep it secret. Just because you don't share exactly how much you lose each time does not make it some conspiracy of silence. A lot of people knew he gambled, and he never denied it. How much he gambles is realy no one else's business, as long is he is not embezzling the funds to do so.

[discostu]

You know a lot about a man by how he treats the help.

[optik_b]

"Sodomizing young interns good"

Who sodomized 'em? I thought Bill C. was into oral not anal.

[BooBoo1000]

I think they have a different Bill Bennett. The one in here in Las Vegas, was a different from the Book of Virtues. Thank God. Our Bill Bennett, started the Circus Circus and had an elephant walk around and pull the handle on the slots, the trainer followed around with a dust pan, and broom. It was O.K. until the elephant learned how to shoot craps. No bull, this is the truth, the elephant would muscle her way into the crap table and grab the dice and roll them. The Nevada Gambling Comission put a stop to this. My son and I had lunch with the Las Vegas Bill, and it was a wonderful experience. He was telling how he sent breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the Union Employees every day for over three years, while they were striking at the Frontier. Quite a guy. Too bad he passes away about a month ago.

[jmc813]

Former "Drug Czar" ping

[The Wizard]

"Anything done in moderation shows a lack of interest"

what a great line

[Outrance]

I am curious. Is there a biblical prohibition on gambling or sex before marriage? I know adultery is prohibited by the commandment but is there a specific reference to gambling or sex outside of marriage? I always thought gambling was frowned upon because the soldiers gambled for Jesus' coat but it was not specifically prohibited.

As far as Bennet's gambling. I can understand modest gambling for innocent entertainment but significant regular legal gambling is unseemly. If he plays the mortgage money its another thing. I will give him the benefit of the doubt until he talks about it.

[truthandlife]

I've seen a number of people at the blackjack tables with piles of chips in front of them, and I watched them make those piles. I can tell you video poker and slots are some of the worst odds in Vegas and I can bet you he loses a lot more than he wins.

[RicocheT]

"It pretty much kills the latest Vegas ad campaign, "What happens here, stays here."
Whoever leaked this will probably never work in a casino again."

My thought too. These four casinos have lost a big player. Mr. Bennet will be going elsewhere for his LEGAL hobby.

[mabelkitty]

Who wants to bet they checked every whore house and escort service in Vegas trying to find chicks or dudes??

Who wants to bet 5-1 they went through all of the police blotters looking for a beating or drug abuse.

Who wants to be 10-1 that they spent good bucks, manpower, and time on this story, and all they have is a boring "Bennett gambles in Vegas" story.

Hope he decides to gamble elsewhere now that Vegas Union employees prove to have loose lips.

[HenryLeeII]

Usually the law in most jurisdictions defines any non-"normal" activity as sodomy. The one not considered as such is husband and wife with chance of procreation, if you get my drift. So, a Lewinsky is sodomy...

[mabelkitty]

Tell that to Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.

They spend a great deal of money in Vegas.