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)

[RWG]

Right, and it is the junkie's money too or the alcoholic's. compulsives are all problems.

[toothseaquer]

Playing the stock market comes close to a dangerous addiction. My brother -in - law plays the stock market daily and my sister gets very nervous at times they will lose all. I would say it is the same as being a high roller in Vegas or Atlantic City.

[toothseaquer]

I don't think so. Jonathan Alter knew whom he was goring.

[BrooklynGOP]

Right, and it is the junkie's money too or the alcoholic's. compulsives are all problems.

He is not spending taxpayer's money. It's his business what he does with his $$$, is it not?

[Biblebelter]

I actively trade the stock market and I believe it is a form of gambling. If Bennett had lost as much as purported in the press on the stock market, he could still be taken seriously. I have trouble taking anyone seriously who lost this kind of money playing video poker and the slots. This boy is a windbag and he is not so much different than his infamous brother.

[BobS]

In craps, the house only has about a 1% edge if you take full odds. On a good streak, play 3 numbers, On a hot streak, play 5. Never open a table. Always squeeze in to the
loudest, busiest table you can find. And the one that has the most chips in front of people! And if folks start to seven-out quickly, cash in. Time how long people hold the dice, it keeps you objective. I can only do this for about 2 days before it seems like work.

[Wolfie]

No surprise here. The guy was our head Drug Warrior, all the while he was a nicotine addict.

[toothseaquer]

It is based on greed and escapism. Two slippery slopes in the game of life. Joy in life cannot be achieved by receiving money that has been taken from poor struggling folk like seniors and low income people hoping to make it rich by not earning it. I see state lotteries as a big offender of this principle.
In my opinon it is a decadent form of entertainment as horse racing was for the royals. When life becomes so good, boredom sets in, then trouble enters. History records what happened in Rome when sports got boring. If gambling was a righteous endeavor, why was Pete Rose stripped of his place in the Hall of Fame?

My father spent his SS pension on the Ed McMahon Reader's Digest Sweepstakes. He bought all kinds of books and articles that would get him to a higher level with the hope of winning big bucks. After his death, we cleaned out all this stuff from the house and needless to say, we were outraged by this swindler trying to sucker him out of his money. He lived like a pauper but, would waste his money on a pie in the sky scheme.

[toothseaquer]

I used to work with a lady who had a gambling addiction. She told me with a straight face that she would sit down, gamble all her money, gamble all her husbands money and then write checks she couldn't cover. I tried to explain the concept of "odds" to her, I even tried the "hit by lightning" analogy. Un-uh. No dice. She is convinced that she is like "building up luck" or something by virtue of playing for longer and longer periods... and that she "has to hit" at some point. I know many people like this and have come to the conclusion that compulsive gamblers cannot be trusted. They are purely emotional creatures who survive on strange rituals, omens and other imagined associations & linkages.. This is the ''hook'' that gets one addicted to gambling, making it is a dangerous form of entertainment. Deception and lies follow the loser....She and Bill Bennett need to be on Paxil.

[brneyedgirl]

Washington Post Article on Bennett:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7664-2003May2.html

[brneyedgirl]

And, I will make this assumption. Honestly, if this were Bill Clinton or another liberal we would have attacked him by now.

Wrong is wrong, Bill Bennett is a hypocrite, plain and simple. He can never be seriously looked at as a "high morality" pundit again.

[toothseaquer]

You sit at a table, drink alcohol, and risk large sums of money for your own adrenalin rush. Nothing moral about that. Nothing virtuous about that, when you could be putting that money to good use, IF YOU WERE A MORAL PERSON. CA Conservatives reply: ''And just who gets to decide what is a good use for my money? You are sounding very much like a liberal troll, my friend. If it is my money, it is up to me to decide how I want to spend it. If I choose to build a bonfire with it, that is up to me.'' Good answer. In a free society, anyone has the freedom to choose between right and wrong, moral and immoral acts. We are given civil laws as well as moral laws to obey. Wisdom comes by choosing to follow the right path which is the path that brings joy. Our very own president made such a choice and it has brought him much joy and success. It is up to us to make that choice. I am Thanking God for a free society where we can make that choice knowing good from evil and no one forcing us to make that choice as in other repressive religious societies. We are trully a blessed people. Today, might be a good time to take an inventory of our lives and seek after wholesome entertainment that brings joy instead of sorrow.

[Jhoffa_]

Gambling addiction and stupidity are two different things. Of course fondness for gambling isn't the same as gambling addiction.

No argument, I never implied that it was..

But my reply was in response to the suggestion of this man as a POTUS. I am not familiar with Mr. Bennett, but as far as moral issues go, the short list of who I do not want as POTUS:

1) Someone with Gambling problems.

2) Adulterers.

3) Atheists.

4) Drug Users. 5) Drunks.

6) Theives.

At first glance, "gambling problems" may seem out of place. After all, they only gamble their own money right? So what's the harm.

But if you ever met someone who is addicted, you would not want to run the risk of them getting their "high" gambling with our future or our military. A hardcore gambler isn't after the money, he/she really want the "high" of playing for high stakes.

Not a quality you want in a POTUS.

DISCLAIMER: Again, I am not trying to besmirch this Bennett in particular. I am not familiar with the man.

[discostu]

I am a person with a gambling problem, like all mental addictions it can be controlled if the person chooses to do so. Stuff like the future or the military isn't the kind of stuff that would satisfy a gambling addiction, it's not personal enough, it's not direct enough and it's not immediate enough. And the stakes really don't matter, I've gone bonzai playing poker for chips no buy in no cash out we just distributed chips evenly and started playing. I'm not saying gambling junkies would make good POTUSes I'm just saying your reasoning is wrong.

The problem with getting any addictive personality (which covers, to some extent, everybody on you list except 3 and 6) is that they can become multiply addictive and tends to react oddly under stress. Those unpredictable reactions are the big danger, some get empowered, some go looney, some crawl in a corner, some randomly switch between reactions. Of course the notable exception to this is stress junkies, they're generally at their best under stress because it's their desired situation and one where they're most comfortable; good 2 minute drill QBs are all stress junkies. Although stress junkies you have to worry about when things are going well, they bore easily.

[Jhoffa_]

Fortunately, that's one thing I was never tempted with.. (Like I need to be tempted with anything else, as I have an exhaustive list already.. )

I didn't want to personalize this, I am just relating my experience and the people I have met who have this problem.

It's a really odd, unpredictable thing for some people and it manifests itself in a variety of ways. It's not a quality I want in a POTUS because, how do I know it's under control?

You know, I mean it's the same with the entire list.. Someone repents and turns, that's great. That's what I want them to do. Absolutely.. Everyone is tempted by something, I can appreciate that.

But I am not their wife or their Priest, I don't know them intamately. I am just some stranger who reads about them in the paper. So naturally I will err or the side of caution.

[moneyrunner]

Thank you. Cheated with the question because I knew the answer. One of my friends made video gaming machines and will play video poker, not because he does not know the odds, but because he does.

He’s the one who told me about maxing the bet in video poker to improve the odds.

[WarSlut]

when I found out he smokes 4 packs a day, and is a borderline alcoholic.

The 4 packs a day is somewhat alarming, if only because I like and respect Bill and would hate to see him check out early on account of an out-of-control nicotine jones. On a real bad day, I can't get up to two packs with making myself sick. Four packs in one day is unimaginable.

As far as borderline alcoholic, at his age, you're either an alcoholic or you're not. If Bill likes to drink a little bit, I don't know why that should concern you, or how it invalidates his analysis in any way.

As far as I'm concerned, this story only brings to light the fact that Bill Bennett is not Jesus Christ. I already knew that. He still makes great sense when he speaks.

[Slings and Arrows]

The popular author, lecturer and Republican Party activist speaks out, often indignantly, about almost every moral issue except one-gambling.

I'm not entirely sure I understand what the problem is here. If he has refrained from pontificating on gambling, how does his gambling make him a hypocrite?

It's a strawman. These fellows should really get a hobby.

[moneyrunner]

Thank you. Cheated with the question because I knew the answer. One of my friends made video gaming machines and will play video poker, not because he does not know the odds, but because he does.

He’s the one who told me about maxing the bet in video poker to improve the odds.

Please see reply number 227. For sheer entertainment, video poker may be less expensive than taking a family of 4 to the movies for 2 hours. It depends if you are skilled and it depends on your willingness to max your bets.

The casinos set the odds so that, in aggregate the players always put in more money than the machines give back. However, just as a skilled card player who knows the odds will beat a novice, a skilled video poker player or a high stakes slots player can be entertained with modest losses or modest gains - over the long run. And when you put in the fact that the high stakes player will be comped many of the things (suites, meals, drinks, limos) that the casual player pays for, the players in Bennett's league can have fun for limited risk.

The disturbing thing that I find on the Right is the tendency to wish to cut off our noses to spite our faces. Bill Bennett gambles so cast him into the outer darkness. Asa Hutchison had an affair so elect a liberal democrat in his stead. If we must be perfect before we can express an opinion, this would be a very quiet world.

I see the risks of gambling, drinking, smoking eating too much and taking mind altering drugs. I have gambled, drink my share, am a few pounds overweight, never have smoked (made me sick when I tried) and was always afraid of non-alcoholic drugs so I’m a sinner. That does not stop me from wishing Bill Bennett well and applauding his desire to see a more virtuous society.

[Austin Willard Wright]

everything in moderation? Including Pot? Bennett obviously woud disagree.