Posted on 05/03/2003 9:07:28 AM PDT by doug from upland
Well, well, well. The man had who had his problems with Bill Clinton has a problem of his own.
What right did Bill Bennett have to condemn Clinton for rape? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for obstruction of justice? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for abuse of power? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for perjury and subornation of perjury? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for having his thugs intimidate witnesses? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for giving his "troubled stalker" intern girlfriend Top Secret Clearance at the Pentagon? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for submitting a false affidavit to the court? What right did he have to condemn Clinton for using government (i.e. paid by taxpayers) assets and people to facilitate his sexual compulsions? What right did he have to condemn the chief law enforcement officer for using attorneys, friends, thugs, and other government employees to fix a federal sexual harassment lawsuit and deny a citizen her day in court?
What right indeed! What a hypocrite. He has a serious moral problem of his own with gambling. The Book of Virtues, my butt.
So, let's dissect Mr. Bennett. It is said that he lost millions of dollars, maybe as much as $8 million dollars gambling. That's incredible.
Gambling is illegal. Oh, wait. There are certain places where it is legal like Las Vegas and Atlantic City? Okay, forget that one.
Bennett is a Catholic who preached every time he appeared on television that any gambling is a terrible sin and vice and that those who gamble are the lowest of the low. Oh, wait. I found out he didn't do that. Never mind.
Okay, then. The Catholic Church has determined that gambling is a mortal sin. Oh, wait. They haven't done that? From The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2413.) "Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for one’s needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement."
Okay, then. Bennett won money at times and didn't give any to his church. Oh, wait. The reports are that when he won, he tithed.
Okay, then. Bennett left his family and flew to Atlantic City every single weekend to engage in his vice. Oh, wait. Such was not the case.
Okay, then. Bennett cheated his business partners to pay for gambling losses. Oh, wait. There has never been a hint that he did that. Never mind.
Okay, then. Bennett would come home so angry when he lost that he beat his wife and verbally abused his kids. What? He didn't do that?
Okay, then. Bennett was always late on mortgage payments, almost lost his home, and his kids didn't have enough food to eat. Oh, I can't find that's true anywhere. Never mind that one.
Okay, then. Bennett was always surrounded by hookers in Atlantic City whom he made wear blue dresses so he could stain them while he was on official government business. What? He didn't do that either?
Well, there you have it. I guess I have made my case. What Bill Bennett did was as bad as rape, as bad as perjury, as bad as obstruction of justice, as bad as trying to fix a federal sexual harassment trial to deny a woman her day in court, and as bad as anything else Clinton ever did, including taking 900 grand from traitor Bernie Schwartz who sold missile technology to the Red Chinese that puts every child in this country in jeopardy from a ChiCom nuclear missile.
The only people who don't get this are you right wing whacko Clinton haters who will get down on your own kneepads to defend this terrible husband and father Bill Bennett. You on the right should be ashamed of yourselves. The next thing you will claim is that Scott Ritter, Jim McDermott, and George Galloway received money from Iraq, that Susan Sarrandon joined the effort to keep Dr. Laura off television, that pacifist Tim Robbins threatened to hunt down and physically hurt a reporter, and that Hillary Clinton recently gave a speech screaming at the top of her lungs and appeared to be insane. What? Stop. I don't even want to hear it.
And how many times have we cited they defend rather than call their own on the carpet.
What Bennett did is not the end of the world. Nor was Jesse Jackson's love child, or former Congressman Wayne Hayes romp with the gal in the tidal basin. But we sure made an issue out of Al Gore inventing the internet, which is far less serious than high stakes gambling.
What is your point? I know plenty of decent folks, all of whom have weaknesses, none of whom go on TV repeatedly trumpeting the virtue of traditional morality in righteous, somber tones while indulging traditional vices.
This phony has given the media and the left an opportunity to impugn conservative leadership, and by extension, conservatives at large.
Does that matter at all to you?
How is gambling any different from what the American people were doing on the stock market in the late 1990's, buying Amazon.com at $400/share? Simple greed...gambling. I know two dozen people who lost more than $100,000 on the market in 2000-2001..some of them wiping themselves out in the process. They were no different from Mr. Bennett, and not evil or sinners. I don't see Mr. Bennett starving for cash like they are now. SO WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
Second, you appear to be accepting the story at face value. It has always been puzzlement to me that FreeRepublic was virtually established to counter the lies of the mainstream media. But when those same media whores write something even slightly salacious about a conservative, any number of modern-day puritans want to burn him at the stake. For example, the assertion is made that he lost $8 million, a claim Bennett denies. OK, who are you going to believe: Bill Bennett or the left wing wacko who wrote this hit piece?
Third, Bill Bennett has done more good for this country and this society than most of the charitable references you cite. And you appear to believe that Bennett does not contribute to charity, a claim for which you have absolutely no proof.
What are you left with? A hit piece written by a leftist full of innuendo but little in the way of facts. There is only one thing that we know: Bill Bennett likes to gamble in casinos. Here is a second fact: you don’t approve. Big Whoop.
Low blow.
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