Bill Bennett: Gambling Hit Pieces Won't Silence Me

NewsMax.com | 7/31/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

Conservative ethicist Bill Bennett emerged from a self imposed two month silence on Tuesday to announce that he wasn't going to let inaccurate stories about his gambling habits planted by "people who were trying to take me out" drive him from public life.

"I'm back and I will be more outspoken than ever," Bennett told nationally syndicated radio host Sean Hannity, after accepting full responsibility for the betting brouhaha.

"What I did that was wrong was that in the last few years I started to play big money, really big money. Maybe not too much in terms of what I was making, but too much in terms of who I am. And I was not being a good example."

The leading conservative spokesman revealed that his habit had become an issue at home, telling Hannity, "It got excessive. Mrs. Bennett got on me. She was right. And this story hit and it was all out there for everyone to see."

Bennett said he was faced with the choice of either changing his behavior or changing his standards. "So, in this case, the excessive gambling is over," he pledged.

He noted, however, that there was an agenda driving the gambling story that went beyond legitimate journalism, observing, "Some of these people were trying to take me out, saying, 'You're gone, man, you're out of public life.' And I don't not accept that."

He complained also that whoever leaked his gambling records to the Newsweek and the Washington Monthly had violated his privacy.

"[My gambling] wasn't a secret. But you do not expect your financial records, whether it's at a bank, a casino or anyplace, to be displayed all over the place."

The former Bush administration drug czar added, "Las Vegas has an ad out on TV and the radio, saying, 'What happens here, stays here.' Well, not in my case. That was really a rotten thing to do."

A spokesman for Caesar's Boardwalk in Atlantic City - one of the casinos named by Newsweek and the Washington Monthly - told NewsMax in May that they take every precaution to preserve the privacy of high rollers, and that the release of Bennett's records was the subject of an internal investigation.

The two publications that hyped the gambling scandal said they were relying on "40 pages of internal casino documents." But the target of the twin hit pieces said they got more than a few factual details wrong.

"A lot of what they put out was inaccurate - about losing $8 million and all that. There's no way that happened."

Bennett said the sources of the illicitly obtained records "released information to reporters that was wrong about totals, about wins and losses. It was really an attempt to do me in."

He stressed that he wasn't swearing off all wagering, telling Hannity, "Since there will be people doing the micrometer on me, I just want to be clear. I do want to be able to bet the [Buffalo] Bills in the Super Bowl."

When Hannity closed the interview by praising Bennett for taking responsibility for the imbroglio, the ethicist quipped, "You can bet on it."

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Media Bias

[ChewedGum]

Thanks for voicing your opinion so eloquently! I agree - Bennett's biggest issue is that he was considered a voice of morality and he couldn't keep the standard he had set himself (although I don't remember him railing against gambling). I have many standards which I have set for my self...and I confess that I fall short of those standards too often to admit. (But it doesn't change my standards...I just get back up and start over).

Gum

[mdmathis6]

I Don't think she gambles...at least the reporters didn't report any-thing about her having a habit.

[eccl1212]

"Get some perspective."

---

I have some perspective... my own.
the same thing was said when NEWT's kingdom fell down.
the same thing was said when bishop buggeror was uncovered.

the same thing is said by blind supporters of the "moral mouthpieces" who "say and do not do..." all the time.

you are welcome to your view on the man. so am I.
He's a moralistic fraud.
He has been caught throwing stones, from the back yard of his now fully glazed house.
No use crying when his panes are shattered... just a lesson or two. Don't throw stones, if you have a glass house... and as much as possible, don't build a glass house in a neighborhood where folks are known to throw a lot of rocks.

Bennett brought this on himself. He knew better. He was caught and exposed. As we all are when we KNOW better and continue in doing questionable moral acts.

To whom much is given, much is required. Bennett had a lot.
He is not accountable to me... but I will NEVER listen to the man I BELIEVE to be a FRAUD, ever again.

[eccl1212]

I am much more willing to listen to a man who has the courage to admit he was wrong

---

You mean AFTER he was caught and exposed in the press, right? YOu do realize it wasn't exactly voluntary... don't you?

I bought his books for myself, sent copies to friends and relatives... and bought into his k12 program.

he seems a fraud to me.
he seemeth a saint to you...
I will think and say what I want.
and count on more being exposed, as he continues to protest "you cannot shut me up." Wanna bet this ain't all?

heh heh... you know what's going to come of this eventually don't you?

[eccl1212]

roflmao...

spot on.

[Redleg Duke]

"heh heh... you know what's going to come of this eventually don't you?"

Yeah! You are going to be proven wrong, and like all other hypocritical liberals, blame it on someone else.

[palmer]

Not what I suggested. Again, the problem is not gambling, it is high rolling. That is the behavior of throwing such large amounts of money around so quickly that it becomes a power trip. There is simply no other reason to spend $250,000 in a weekend with no aesthetic or other pleasures to point to.

[eccl1212]

actually quite astute wisdom on your part.
God gives second chances... people often hesitate to.

ESPECIALLY when the other shoes start to drop.
And I guarantee you, BB is going to get an anal exam that will make clarence thomas' confirmation hearing look like a vacation in the south of france.

That is not glee on my part... but I have seen this before. So have we all. Any shoe not stapled to his toes is going to be pulled out from under the bed... and displayed here and on Television.

gambling is usually tied with a pretty short rope to other things not moral. the biggest impact is amongst trusting Christians, who thought they had a person who was walking the walk whilst talking the talk. the least impact will be amongst the "denial" folks, who will get all defensive over this.

Watch out for more dropping shoes! And not just Bennett either. It is after all, election time. Mouthpieces for the right, will all be getting their election cycle anal exams.

[colorado tanker]

What Bill Bennett was doing was terrible, just terrible. Oh, this story reminds me, I'd better pick up a Powerball ticket on the way home tonight.

[foghornleghorn]

But who said gambling ,per se, is immoral? This appears to be one of those "appearance of impropriety" issues, and Bennett has addressed it correctly.

[eccl1212]

pull out your copy of the book of moral virtues... and find me that glowing chapter he wrote on the moral values of gambling millions of dollars, wagering and investing in the mafiosos who run the gambling, porn, buying corrupt politicians, distribution of illegal drugs, protection scams, money laundering and prostitution industries...

What? He didn't write that one you say?
Nope... he wrote it with what he did, instead.

[mdmathis6]

Hey eccl1212...I'm having trouble believing that you live up to your verse in Ecclesiastes 12:12 "The wicked covet the catch of evil men, but the root of the righteous yields fruit" There is bitter acidity and visceral anger in your tone towards Bennett...what is really at the root of your bitterness towards Bennett any-way? Lets explode your life 3 dimesionally for all to see, to see if you have accomplished even a 10th of what Bennett has done or for that matter, lets talk about the wrong things in your life! As a matter of fact, lets all of us start talking about the bad things we haven't owned up to...lets all fall on our faces before the living God and beg God's forgiveness for not stepping into the breach of societal sin as Bennett attempted to do....are you ready to do that sir? Lets all start confessing our sins and asking God to empower us to live better lives...are you prepared to do that sir!



("Shouldn't the money have been given to the poor?" Judas in discussing the baptism of perfume Christ received from the repentant harlot.)

Pride is a sin
Pride is a sin
Pride is a sin

Say that enough times you might learn to believe it and repent of that. Then you might pray for Bennett who was "found over-taken in a fault"!

[Ken H]

Bennett's 10 Virtues:
Self-Discipline
Compassion
Responsibility
Friendship
Work
Courage
Perseverance
Honesty
Loyalty
Faith

[mdmathis6]

It does sound like his gambling was in danger of spiralling out of control.Perhaps being yelled at by the wife and getting zinged by the press before he loses it completely will actually help him...don't you agree that God is in all that some-place despite the motivations of the liberal sleaze mongers.

Bennett needs to get the hint of what God is telling him to do, before worse things happen to him.

[mdmathis6]

It would be a great addition to his book of virtues, would it not?

[Cai Della]

Interesting that Bill was secretly excessive: booze, food and gambling.

"Women" go with that fusion, but we haven't heard any gossip -- yet!

[Cai Della]

Bennett brought this on himself.

Gambling was his only vice? What about sex and drugs in conjunction? Were prostitutes involved?

[eccl1212]

actually it is "of the making of books there is no end and much study is weariness of the flesh."

and I don't claim the moral highground bennett did in his publications... so it won't impact my career or credibility amongst the christian right...


this gambling thing, won't play well amongst the folks that live in what has been called by liberals "flyover country".

lots of good, conservative christian folks I know are very dissappointed over this.... and in dread over the other shoes that they think are bound to drop.

nobody's perfect. but some pedestals are harder to ascend then others... especially the ones we build for ourselves.

bennett built himself a big one.
he could pour a foundation for a new one, by spending the 8 million he wagered (if that is the amount he flushed that is) on paying women to HAVE their babies, in lieu of abortions... or something "moral" like that.

it would go a long way to redeeming him in the eyes of the the trusting, morally conservative people, who bought his books and the premises ensconced therein.

I have no idea what version of the bible you read...
I do however have a visceral reaction to hypocrites claiming to speak of God's moral virtues, while violating them in a such an apparent manner.

YOU have no moral problem with gambling and wasting millions. Hardly a conservative view to me. But, whatever. If it's okay for you, the rest of us should just bow down and ignore the apparent conflict between what the pharisees SAY and what they do.

YOU buy into the pap if you want.
I see him as a redundant hypocrite... and I expect more is on the way... that is why he is getting so defensive.

shoes are dropping. count on more of them.

[eccl1212]

I suspect such will come out, especially if his gambling habits involved "personal" bookies and such...

I doubt that his gambling was all of the "legal in nevada" type... and now I suspect that some of it, MAY have been with "friends" who were part of the "dark side" of the beast... mafia types. time will tell won't it?

This is very likely part of the insulation of bennet from impending future revelations... the kind that emerge at just the beginning of each election cycle...

gonna get rather bumpy. morality plays or not.

[aged]

here here!!!!
well said. i can't even imagine that every man of God is without sin, and they tell us about virtues every day.it would do us much good if we stopped being so judgemental and gave hope a chance.