[Bluntpoint]

His defenders would say his gambling was not excessive, he used booze for medicinal reasons only and he was not a glutton but had a slow metabolism.

[Helms]

The way I'm looking at it is that Bennet positioned himself in what he thought would be the "Moral Economy" and is getting whacked appropriately:

"Part of the weakness of the political left has been its failure to provide a coherent moral approach to the economy. Indeed, it has been the ‘New Right’ that has hijacked the debate and propelled a vision of a moral economy, consisting of consumers, entrepreneurs, the family, voluntary self-help organisations, minimal state expenditure and low taxes, more commodification and privatisation.."

http://uk.geocities.com/balihar_sanghera/cmeapproachestocultureandeconomy.html