Posted on 09/30/2005 4:47:39 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 12:07 a.m. EDT Bill Bennett Responds to Critics over Black Abortion
Former Reagan administration education secretary Bill Bennett blasted his critics Thursday night, including Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, of whom Bennett said: ""I'll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence."
Bennett is on the hot seat for remarks uttered Wednesday during his radio show, "Morning in America," where he was arguing against some of the more extreme justifications for abortion, calling them "ridiculous and morally reprehensible."
Offering an example, Bennett said:
"I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.”
By Thursday afternoon, prominent Democrats had seized upon the comment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said last year that the Supreme Court's lone black member was "an embarrassment to the court," is demanding that Bennett "issue an immediate apology not only to African Americans but to the nation.”
Left wing Democrat Ted Kennedy, whose brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, ordered the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King, called Bennett a "racist."
And Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who suggested last year that most blacks hold menial jobs, called Bennett's comments "hateful" and "inflammatory" - and called on him to apologize.
Responding to his critics, Bennett told the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes":
"I'll not take instruction from Teddy Kennedy. A young woman likely drowned because of his negligence . . . . He should make no judgments at all about other people. He shouldn't be in the Senate."
Neither Kennedy nor Dean nor Reid has ever condemned Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, who rose to the rank of Grand Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan based on his ability to recruit new members.
In an autobiography released earlier this year, Byrd said the Klan was a "fraternal group" made up of "upstanding' people" - a characterization which drew no protest from Reid, Kennedy and Dean.
Bennett's toast. Next.
I suspect that this is not how AP is going to report this. Providing factual and reasonable context for Democratic braying is not what the AP is about. Happily, newsmax can be counted upon to remember.
It often looks, however, like AP staffers were in the back of Wayne and Garth's car. That's the downside of 'living in the Now'.
If anything, Bill Bennett is soft-peddling here. It is far more likely that a young woman was drowned intentionally because Ted Kennedy knocked her up. He certainly had his case handled quite differently than Bill Janklow, who killed a motorcycle driver by negligent driving, resigned from congress in disgrace and spent some time in the slammer.
How could he be toast...he holds no public job. Besides, everyone who has read his entire comments knows he is exactly correct. I think the days of the politically correct MSM and Dems are over. They are now being forced to back-track on Katrina exagerations (especially in light of the news about the NO police department), and it looks like the same will happen vis-a-vis Tom DeLay. They already had to pull their ads and talking points about John Roberts, and of course who can forget both the Wellstone memorial and Rathergate. No, I would say Bill Bennitt will do just fine as long as all on the 'Right Side" are not intimidated by the idiots on MSMBC and the rest.
I agree, he was just stating statistical facts.
Lately everything has become about race.
OUCH is right. OY
he is correct and he holds no political job. Is Bill Bennet going to lose a job a Sec. of Education? /sarcasm
Maybe. But at least he's fighting back, instead of running with his tail between his legs.
Good for Bennett for not buckling. He was talking about abortion rationalizations, not the black race per se. Duh.
Good for NewsMax for contextualizing these remarks. This is the sort of thing the MSM always does when quoting conservatives, but never does when quoting Approved Liberals.
It should go both ways, or neither.
Dan
Bennett runs a thoughtful give and take show. This morning he has put out an open invitation to anyone who wants to debate this. (Pelosi, Kennedy, Jesse Jackson etc)
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Fact
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion
It is about time a Republican punched back and defended himself!! I hope all the others take note.
As far as apologizing, since when can public officials "demand" anything of a private citizen? They would do better to police their own. I am sick and tired of ALL our politicians' behavior or lack thereof!
Can I demand an apology?
Bennett runs a thoughtful give and take show. This morning he has put out an open invitation to anyone who wants to debate this. (Pelosi, Kennedy, Jesse Jackson etc)
----
Fact
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion
It is about time a Republican punched back and defended himself!! I hope all the others take note.
As far as apologizing, since when can public officials "demand" anything of a private citizen? They would do better to police their own. I am sick and tired of ALL our politicians' behavior or lack thereof!
Can I demand an apology?
------
I agree. Where is the outcry for the remarks by Calypso Louie? Where is the demand fro an apology from Rangle for his Bull Connor remarks?
The fact of differential and blatantly unfair responses by the MSM and the Left do not invalidate the correctness of Bennett's remarks. The Lott matter, where the rational Right ran away and hid from the hypocrites was a disgrace IMO and only reinforced the effectiveness of the Left's hypocrisy and race baiting.
Since abortion is considered murder.. ALL people, regardless of race, who expect to be on the government dole past a set deadline should submit to voluntary sterilization if they expect their monthly checks to continue.
THAT is the only humane way to decrease crime and poverty.
Now who's got the cajones to publicly suggest this?
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