Bill Bennett said like a Dalek from Doctor Who:
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.
AH HA! Got you!
I have said for years that the real reason behind these abortion protests is that they fear whites will lose their majority status in America, and now we have proof. Don't believe me? Just look where all the anti-abortion protests are, they are always in predominantly white neighborhoods. You will never see one in the inner city or barrios. If they were really concerned with stopping abortion don't you think they would have their protests there also?
Meanwhile Mr. Bennett won't even address this issue on his website; he has other people like Andrew McCarthy doing it. All his allies on the religious right are doing cartwheels, they're spinning this Freudian slip so much. Fox's Neil Cavuto is saying stuff like "he's taken out of context," and that he is "against all abortion." Boy, I think I am getting dizzy from all this spin.
Mr. Bennett may have a sliver of a point, though. If all the unplanned pregnancies from all races, not just blacks, were aborted or prevented with the morning-after pill, we would be better off. Kids cost a hell of a lot of money to raise properly, and if you're going to school and don't have a lot of money coming in, you would be better off not having the child. I am not saying poor people shouldn't have children, just that we should be fully prepared when we do.
Those on the religious right like to pretend that their morals are so selfless and good, but the reality is usually something different. There is a case in the Detroit area where two teenagers from a white rural town went to a Christian abortion counseling center. They were told by the frauds at the center that they needed their parents' permission to get an abortion. This is, of course, a complete lie; they knew full well they didn't. So the boy at the girl’s bequest repeatedly hit the girl in the stomach to induce an abortion. They eventually buried the dead baby in a field on the boy's family farm. The boy was charged with murder and then sentenced to 200 hours of community service at the same counseling center that lied to him and the girl in the first place.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Scott Butki
Wow. I dont' know which I find more appalling - Bennett's remarks or what happened to those kids.
Powerful, engaging, writing, John.
2 - Dave Nalle
I don't know which I find more appalling - Bennett's remarks or all the people leaping on them with glee to cry racism on such pathetic justification and almost pure wishful thinking. It would be so nice, so convenient if Bennett actually were a racist, but what he said doesn't prove that no matter how much you try to make it so.
Dave
3 - NC
I know what I find most appalling: that the turd who wrote this post conveniently and deliberately omitted the very next sentence Bennett uttered after making his comment about black babies. Here it is:
"That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."
In other words, Bennett says it would be morally reprehensible to exterminate blacks, and yet we end up with a post titled, "Bill Bennett: Exterminate Blacks!"
[Personal attack deleted]
4 - John Bil
Whoa, NC, who the heck do you think you are. [Personal attack deleted]
5 - RogerMDillion
Yeah, NC, that way JB won't have to deal with your comments.
6 - 1Potato
Ironic. Not only is Bennett not a racist (the "sound bite" was an out of context hypothetical - he actually said the idea was "morally reprehensible"), you are the one that has been "caught", John Bill.
Calling abortion protesters fanatics or nuts is one thing, but saying they are racists trying to use abortion to save whites and kill off blacks? That is an inflammatory, bigoted comment. And unlike Bill Bennett, the fuller context of your remarks does not diffuse them.
7 - John Bil
He also said that if you did this "crime" would drop dramatically. He is basically saying all black people are criminals. Even his rationalization is racist.
8 - John Bil
The anti-reproductive rights crowd sure are violent in their comments. Me thinks they protest too much.
9 - byrd
It is amazing how the editors on this site will tolerate some people telling others to go fuck themselves, but if it is pointed out that this same nut is a fool or an idiot, that gets edited.
Dave:
Yet again you present yourself as dillusional and without the ability to see things for what they are.
10 - Silas Kain
Once again people take things out of context. Most don't hear the WHOLE story of what precipitated Bennett's remarks. Look, he's a conservative. He is a God-fearing Christian. He's great at pontification. He's also quite human and is one of the few who will admit it from time to time. What he said was wrong; but how many people can honestly say that haven't thought it? Covering our ears to the "n" word; our eyes to the urban poor; and our mouths to honest dialog does just as much to propagate racism as burning a cross on a lawn in Alabama. As liberal and whacked out as Al Sharpton may seem, much of what he says in his speeches is the truth and we just can't handle the truth. Racism will never be eradicated but it can be greatly reduced. To do that, however, requires facing our demons and getting it all out on the table. When it comes to domestic problems, Americans are like the typical 50's housewife. Shut your mouth, take a pill, and everything will be OK in the morning.
11 - Robert McArdle
NC, if all your ammo is to bitch about the rest of the sentence JB didn't print then you are a typical Republican : uninformed and racist yourself. Mr. Bennett was trying to defend his morally reprehensible comments and prove at the same time that his supporters (and those of Rush, Hannity, Savage, and O'Reilly) are stupid. He's right about that. The fact is that Mr. Bennett actually believes that if all black babie were aborted crime would go down. Not true at all. There would be a lower, uneducated class of people to replace poor blacks and the crime rate wouldn't change. Man you right wingers are stupid. Voting for Bush proved that.
12 - Nancy
If you aborted all the babies of ANY particular group, the crime rate would go down, per se. If all republican babies were aborted, the crime rates on capital hill might plummet in 40 years or so, I suppose. Ditto Dems. Or Libertarians.
13 - Peggy Loonan
NC - you too deliberately didn't finish out Bennett's comments - you fibber! He said,"...That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, BUT YOUR CRIME RATE WOULD GO DOWN."
Bennett meant that we WOULD reduce our crime rate if we aborted ALL black babies. That is racist. That makes him a racist. There's absolutely no other conclusion one can make. His attempt at backpeddling now - and those who are helping him backpeddle - is funny to watch because NO ONE in their right mind buys that.
And if you buy that, not only are you not in your right mind but I have Florida swamp land for you. Do you ever wonder if these people look at themselves on video or listen to themselves? How embarrasing to be caught by your own words and deeds being what you really are - a right wing evangelical Christian hypocrit, a racist, and someone who, in spite of past declarations and when all is said and done - aren't really opposed to abortion - at least for some members of our population.
Right wing evangelicals must understand that to live by the sword is to die by it. You hold yourself up to be God's gift to the world and a righteous person - you should darn well be living what you preach. A man who writes about virtues then has a zillion dollar gambling problem - and a man who's "anti-abortion" but advances that for one segment of our population as a way we WOULD reduce the crime rate is someone who should kicked out of the public arena!
What he said he meant - otherwise he would have immediately and profusely apologized. That fact that he didn't says it all about this man!
Peggy Loonan
14 - Dan
"A man who writes about virtues then has a zillion dollar gambling problem"
Bill Bennett is a Catholic. Catholics like to gamble. A lot. Ever been to one of their festivals? Don't play "21", the dealer wins ties. That's about a 9% disadvantage on that rule alone.
Bennett doesn't have a gambling "problem". Except that suddenly moralistic liberals turn "church lady" on him and think they've caught a hypocrite.
Bennett's a high roller because he can afford it. There's no contradiction of virtues there.
15 - MCH
I wonder which is more hypocritical:
Bill Bennett's "Book of Virtues" and his gambling; or Rush Limbaugh's patriotic act and his draft dodging...?
16 - Dan
I wonder which rankles liberals more:
The fact that Bennett's hypothetical example is likely true; or that the hysterical hissy they're having over it doesn't seem to be having the desired effect of making Bennett grovel.
17 - RogerMDillion
"Bill Bennett is a Catholic. Catholics like to gamble."
Obviously, their faith is a gamble
18 - J
Response to Dan’s statement:
“I wonder which rankles liberals more:
The fact that Bennett's hypothetical example is likely true; or that the hysterical hissy they're having over it doesn't seem to be having the desired effect of making Bennett grovel.”
So, Dan it would appear that you agree with Bennett’s statement. Okay, let’s say we abort ALL Black babies that might reduce the crime rate. Of course, if we abort certain White babies that would decrease the crime rate more. As long as we are at it let’s just kill all of humanity, than we would have no crime rate, no poverty, and no wars. Great thinking Dan, just kill us all. In all seriousness the problem with Bennett’s statement is that it is dangerous. It sends the message, eliminate Blacks and you will eliminate crime. Historically blaming minorities for the problems of the state leads to bad things, i.e. Nazi Germany. (Hopefully you do realize that Whites are the majority of criminals not just the majority of the population.)
This controversy is a gauge for our country. I hope that the people that are denouncing Bennett’s statement are denouncing it for the right reasons and not only because he said it out loud.
19 - Bro
I was hoping one argument on the internet could occur WITHOUT a mention of the Nazis.
20 - macsgian
JB, it would be nice if you posted the entire transcript of what Bennet said in reponse to the caller he was answering. they were discussing economic oriented arguments against abortion. Bennet was discussing data included in the book "Freakanomics" and then went on to argue that aboring children to lower crimes rates is absurd and immoral. the author of "Freakanomics" confirms the data Bennet cited and noted that a statistical by-product of abortion is a lowering of crime rate, and that if any people group were entirely aborted, there would be an appreciable impact on crime rates. Bennet's point had nothing to do with aborting anyone, but only that useing economic arguments to bolster the case against abortion is ill-concieved because Bennet believes it is a moral issue only, not an economic one and economic arguments, if you are seriously opposed to abortion, should be rejected as absurd and weak. i find it disturbing that you did no homework on this topic and made no effort to get at what was said and why. it is as if you copied and pasted one line of Bennet's transcript and used as a springboard to just make stuff up that you thought sounded good and made sense. you have got to think, JB. think!
21 - Annie B.
Not sure if this is the more current thread for this topic, but I'll post it here...
I may be one of the few who's discovered this, but FREAKONOMICS book author Steven Levitt stated essentially the same racist theory Bennett cited and condemned, in two published research papers, and after substituting cleansed phrases for the racist phrases (but not altering their meaning), he then turned it INTO that bestselling book Freakonomics. Levitt actually quoted other studies in writing as part of his reason for his conclusions that "African-Americans" are among those "most at risk to give birth to children who would engage in criminal activity."
Sounds just like what Bennett was referring to, doesn't it? Yet Levitt makes millions and gets glory while Bennett is tarred and feathered.
Both Levitt and Bennett are wrong to believe the theory is even true, of course (because it hasn't been proven and probably can never be), but I asked our readers and some of the media directly (like the top dogs at AP, Mensah Dean of The Philly Daily News and Robert Steinback of The Miami Herald), why only take Bennett to task? I am sure 99.99999% of America doesn't but should know the truth about Levitt's racist/eugenicist foundations (from 1991 to 2001).
I uncovered this when writing an online, 5-part expose about the "abortion lowers crime" myth (not my word, but what one of 5 Ph.D. criminologists from the likes of UPENN and Carnegie Mellon called it).
I have a much-shortened excerpt of the lengthy series that is pertinent to the proof points mentioned above, if anyone wants to email me so I don't clog up the comments here.
Or you can read the full series, just up this week, ironically, though I've been researching it for a month: links are here:
22 - Marcia L. Neil
I believe we're supposed to be discussing bugs and insects -- vermin -- which focus on black skin. Africa has some of the most fantastic bugs on record, and some of the world's blackest people.
23 - Black Dude
Stop it you dumb racists!
24 - jordy
You meant kkk haters!
25 - Baronius
Well, this comment board is taking an ... interesting turn.
"I have said for years that the real reason behind these abortion protests is that they fear whites will lose their majority status in America, and now we have proof."
That's just factually wrong. The rate of abortion in the US is much higher among blacks. If abortion were outlawed, the percentage of whites in the US would plummet. BTW, you can find abortion protests in every ethnic area. Another error, John Bill.