William Bennett's "Mourning in America"

Jeff Koopersmith

Is the author of "The Death of Outrage" a racist? Our publisher emeritus thinks not — but his brainlessness and arrogant blather have led to the instant and immediate demise of any shred of credibility he had left.
By Jeff Koopersmith

Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 — WASHINGTON — Every morning I spend from 6 AM to 9 AM listening to Bill Bennett, America's moralist gambleholic, on his radio show, broadcast by the Neofascist Salem Radio Network. Bennett is one of the most dangerous, overeducated men in America and, more than most, has constructed the foundation for Neonazism among "conservative" Americans.

ABC summed up Bennett's nitwit remarks truthfully:

On the Wednesday edition of his radio show, "Bill Bennett's Morning in America," syndicated by Salem Radio Network, a caller raised the theory that Social Security is in danger of becoming insolvent because legalized abortion has reduced the number of taxpaying citizens. Bennett said economic arguments should never be employed in discussions of moral issues.

"If it were your sole purpose to reduce crime," Bennett said, "You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."… "That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down," he added."

The key word here is "…" as it is the evidence of the split second it took for Bennett to realize his career was over and blurt out his too-late and very desperate attempt to recover and redeem himself by adding the "morally reprehensible" portion of his remarks.

I actually heard him stammer slightly as he added the excusing codicil, most likely knowing it would not save his sorry ass.

Of course, it did not work — and every liberal in American media, be it talk radio, cable "news" or the blogs, almost instantly began a nonstop attack on Bennett, his producers, his network, and the individual stations that carry his drivel.

I don't believe Bill Bennett is a racist. However, as I pointed out in my book about him, "Corrobillusion," Bennett, although Harvard educated, is just plain donkey stupid.

To illustrate his idiocy — largely caused by his arrogance — he and his high-pitched radio sidekick made things worse for Bennett Friday morning, trying to go on the offense rather than simply apologizing for being stupid (as opposed to being a racist). He did neither, and instead his phone screeners let through a nonstop parade of ridiculous sycophants who embarrassed even Bennett with their shallow defense of his unfortunate statements.

As Bennett's callers simpered their support, Howard Stern savaged Bennett on his syndicated radio program. By midday Friday, liberal leaders in the House and Senate have begun to lash out at Bennett, and the late-night talk shows had at him. You can be sure America's other favorite laugh makers will be having their say.

Bennett hasn't even begun to feel the sting which has driven so many careers into the garbage pail.

Bennett revealed his fear obliquely this morning as he discussed "a walk" he took with his wife and dog yesterday, parenthetically pathetic in that the walk was certainly a personal acknowledgment that Bennett has again threatened his family's well-being and has humiliated them with his arrogant stupidity demonstrated in Las Vegas with his purported millions in gaming losses and the woman he reportedly frequented while pretending total loyalty to his "lovely wife" who he oddly refers to as Mrs. Bennett more often than not. Recall that during his nonstop pillory of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky's unfortunate relationship in 1998 — a campaign of hateful moralizing from which Bennett grew wealthy pandering to the dumbest minds in America — most thinking people were not impressed by his position despite his appearances 24 hours a day (or so it seemed) on cable news.

I phoned Donna Wynner early Friday morning and offered to speak to Bennett on the air and to defend him as a racist, but was honest enough to tell his people that I would attack him for being stupid enough to use "aborting black babies" as one method to decrease the crime rate.

She wrote to Bennett at 6:15 a.m. and, of course, received no reply.

Then I followed with my own email to him, warning the radio host that he was digging his grave further and should apologize for being so stupid and naïve while continuing to try and save his neck as an accused racist.

I also cautioned him not to have Ann Coulter as a guest, as she was scheduled to defend him — which I think he agreed with since Coulter's ugly crack head did not materialize this morning on Bennett's radio show (at least the segments that I heard). Perhaps Coulter was smart enough to avoid this sandstorm; that could be an alternative explanation for her disappearing act.

Bennett did appear Thursday night on, of all shows, "Hannity & Colmes" where he attempted to "counter" Ted Kennedy's remarks about him with cheap, sickening reference to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne decades ago on Martha's Vineyard as Bennett "excuse" for not listening to Kennedy about morals.

Let me tell you a little hush-hush, Mr. Bennett. Ted Kennedy, to my knowledge, was not driving the car that Ms. Kopechne drowned in that night. But that's another story for another time — and an aside Bennett might think about.

Bennett's desperate decision to appear on Hannity & Colmes was evidence of the pummeled pundit's understandable and undeniable panic. It was also a terrible mistake as he was playing — once again — only to his base, ignorant Americans who also worship high-school drop out Hannity, instead of the people who could do him the most harm, namely liberals bent on labeling him a racist.

Mr. Bennett pretended to defend himself on moral grounds, and this morning claimed that his entire life (and that of his wife) has been devoted to helping the unfortunate, especially black Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth (see the addendum below). Claiming his career has been spent attacking black Americans is just as false. Bennett, most likely because he is such a poor second to his super-lawyer brother Bob, has spent his career as a gold-digging professional "moralizer," writing books no one reads built on intellectually indefensible premises. The truth is that he dislikes everyone, whether white, black, brown or red. He is simply a hater.

In fact Bennett, to his buddies, is probably a purse of good laughs — not the intellectual in an ivory tower as he would like you to believe. He loves music of all kinds. He loves betting tens of thousands in gaming halls across the world even though he knows he cannot, over the long term, win. He loves the ladies. He loves the booze. And he loves a good joke. Like all Jack-Catholics, Bennett is probably as much fun to spend a lost weekend with as is George W. Bush.

But to suggest that Bennett is a leader, in any sense of the word, is absurd. He's a man echoing the same future outlined in "Death of a Salesman": used up and over-ready to retire.

Mr. Bennett, I have two suggestions for you should you be able to hang onto your radio show even by your fingernails:

1. Fire your entire staff.
2. Get some advice from professionals who know how to build your failing career, not destroy it.

I sincerely doubt you will be able to keep your radio program. Perhaps you should simply retire — although I assume that you took a show requiring you, at your age, to stumble out of bed at 4 AM, because you needed the money.

And that makes me sad.

ADDENDUM: Mr. Bennett's claims to be a champion of the unfortunate and underprivileged do not square with this tale told by former FCC chairman Reed Hundt at TPMCafe.com. Read it and consider that this man was once our education secretary.

JEFF KOOPERSMITH is a political consultant, opinion research authority, policy analyst, and self-described "renegade lobbyist."