william bennett

May 6, 2003 5:51 PM

William Bennett former Bush Sr Drug Czar (1990) and author of The Book of Virtues (1994) 38 weeks on the NYT best-seller list is known in the industry as a looser.
posted by stbalbach (7 comments total)

Haven't checked yet, but on talk radio this afternoon an announcer mentioned that since this fracas started he's quit playing.

Plenty of folks pointed out that it's his money, but maybe the disconnect between his words and his deeds became apparent to him, finally.
posted by alumshubby at 5:58 PM on May 6, 2003

Josh Marshall made a pretty good point about Bennett and his pastimes: "[M]any are now saying that it's impossible for anyone to talk about the importance of morality in the public sphere without themselves getting scrutinized for every possible personal lapse. . . . Bennett hasn't just piped up on behalf of morality in general. He's generally been the first in line to give a kick in the pants to individual people who've fallen short. " Serves Bennett exactly right to get this taste of his own medicine. (The Kinsley piece in the Washington Post that Marshall links to is also a good read.)
posted by Zonker at 6:00 PM on May 6, 2003

Oops, Sorry .. what an Industry it is
posted by stbalbach at 6:11 PM on May 6, 2003

I want to know exactly whom William Bennett is looser than.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:15 PM on May 6, 2003

Plenty of folks pointed out that it's his money,

And I'm willing to bet that most people who buy pot use their own money, too.

This guy is a hypocrite, IMHO.
posted by spazzm at 6:21 PM on May 6, 2003

I dont know what this will do for stbalbach's game. Can he recapture his glory days.
Or is this slugger all washed up...
posted by Dreamghost at 6:23 PM on May 6, 2003

What I was thinking of is that I can see the point of "it's his money and what he does with it is fine with me" posts, but a public figure who preaches about virtues and morality ought to think about, if nothing else, the sheer wastefulness of basically giving the house a few mil, $500 bucks at a time. If it's relaxing fun he wants, there are slot-machine games he could download and play for cheap or even for free.

So what happens next?

Gambling at this level is likely compulsive behavior. I bet (oops) he'll kick back for a while, wait for the fuss to die down, and then, when (he hopes) nobody's looking...back to the high-roller room.
posted by alumshubby at 6:30 PM on May 6, 2003