William Bennett Speaks "Hypothetically" About Crime

[verte76]

I saw Bennett on the news last night at the hotel in the town I'd gone to for a Renaissance festival. I felt sick at his remarks. They are terrible, even Bush said he didn't like them.

 

[diamond]

I can't believe you're even making light of a real disease.

a curable disease, if treated and managed correctly, if not some addicts harm others with their addictions.

One may want to examine the life of Ray Charles in overcoming addictions for a good example in overcoming and handling addictions, and he wasn't even an elected official, just a decent human being.

db9

 

[BVS]

a curable disease

Once again you are wrong. There is no cure, just means of managing it.

Look I admire Bush for being able to quit, but he's still an addict and always will be an addict. And it's an incredibly dangerous situation to have an addict in the white house, it's not just the fear of him drinking again, it's how addicts cope and act even when they aren't drinking. They subsitute. But we're getting way off topic so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[scottyT]

this last post was the most pathetic thing i've read in a while.


i'm sorry you have no faith in people to recover.

 

[BVS]

this last post was the most pathetic thing i've read in a while.


i'm sorry you have no faith in people to recover.

Tell me are you an expert on addiction? The first thing they teach you in AA is that there is no such thing as an ex-addict, only a recovering addict.

I have absolute faith in people. I have a very close friend who this is what she does as a living, she has her Masters in dependency counseling. Most if not all experts would agree that having an addict no matter how long they've been clean that high up in office is dangerous.

I see that you are a therapist. What kind may I ask?

 

[diamond]

nevermind.

db9

 

[BVS]

but bush proved himself, while clinton failed along w other leaders aforementioned and you seem to want to remain oblivious to that, thinking ppl who have changed like bush are still susetible to their urges, while gw seems to have demonstrated wonderful restraint, while ignoring the slime ball clinton was.

are we clear about that yet ?

thanks,

db9

You are muddling two entire different issues. One which is infedelity, which I don't approve of, but should have remained a private issue. And the other a true disease that affects the way one could run a country.

Are we clear on that, Diamond? Or are you still going to find some way to ignore the facts?

Yes I know Clinton's faults, just like I know JFK's and Bush's. I don't wear the partisan blinders that you do.

 

[verte76]

If you don't mind me jumping into this, I think the whole issue of addicts in politics is really interesting. I am not sure I'd exclude addicts from the presidency. Yes, the presidency is a stressful job, to say the least. But I think it's possible for an addict who is very intelligent and understands his or her situation well enough to perform well in that office. It's not every day I agree with diamond in FYM. He voted for Bush, I voted for Kerry. But I have to agree that an addict, who has been through appropriate treatment and preparation programs, could conceivably get my support for the presidency.

 

[diamond]

kaching.

and my point on clinton is that he was/is a recovering sex addict/womanizer, it was far more than infidelity.

it seems that his heart attack and public scrutiny has made him keep his addictions under control, to say the very least, or hopefully is really in recovery.

..and i speak w/happiness for clinton because our seperate lives have had similar paths. Im lucky though that my life has been much less public than his.


db9

 

[verte76]

Of course Clinton has problems. Everyone does. I voted for Clinton twice, and I'd do it again.

 

[anitram]

Whether or not Bush drank at one point is kind of irrelevant to me - he's certainly shown himself to be incompetent enough while sober.

 

[Golightly Grrl]

Whether or not Bush drank at one point is kind of irrelevant to me - he's certainly shown himself to be incompetent enough while sober.

And we could also reduce crime by aborting all of the white babies. Afterall, it was a white guy who mugged and beat me earlier this year.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Whether or not Bush drank at one point is kind of irrelevant to me - he's certainly shown himself to be incompetent enough while sober.

LOL .

Angela

 

[verte76]

Whether or not Bush drank at one point is kind of irrelevant to me - he's certainly shown himself to be incompetent enough while sober.

I don't give a damn that Bush drank. I don't like his policies or ideas or appointees or much else about him as President.

 

[Irvine511]

going back to the original topic ... i think Bennett shoots himself in his fat foot by first saying that he doesn't believe our abortion-crime hypothesis but then revealing that he does believe it with his comments about black babies. by reflexively relating race to an argument he says he rejects, then doesn't, there is the clear presence of racism in his remarks.

how would we feel if Bennett had said that if we wanted to put a dent into AIDS, we killed all homosexuals (or Africans). or that if we wanted to stop illegal immigration, we should invade and occupy mexico?

 

[nbcrusader]

Bennett never said he wanted any of this.

All of this is an exercise in how statistics can be misleading.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

...it affects blacks more than others, and also that it can be used for racial purposes.

Racial purposes?? Huh?

Anyway. Forgive me if I am being disingenious, but could someone please explain to me how you're defining 'racist' here? Personally, I've always thought that if someone holds a prejudiced view, then they are prejudiced.

That said, I don't know much about Bennett, so would be grateful if someone could fill me in .

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Newt Gingrich divorced his first wife while she was dying of cancer and then ran off with his former math teacher is because he ran on a platform in 1994 about "morals" and "decency" and other buzzwords that makes certain segments of the population swell in the chest and start waving their flags. it wasn't a criminal thing to do, it was just a rather shitty thing to do, but it has nothing to do with his abilities to govern and lead (which weren't terribly good to begin with). it matters, then, because it makes him a hipocrite.

Whoa! I thought our politicians were badly behaved. The more I see here, the more I start to wonder if the UK isn't actually as backward as I thought.

 

[LyricalDrug]

Republican leaders are phenomenally insensitive, to put it mildly.

With all the problems in the world, Bill Bennett is an absolute idiot for using his microphone to broadcast pointless statements like this.

 

[the iron horse]

Quote:
Originally posted by the iron horse

I believe a lot of people are ready to get along and move on.



I really wish this were true..

and I agree with BVS, I fear for this country..


sue4u2,

I guess we just keep wishing and praying...
and doing what we can in our daily lives.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I fear for this country..

the only thing that makes me fear for this country is the press.

not the "liberal" press or the "conservafoxitive" press.

who cares. they're humans, they have opinions. you're human, too. watch both and form your own opinion.

what worries me about the press is more along the tabloid lines.

EVERYONE has a skeleton in their closet. something that they really don't want other people to know. but to keep thing secret in the information age of today is damn near impossiable, and it gets harder and harder each and every year.

take bernard kerik for example. in the line of work he was in, he had some pretty rough stuff hidden away in his closet, besides the potential inside trader accusations with taser and all that jazz. so he withdrew his name from consideration for the head of homeland security, despite the fact that in all reality he was a tremendous candidate, and i have to believe that things would have been handled differently in new orleans with a man like kerik in charge.

more and more the best potential leaders will not want to run for higher office for fear of their past comming back to haunt them. pricks like bennett and chuckie boy schumer rip apart at every thread to try and find something to discredit you. so instead they stay in the private sector and make millions, while we get stuck chosing between a douche and a turd sandwich.

sometimes you can learn so much from south park