Bill Bennett Reveals Republican Mindstate

[Born Ruler I]

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Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."


Bennett's remark was apparently inspired by the claim that legalized abortion has reduced crime rates, which was posited in the book Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005) by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. But Levitt and Dubner argued that aborted fetuses would have been more likely to grow up poor and in single-parent or teenage-parent households and therefore more likely to commit crimes; they did not put forth Bennett's race-based argument.

From the September 28 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America:

CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn't -- never touches this at all.

BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?

CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.

BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. I think as -- abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.

CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.

BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well --

CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.

BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But 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. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

Bill Bennett's Morning in America airs on approximately 115 radio stations with an estimated weekly audience of 1.25 million listeners.

— A.S.

[Bone Collecta]

he doesnt reveal the republican mindstate he reveals HIS mindstate. get it straight

[Os3y3ris]

No, the rest of those motherfuckers are just as crazy. Remember Barbara Bush's comment after Katrina?

[jimidigital808]

peace and respect, Born Ruler

I'm so sick and tired of narrow minded-politicians (professional liars), especially those in Washington, using statistics to further their own blatantly prejudiced, racist and hypocritically-pagan agendas. Statistics are nothing more than mere pieces of information, based on some manner of quantitative data, and like any and all information, one may use it to reinforce an opinion, whether righteous or wrong.

Most of these politicians making such wide-sweeping statements about American Africans know nothing of the Black Experience, much less Black people, but still claim to represent the constituents they blatantly condemn and exploit for profit and power.

These are the same politicians (this is not limited to a particular party) arguing for pro-life policies, but yet adamantly stand behind the death penalty and reckless abuse of national resources, both human and fiscal, such as waging wars on weaker nations in all corners of the world under the guise of "justice."

Sending someone's son, daughter, mother or father to another nation oppress, kill or be killed to protect government and corporate interests (oil and poppy fields, for instance) is hardly just or even noble. Am I the only one that sees the hypocrisy in this?

To anyone reading this: The Last Days and Times are verily here. Please, for the sake of your precious souls, praise The Creator and enjoin only that which is good and forbid the bad. For any other way is uncivilized.

One God, One Love, One Blood. Peace.

[tajeco]

There are two threads about this waste of discussion over in General Chat

[Bone Collecta]

No, the rest of those motherfuckers are just as crazy. Remember Barbara Bush's comment after Katrina?

thats 2 ppl i bet i can find 2 racist democrats as well. smh 2 ppl dont represent all the republicans

[CydonianArtifact]

k genius

thats 2 ppl i bet i can find 2 racist democrats as well. smh 2 ppl dont represent all the republicans

Dude, David Duke ( admitted KKK member ) ran for president as a REPUBLICAN!

[Os3y3ris]

Then there's Tom Delay's quote about how fun being in the superdome must be.

[Bone Collecta]

lol ok 3 how bout woodrow wilson a former US DEMOCRATIC pres who helped fund the KKK while in office. he possibly was a member as well

[Os3y3ris]

EVERYONE was racist in the 20s.

[Unforgiven]

to tell you the truth, i think he didn't mean it as everyone is putting it out there....listen to the way he says it but still, it was wrong

[Bone Collecta]

lol my g-ma worked for 3 administrations as assitant secretary of agriculture and she said that in her time in office she was neutral and the republicans treated her the best. she said she ran into the most problems when democrats were in office. and no this isnt the 20s im talking about this is starting with the reagan administration.

[Unforgiven]

sounds like grandma was involved in the watergate scandal

[Os3y3ris]

lol my g-ma worked for 3 administrations as assitant secretary of agriculture and she said that in her time in office she was neutral and the republicans treated her the best. she said she ran into the most problems when democrats were in office. and no this isnt the 20s im talking about this is starting with the reagan administration.

Doesn't this have more to do with who needed the assisstant secretary of agriculture more than race? Money and politics will trump race every time.

[TeknicelStylez]

Theres already two of these threads goin in general chat, heres some of my opinions.

He knew exactly what he was doing when he said that.

YO MY PEOPLE THIS IS BIGGER THAN BLACK AND WHITE, all my niggaz that lived a real fuckin hood life, I know you been down and out side by side with white kids, they suffer just as much as we do. This is about poor and rich period. As long as we're hating on middle class white people and other white people we remain ignorant and don't notice the real enemy.

Educate your selves.

We're dealing with sheisty people here, everything they do is planned, its all precisely done with specific goals in mind.

Everybody always, saying, "we need to this we need to do that". Well get the fuck up and start doing it. Everyones shocked and outraged by racism. WTF look at the circumstance you live in. Did you honestly believe the gonverment was a group of morally just people that believe in the welfare of minorities? So what do you expect when one of them happens to slip up and make an idiotic remark. Start taking action, start educating your community, make movements in your community, do something. You can sit there and talk about it all day that ain't gonna do shit.

The thing is they KNOW EXACTLY wtf we're dealing with, and EXACTLY what goes on in our neighborhoods, because they specifically designed them to be that way. We're still slaves thats all, we've just been given this Freedom mirage. This dream that if we follow their system everything will be okay, well my moms been doing shit thier way for fuckin 46 years and now these fucks are taking her car away, we're about to get evicted and she works all fuckin day long and comes home exhausted everyday, just to live, JUST TO LIVE. JUST TO PAY BILLS, theres no pleasure for her, theres nothing she enjoys doing, it's just work and sleep. The sad part is if your not out there selling drugs, you live like my mom, either way your still a slave...

Thats why we need to fuckin do something instead of bitching about it.