Reid demands Bennett apology for "racist" remark

Sen. Harry Reid Demands Former Education Secretary William Bennett Apologize for Radio Comment


WASHINGTON Sep 29, 2005 — Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and other Democrats on Thursday demanded that former Education Secretary William Bennett apologize for remarks on his radio program linking the crime rate and the abortion of black babies.

Bennett responded that the comments, made Wednesday on his "Morning in America" show, had been mischaracterized and that his point was that the idea of supporting abortion to reduce crime was "morally reprehensible."

The author of "The Book of Virtues," answering a caller's question, took issue with the hypothesis put forth in a recent book that one reason crime is down is that abortion is up.

"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," Bennett said.

He went on to call that "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."

On his show Thursday, the anti-abortion Bennett said he was "pointing out that abortion should not be opposed for economic reasons any more than racism ... should be supported or opposed for economic reasons. Immoral policies are wrong because they are wrong, not because of an economic calculation."

Reid, D-Nev., said he was "appalled by Mr. Bennett's remarks" and called on him "to issue an immediate apology not only to African Americans but to the nation."

Rep. Raum Emanuel, D-Ill., said in a statement, "At the very time our country yearns for national unity in the wake of hurricane Katrina, these comments reflect a spirit of hate and division."



http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1171232

Bennett was way off the mark.

I've yet to see a crime committed by a black baby.

Yikes.

Bill Bennett picked a poor way to try to make a point.

SG

I think we should abort all pregnancies for the next 25 years or so at least - maybe then we'd stand a chance of getting our population under control.

A black baby stole my dingo.

Your Jewish brothers would be hated like they were during the Reich.

Average 150 IQ? Um, how? Just how? Seeing as all IQ is is a percentile.

A black baby stole my dingo.
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I thought I heard a cry in the dark.

What's more, if you listen to or read the entire caller-Bennett thread, it began as one dealing with social security. The caller's point was that if we'd not had legitimized abortions these past 30+ years, we would have many more people paying into the social security system and that would help the solvency issues.

Then things moved on to the book "Freakonomics", by Steven Levitt. One of his chapters states that the drop in violent crime rates can be traced to a drop in violent criminals and the author traces that to the Roe v. Wade decision that has resulted in the abortion of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship and otherwise more inclined to a life of crime - so believes Steven Levitt.

And you can read 'the rest of the story'.

I wonder, at the end of the day, if Harry Reid will instead ask Steven Levitt to apologize to all Americans for introducing the premise to begin with??

Actually, the social security problem can be traced to borrowing from the social security fund and forgetting to pay it back. Bush has essentially bankrupted it.

You know, if we just killed everyone, the crime rate would really go down.

What a bright bulb that bennett is

I'm waiting to introduce that initiative once people are used to the abortion one

I'm waiting to introduce that initiative once people are used to the abortion one
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I'm printing up my "Dr Rock for dictator" buttons even as we speak.

If we hadn't been allowed to abort unwanted pregnancies, especially in lower income households, we'd have more people ON welfare, not paying into it, duh! These people are morons. From an economic standpoint, unwanted preganacies once born become unwanted PEOPLE who will be uncared for, neglected, and highly likely to grow up to be criminals. Duh again. What the religious right fails to acknowledge is that just birthing huge numbers of people into the world creates all kinds of problems that are easily enough avoided when women are educated about birth control and encouraged to use it.
Lack of education leads to breeding huge numbers of stupid people and a tax on the system, then those very same stupid people think they have a right to bitch about the system being taxed. What horseshit.

I'm all for a twenty year ban on birth.

It's a shame that stupid people are too stupid to prevent pregnancy...

I find it funny/ironic/absurd that the same entities that the left argues don't have a claim to life all of sudden however constitute being part of a "race" when politically expedient. Hilarious.