A neverending river of dumb

William Bennett, former Republican education secretary and anti-drug crusader:

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 impossibly ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down.

And if you wanted to reduce the number of stupid, racist comments being made in 2005, you could — if that were your sole purpose — you could go back in time and give William Bennett’s dad a goddamn condom.

Every once in a while, I actually come within, oh, a light year or so of feeling sorry for George W. This latest outpurst comes right as he’s just barely getting back on his feet from his mom’s little contribution to America’s domestic output of blithe elite cluelessness:

Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.

In my most cynical moments, I think this is all part of Karl Rove’s devious, brimstone-laced master plan: keep Americans talking in terms as divisive as possible, and he can keep eking out Republican majorities. Then I remember one of the basic rules of politics: never assume malice when foolishness is just as good an explanation.

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2 Comments

James on 5 Oct 2005 at 13:23

I’m sure democrats have their stupid moments, but for the life of me, I can’t remember too many that top these. I quoted the same ‘Bar’ piece on my blog.

There was just recently a professor at the University College of the Fraser Valley who was lamenting the fact "Bowling for Columbine" has become ‘de rigeur’ in most sociology related subjects. He also feels that there is a real lack of balance on college campuses these days.

I’d say that the lack of right-wing theory in post-secondary curriculum has more to do with the fact that we’re so inundated with it everywhere we look, we don’t really need more of it. That, and the fact that I’d think it a liberal tendency to want to educate and share.

As Education Secretary, William Bennett did a fine job with the US system. No Child Left Behind, anyone?

Scott Piatkowski on 6 Oct 2005 at 16:48

Tom Tomorrow has another theory: Maybe they’ve all infiltrated the Republican Party in order to discredit it for a generation (but can’t seem to succeed with most Americans, no matter how hard they try).

http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=19635

James on 5 Oct 2005 at 13:23
I’m sure democrats have their stupid moments, but for the life of me, I can’t remember too many that top these. I quoted the same ‘Bar’ piece on my blog.
There was just recently a professor at the University College of the Fraser Valley who was lamenting the fact "Bowling for Columbine" has become ‘de rigeur’ in most sociology related subjects. He also feels that there is a real lack of balance on college campuses these days.
I’d say that the lack of right-wing theory in post-secondary curriculum has more to do with the fact that we’re so inundated with it everywhere we look, we don’t really need more of it. That, and the fact that I’d think it a liberal tendency to want to educate and share.
As Education Secretary, William Bennett did a fine job with the US system. No Child Left Behind, anyone?
Scott Piatkowski on 6 Oct 2005 at 16:48
Tom Tomorrow has another theory: Maybe they’ve all infiltrated the Republican Party in order to discredit it for a generation (but can’t seem to succeed with most Americans, no matter how hard they try).
http://www.workingforchange.com/comic.cfm?itemid=19635