BOOSTED_ITR

iTrader: (2)

i got this off some other forum

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congressional Democrats blasted former Education Secretary William Bennett on Thursday for saying that aborting "every black baby in this country" would reduce the crime rate, and demanded their Republican counterparts do the same.
"This is precisely the kind of insensitive, hurtful and ignorant rhetoric that Americans have grown tired of," said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters on Friday that President Bush "believes the comments were not appropriate."

Bennett, who held prominent posts in the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, told a caller to his syndicated radio talk show Wednesday: "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," he said.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, had called on President Bush to condemn the comments by Bennett, who was anti-drug chief in Bush's father's administration.

"What could possibly have possessed Secretary Bennett to say those words, especially at this time?" Pelosi asked. "What could he possibly have been thinking? This is what is so alarming about his words."

Bennett stood by his comments Thursday night.

"I was putting forward a hypothetical proposition. Put that forward. Examined it. And then said about it that it's morally reprehensible. To recommend abortion of an entire group of people in order to lower your crime rate is morally reprehensible. But this is what happens when you argue that the ends can justify the means," he told CNN.

"I'm not racist, and I'll put my record up against theirs," referring to Pelosi and other critics. "I've been a champion of the real civil rights issue of our times -- equal educational opportunities for kids."

"We've got to have candor and talk about these things while we reject wild hypotheses," Bennett said.

"I don't think people have the right to be angry, if they look at the whole thing. But if they get a selective part of my comment, I can see why they would be angry. If somebody thought I was advocating that, they ought to be angry. I would be angry."

"But that's not what I advocate."

Asked if he owed people an apology, Bennett replied, "I don't think I do. I think people who misrepresented my view owe me an apology."

Bennett served as Reagan's chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1981-1985 and secretary of education from 1985-1988. From 1989-1990, he served as "drug czar" in the administration of the elder Bush.

Rush called on "my friends, the responsible Republicans" to rebuke the former Cabinet official by backing a House resolution condemning his remarks as "outrageous racism of the most bigoted and ignorant kind."

"Where is the indignation from the GOP, as one of their prominent members talk about aborting an entire race of Americans as a way of ridding this country of crime?" asked Rush, a former Black Panther. "How ridiculous! How asinine! How insane can one be?"

He called instead for "aborting" Republican policies "which have hurt the disadvantaged, the poor, average Americans for the benefit of large corporations."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he was "appalled" by Bennett's remarks.

"The Republican Party has recently taken great pains to reach out to the African-American community, and I hope that they will be swift in condemning Mr. Bennett's comments as nothing short of callous and ignorant," said Reid, D-Nevada.

And Bruce Gordon, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, demanded an apology from Bennett and the Salem Radio Network, which airs his radio program.

"In 2005, there is no place for the kind of racist statement made by Bennett," Gordon said in a written statement. "While the entire nation is trying to help survivors, black and white, to recover from the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it is unconscionable for Bennett to make such ignorant and insensitive comments."

A man who answered the phone at the network said no one would be available to comment until Friday.

Bennett's 1993 repackaging of traditional morality tales, "The Book of Virtues," became a bestseller, and Bennett became a popular lecturer on moral issues. But in 2003, stung by news reports that he had lost millions of dollars in Las Vegas and Atlantic City over the last decade, he publicly renounced gambling and vowed to stay away from the slots from then on.

He is a Fox News contributor and chairman of "Americans for Victory over Terrorism," which his Web site calls "a project dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public opinion as the war on terrorism moves forward."

Nastyzed

Stop ing ignorance. He was quoteing something and the media twisted it all around.

I love how they use info quotes from a former "black panther" why not get some quotes from cletus in the KKK because it really isint any different.

dets14

tell me about it, a white person makes some remark about a black person and its got racial prejudice all over it. A black guy says something racist about a white person and it has no immoral value, its just "funny". It works both ways. Seriously, when do you ever hear about racism towards white people? And don't give me that bullshit it doesnt happen as much as racism towards blacks, because that isnt the question here. Oh and Im not a racist, for those of you who want to twist this around.

pugslee76

you have your opinion. im ara all the way, and i think the same way the kkk is just like the bpp. they hate either whites or blacks its all bullshit now.

Zapa

and to think that if the african tribe leaders wouldn't have sold members of their tribes to the pillgrims , hundreds of years ago , none of us would have to go through this bullshit .


as for never hearing racist stuff against whites ... what ... you havn't heard of this new cool music , that's not music at all , called hip hop ? everybody's gettin' down wid it , and u ain't ? ? ? ? you ain't keepin' it reel yet ... aiyght ... u crazy or somtn (sucks teeth loudly)

dets14

^^^ Ya I think you just misunderstood what I wrote, that or I didnt make it clear enough. I was saying for those people that think white people aren't discriminated by against blacks can go themselves. It happens all the time, but no one cares. Maybe us white folks should fuss about it and get a white history month too, or better yet $1 billion dollars from the US government for something that happened hundreds of years ago, to people great great great great relatives. sakes, for all i know 400 years ago my relatives could have been slaves. Im not changing that fact that it was definately wrong, and sad, that blacks were slaves, but stop relying on that fact so people feel sorry for you. It is everywhere, hurricane katrina, Kayne ****** West, and now this. Gimme a break. That is totally correct about hip hop.

Nastyzed

You know what they bitch and complain about slavery left right and center. I had some niglet tell me to shut up because we put blacks through slavery so i told him listen buddy yeah we put you through slavery and we handled your money so you shut the up. Blacks were the biggest slave traitors they were selling there own by the thousands as well as robbing each other on the ships. Racism to whites is alote worse then reverse we take more heat and B.S then anyone. Its about time i started crying racism and trying to use the excuse that in world war 1 east prussia was taken over and now i want money from germany These ethnic minorities need to put the race card away and just take responsibilty for there own actions.

dets14

Jesus Christ tell me about it! (drunk on my ***!) Anytime something happens that involves a majority of black people, immediately it has something to do with race. If I could slap the out of Kanye West I'd do it in a second, way to set your race back another thousand years with that dumb ing remark. "UM YA, BUSH DOESN'T LIKE BLACK PEOPLE" WTF!!! IS THAT!? Mike Myers was like omg, I cant believe you just said that you dumb ing kunt. Denzel Washington and Helle Berry won the Oscar award, omg FIRST BLACK PEOPLE TO DO SO!! For sakes give it a rest OPRAH FAT *** WINFREY. Talk about segregating your own race, they even have their own TV channel, their own Football league, their own Colleges in the states?! What more do you want?? You are doing it to yourselves, so when it comes back to you, take responsibility for what you have done!! They said that black people were "looting" in New Orleans, and whites were simply "taking from a store", and immediately cried racism. LMFAO, they had both this descriptions interwined, I saw pics of whites with LOOTING right under them, so how the is that racism. Go cry me a ing river you whiny bitches. Cry about something meaningful for a change. Kanye West can suck a fat dick, he sucks anyways.