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Fri 2 May, 2003 06:56 pm
Oh, the hypocracy -----BumbleBeeBoogie
The Man of Virtues Has a Vice
Conservative activist Bill Bennett has wagered millions in Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos during the past decade
By Jonathan Alter and Joshua Green - © 2003 Newsweek, Inc.
May 2 ?- In his best-selling anthology, "The Book of Virtues," William J. Bennett writes: "We should know that too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing
[We] need to set definite boundaries on our appetites."
DOES BENNETT? The popular author, lecturer and Republican Party activist speaks out, often indignantly, about almost every moral issue except one?-gambling. It's not hard to see why. According to casino documents, Bennett is a "preferred customer" in at least four venues in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, betting millions of dollars over the last decade. His games of choice: video poker and slot machines, some at $500 a pull. With a revolving line of credit of at least $200,000 at each casino, Bennett, former drug czar and secretary of Education under Presidents Reagan and Bush, doesn't have to bring money when he shows up at a casino.
More than 40 pages of internal casino documents provided to The Washington Monthly and NEWSWEEK paint a picture of a gambler given the high-roller treatment, including limos and tens of thousands of dollars in complimentary hotel rooms and other amenities. In one two-month period, the documents show him wiring more than $1.4 million to cover losses at one casino. In one 18-month stretch, Bennett visited a number of casinos for two or three days at a time. And Bennett must have worried about news of his habit leaking out. His customer profile at one casino lists an address that corresponds to Empower.org, the Web site of Empower America, the group Bennett cochairs. But typed across the form are the words: NO CONTACT AT RES OR BIZ!!!
Some of Bennett's losses have been substantial. According to one casino source, on July 12 of last year, Bennett lost $340,000 at Caesars in Atlantic City, and on April 5 and 6 of 2003 he lost more than $500,000 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Some casino estimates put his total losses over the past decade at more than $8 million. "There's a term in the trade for his kind of gambler," says a casino source who has witnessed Bennett at the high-limit slots in the wee hours. "We call them losers."
Reached by NEWSWEEK, Bennett acknowledged he gambles but not that he has ended up behind. "Over 10 years, I'd say I've come out pretty close to even," Bennett says, though he wouldn't discuss any specific figures. "You can roll up and down a lot in one day, as we have on many occasions," Bennett explains. "You may cycle several hundred thousand dollars in an evening and net out only a few thousand."
But during the 18-month period, the documents show, there were only a few occasions when Bennett turned in chips?-worth about $30,000 or $40,000?-at the end of an evening. Most of the time, he drew down his line of credit, often substantially. A casino source, hearing of Bennett's claim to breaking even on slots over 10 years, just laughed.
The Washington Monthly's Story on Bennett
"I play fairly high stakes. I adhere to the law. I don't play the ?'milk money.' I don't put my family at risk, and I don't owe anyone anything," Bennett says. The documents do not contradict those points.
Bennett, who earns more than $50,000 per speaking engagement and made several hundred thousand dollars in publishing advances for the more recent of his 11 books, says "I've made a lot of money and I've won a lot of money. When I win, I usually give at least a chunk of it away [to charity]. I report everything to the IRS."
"You don't see what I walk away with," Bennett says. "They [the casinos] don't want you to see it."
Bennett says he plays slot machines and video poker for privacy. "I've been a machine person," he says. "When I go to the tables, people talk?-and they want to talk about politics. I don't want that. I do this for three hours to relax."
He has made no secret of his gambling, Bennett adds. He says he was in Las Vegas in April for dinner with the former governor of Nevada and gambled while he was there. "I've gambled all my life, and it's never been a moral issue with me. I liked church bingo when I was growing up. I've been a poker player." He says that after a recent speech in Rochester, he was asked whether he would run for president in 2008 and answered that he might enter the World Series of Poker instead.
Bennett has long been known to be part of a small-stakes poker game in Washington with Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and lawyer Robert Bork. But his high-stakes gaming comes as a surprise to many friends. "We knew he went out there [to Las Vegas] sometimes, but at that level? Wow!" says one longtime associate.
Bennett and his organization, Empower America, oppose the extension of casino gambling in the states. In a recent editorial, his Empower America cochair, Jack Kemp, inveighed against lawmakers who "pollute our society with a slot machine on every corner." The group recently published an "Index of Leading Cultural Indicators" that reports 5.5 million American adults as "problem" or "pathological" gamblers. Bennett says he has his gambling under control.
When reminded of studies that link heavy gambling to divorce, bankruptcy, domestic abuse and other family problems he has widely decried, Bennett compared the situation to alcohol. "I view it as drinking," Bennett says. "If you can't handle it, don't do it."
This news will be devastating for Bennett and his family. Even though he apparently has done nothing illegal, Bennett's gambling habit contradicts all the good he tried to achieve in his Book of Virtues.
I doubt if the talking heads on TV -- especially those on FOXnews -- will seek out Bennett's virtuous advice as frequently on a plethora of subjects, most of them issues which are fodder for the Republican right wing's spin zone.
There is a larger issue here and that is the notion of whether or not he is addicted to gambling, which for some people becomes a process addiction.
I would guess that millions of men and women across the country go to work every day, make superlative salaries, seemingly have no problems whatsoever except for a sad little secret known as alcoholism. I have known several people like this.
The notion that a person has to lose everything and become a street bum due to his/her alcoholism is a myth. A person who is in late middle-age and has gambled most of his/her life has more than a fondness for these games of chance. They are, in fact, addicted to gambling and need professional help.
Were I Bill Bennett, I would quit denying that I had a problem with gambling. I would seek help from an addictions counselor and from the 12-step group known as Gamblers Anonymous.
It seems that right now Bennett is living in the problem, not the solution.
Whew, glad to hear he is not perfect.
Joanne<
Nobody is.
Very few people, however, have written a best-seller entitled The Book of Virtues.
Mr. Bennett's gambling habit gives credence to the fact that no one can be virtuous all the time.
In GOP circles, Bennett has been elevated to Deity because of his book.
According to the
Washington Monthly:
Quote:In 1998, The Washington Times reported in a light-hearted front-page feature story that he plays low-stakes poker with a group of prominent conservatives, including Robert Bork, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
According to the
United Press International:
Quote:Bennett has long been known to be part of a small-stakes poker game in Washington with Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia and lawyer Robert Bork.
According to
Washington DC law, that is punishable by imprisonment of up to five years.
Book 'em, Danno.
Quote:Friends of Mr. Bennett were reluctant today to criticize him directly.
"It's his own money and his own business," Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group, said. "The downside of gambling losses is that the government gets a third of the money, which is unfortunate and probably a sin in and of itself," said Mr. Norquist, whose group advocates smaller government.
William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and another conservative ally of Mr. Bennett, agreed that this was a matter between Mr. Bennett, his wife and his accountant.
"It would be different if he had written anti-gambling screeds," Mr. Kristol said. "I'm sure he doesn't regard gambling as a virtue but as a rather minor and pardonable vice and a legal one and one that has not damaged him or anyone else."
Mr. Kristol said that Mr. Bennett was not being hypocritical. "If Bill Bennett went on TV encouraging young people to gamble the rent money at a Las Vegas casino or was shilling for gambling interests, that would be inconsistent" with his moral crusades, Mr. Kristol said.
New York Times
Could I be allowed the liberty of re-writing that, substituting a few key words:
"It's his own penis and his own business," Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative advocacy group, said. "The downside of getting the occasional blowjob is that Clinton gets a cheap thrill, which is unfortunate and probably a sin in and of itself," said Mr. Norquist, whose group advocates smaller government.
William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard and another conservative bitter enemy of Mr. Clinton, agreed that this was a matter between Mr. Clinton, his wife and his aggressive young paramour. "It would be different if he had written anti-sex screeds," Mr. Kristol said. "I'm sure he doesn't regard the occasional blowjob on the side as a virtue but as a rather minor and pardonable vice and a legal one and one that has not damaged him or anyone else."
Mr. Kristol said that Mr. Clinton was not being hypocritical. "If Bill Clinton went on TV encouraging young people to engage in oral sex at halftime during the Homecoming game or was shilling for extramarital interests, that would be inconsistent" with his domestic policy on the economy which has resulted in an unprecedented surplus, Mr. Kristol said.
There were times when he was the drug czar -- and had given up cigarette smoking as a result -- where I actually resorted to praying he would take up the habit again. He was so typical of cigarette smokers who were off the weed -- like a monster -- and I feared for the safety of the public with him in a position of high power.
In any case, guys like Bennett are always indignant about what other people do -- not about their own bad habits.
I think the appropriate word is: Hypocrisy.
Or just another classic illustration of "Do what I say, not what I do."
Bennett has left himself open for this. Like Newt Gingrich and others like him before. It's interesting to see and it's so often true that those who are most adamant about the morals of others bear watching themselves.
I agree Phoenix. It sounds like an addiction, although we don't know the extent to which he's driven, it's easy enough to make an informed assumption, based on his behavior about morality. He seems driven about morality, and as Frank points out, he's driven about the morality of others and not about himself. What I mean is he expresses no interest in understanding himself, but rather is driven to pronounce judgements about the behavior of others. Just his emphasis on behavior rather than understanding is an indication of the compulsive nature of his preoccupation with the morality of others. I think of addiction as compulsive and often obsessive behavior. It's not that he shouldn't have an opinion about that he wishes others would or would not do, but it's rather his compulsive focus and self righteousness on and about the morality of others that is the danger signal about Bennett for me. I would not be so worried about his gambling if he were less blind to it's implications about himself and how he fits in along with the rest of us imperfect folks. I wonder if he ever feels curious about why he is so driven, about what he's trying to deny through the use of this behavior.
People like Bill Bennett, along with George Bush, Ashcroft, Tom Hicks, Carl Rove, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, etc. make me nervous when they are in positions of power because they lack perspective about their own contribution and seem to be unwilling to consider their own behavior as potentially dangerous. They are much more likely to decide that they, being so special and full of insight about what others should be doing, are free to allow their means to justify what they do. But we haven't really learned anything new about Bennett. We all know he's compulsive about the morality of others and his gambling habit simply makes it a little easier to see.
Reply to Lola
Lola, I've always had the feeling that morality crusaders are, in reality, trying to bolster their defences against their own urges. It's like AA members repeating their stories to help them remain sober.
I think people like Bennett et al pontificate and pen morality tracts to reinforce their efforts to not indulge in behavior that they consider shameful, but cannot resist. I, for one, get bored and annoyed with their manipulation of the public to help them lead admirable private lives.
We've seen so many examples of this. Crusading clergy who get caught engaging in the same behavior they profess to abhor. Politicians who are exposed engaging in behavior opposite of their public advocacy.
We all know who are the most famous of these hypocrites. What is novel is that so many people are surprised and disappointed with these feet of clay human behaviorisms.
-----BumbleBeeBoogie
This kind of misbehavior is endemic to the self-righteous. Sinclair Lewis depicted the type in "Elmer Gantry". I thought it was almost too pat when I read it in high school. Now I'm older and wiser.
And may I chime in with my own thanks to Lola for summarizing this type so well!
There have been so many excellent posts and observations from everyone participating in this thread -- I cannot bring myself to pick just one comment out and extend it.
But I can tell you all this: I would sooner take advice on morality and ethics from the people posting in this thread than from Bill Bennett any day!
BumbleBee<
Like the alcoholic, society in general often enables "morality crusaders" to continue their wicked ways. Instead of being merely disappointed with these people, we should be outraged!
It is my belief that society itself becomes "addicted" to stories like the Bennett one. We bounce from one disappointing story to another, yet where is the outrage? Where are the ethics of our society that say "what you are doing is wrong and I am outraged at your behavior?"
They are chewed in the journalistic grist-mill that keeps our 24/7 non-stop news flowing. Bill Bennett, for example, should not be paid another
dime for his after-dinner speeches. This is not to stifle his First Amendment rights, but it would serve as a reminder to society in general -- and young people in particular -- that if you gamble away $8 million, then society will turn off your addiction by depriving you of an income you do not earn or appreciate.
D'artagnan<
Sinclair Lewis' brilliant story of Elmer Gantry is more overlooked than it should be. Its truths are still true today -- so many decades after the novel was published.
An eloquent movie of Elmer Gantry was made with Burt Lancaster as Elmer. If you haven't seen the movie, it is highly recommended. Lancaster's performance in revealing the hypocrisy of "moral crusaders" is right on target.
Willhenry3
Will, I like the idea of suggesting that Bennett not make money off of his morality speaking engagements.
I think greedy manipulative Bennett will find a way to still make money. He probably will start writing books about all kinds of addictions and how to defeat them. He will scribble the story of how he overcame his own addictions as a model for others to follow. He will earn millions more.
Bennett will probably find a way to continue to gamble. Maybe on line. It can be hidden easier than playing the slots in a casino. In the end, he is still a money and moral loser.
BumbleBeeBoogie
Quote:"It is true that I have gambled large sums of money," Bennett said in a statement. "I have also complied with all laws on reporting wins and losses.
"Nevertheless I have done too much gambling, and this is not an example
I wish to set. Therefore my gambling days are over."
But you didn't mind setting that example last week, so what changed, Bill?
I'll tell you what changed: YOU GOT CAUGHT!
For years, you whined,
especially during the impeachment, that when people apologize after they get caught, you have to ask why they didn't apologize before they were caught. That means they'd probably still be doing it if they could. That's what you said then, Poker Willy.
Those are the rules you hypocrites laid out.
We'll forgive you for your vices, because you're a Republican.
We forgave Dan Burton for fathering a child out of wedlock.
We forgave Henry Hyde for breaking up that family by whoring with the wife.
We forgave Bob Barr (R--
"Murdered-his-daughter") because he was such a strong pro-life advocate.
We forgave Newt, after screwing two wives over, one on her deathbed, because he hates blacks and poor people and everyone who dares disagree with him.
We forgave Smirk for abortion, coke, deserting during wartime, lying about his Iraq war that has killed thousands, and stealing the election.
We forgave Cheney and Rummy for arming Saddam and Osama.
We forgave them all.
But Bill Clinton lied about sex, and THAT cannot be forgiven.
Stumble It!
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