EEE
location: Landscape Challenged Illinois
listening to: 16 Horsepower, black music from the 70's & and still going broke from Paste Magazine
registered: 2002.08.26
posts: 3227
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By now I'm pretty sure most have heard about this controversy. Last night I saw an interview with Bennett and he was unapologetic and said his comments were "mischaracterized" and he would put his record up against anyone else. He also said that some of his words were taken out of context. Okay, here is the text of this particular back and forth...
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.
Now, my question is, how were his words mischaracterized? They are there in black and white. Yes, he is not calling for the abortion of all black babies and even says that it is a reprehensible thing to do, but to me, where he gets himself into trouble is where he suggests that black babies grow up to be criminals. And the book Freakonomics discusses how specific abortions have affected crime. Is this guy just too arrogant to understand his miss-step?
E
EEE
(view)
By now I'm pretty sure most have heard about this controversy. Last night I saw an interview with Bennett and he was unapologetic and said his comments were "mischaracterized" and he would put his record up against anyone else. He also said that some of his words were taken out of context. Okay, here is the text of this particular back and forth...
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.
Now, my question is, how were his words mischaracterized? They are there in black and white. Yes, he is not calling for the abortion of all black babies and even says that it is a reprehensible thing to do, but to me, where he gets himself into trouble is where he suggests that black babies grow up to be criminals. And the book Freakonomics discusses how specific abortions have affected crime. Is this guy just too arrogant to understand his miss-step?
posted 2005.09.30
posted on September 30th 2005
E
EEE
location: Landscape Challenged Illinois
listening to: 16 Horsepower, black music from the 70's & and still going broke from Paste Magazine
registered: 2002.08.26
posts: 3227
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Bill Bennett and abortion.... – EEE on September 30th, 2005-
Re: Bill Bennett and abortion.... – kravitz on September 30th, 2005-
Which brings us to an interesting question – PatBrown on September 30th, 2005-
Re: Which brings us to an interesting question – edlorah on September 30th, 2005-
Re: Which brings us to an interesting question – dale on September 30th, 2005-
Re: Which brings us to an interesting question – edlorah on September 30th, 2005-
Re: Now Ed......... – dale on October 1st, 2005-
Re: Now Ed......... – edlorah on October 1st, 2005-
Re: Now Ed......... – dale on October 1st, 2005-
Re: Now Ed......... – edlorah on October 1st, 2005-
Re: Now Ed......... – Andrea on October 1st, 2005
Re: Tsk tsk Ed......... – dale on October 2nd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk Ed......... – blockdog on October 2nd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk BD......... – dale on October 2nd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk BD......... – blockdog on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk BD......... – dale on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk BD......... – blockdog on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk BD......... – dale on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk BD......... – blockdog on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Bravo BD......... – dale on October 3rd, 2005-
It is beyond me – PatBrown on October 4th, 2005-
Re: It is beyond me – Andrea on October 4th, 2005-
You have a point – PatBrown on October 4th, 2005-
Moving – Green Mtn on October 4th, 2005
Re: Tsk tsk Ed......... – edlorah on October 2nd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk Ed......... – dale on October 2nd, 2005-
Re: Tsk tsk Ed......... – edlorah on October 3rd, 2005-
Have You Considered the Possibility Fellas – Green Mtn on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Have You Considered the Possibility Fellas – dale on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Have You Considered the Possibility Fellas – blockdog on October 3rd, 2005
Re: Have You Considered the Possibility Fellas – Green Mtn on October 3rd, 2005
Re: Maine is a pain – dale on October 3rd, 2005-
Re: Maine is a pain – edlorah on October 3rd, 2005
Re: Now Ed......... – blockdog on October 2nd, 2005
A Wealth of Poverty – Peter T. on October 1st, 2005
Different angles for ya, Dale...the camel speaks... – Reg on October 3rd, 2005
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