Publicity stunt

I have to disagree with Frank Lautenberg.

Senator Lautenberg, D-NJ, commented Friday on statements former Education Secretary William Bennett made on his radio program. Bennett apparently said, "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."

Lautenberg called the comments "reprehensible and racist." On that, I agree with him. But Lautenberg said the president's statement that Bennett's comments were "not appropriate" wasn't forceful enough.

I think Lautenberg should keep in mind who we're talking about here. After all, when W. finally made his first trip to the Gulf Coast after Katrina hit, all he could think to say while surrounded by destruction and suffering was how much he's looking forward to sitting on Trent Lott's new porch. For those who have forgotten, Lott was making apologies for the racist policies of segregationists as recently as 2002.

Considering that, I think we should be happy that W. can remember to say that Bennett's comments were the opposite of appropriate.

Speaking of not forceful enough, Lautenberg plans to introduce a resolution in the Senate condemning Bennett's comments.

Oooh.

Besides being a complete waste of time (what does it accomplish other than putting Lautenberg firmly on the record as anti-racism? Was there some question about his position on the issue? Why not introduce a resolution condemning crime as "bad" while you're at it, Frank?), it plays right into Bennett's hands.

Who even knew Bennett had a radio program? All Lautenberg is doing is drawing attention to the program. Judging by what Bennett said, that's all he was after. You know what they say: even bad pub is pub. Most likely, Bennett is just trying to attract listeners, who he thinks now will tune in "to see what he will say next." It's a common ploy among radio idiots, as common as laughing like crazy at every little thing to make listeners think a show is funnier than it is.

Unfortunately for Bennett, there's a difference between being interesting and being an asshole.

I'm not familiar with his show, but it's syndicated by Salem Radio Network, a company that syndicates programming to more than 1,600 radio stations in the United States. The corporation also owns Salem Web Network, which provides Christian content on the Internet, and Salem Publishing, a Christian magazine publisher.

The show has been on the air less than a year and a half. If Bennett is resorting to cheap PR stunts, it's probably in trouble. So Lautenberg and everybody else should just ignore Bennett and eventually he will go away.