Washington Post Op-Ed, Definately "Opinion"

Bill Bennett is quoted by many articles and pundit’s recently as saying, “You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” This comment appears to be vial and immoral when read. However, it is the opinion of MoreThanCorn Bill Bennett has had his name tarnished by a few who have “selectively quoted” him. This one sentence by Former Education Secretary Bennett was preceded and followed by other dialogue between him and a caller. It may be important to read what was said, the entire dialogue, before making a judgement on Bill Bennett.

William Raspberry, Op-Ed Columnist for the Washington Post, wrote an article published today; A Better Cure Than Abortion Mr. Raspberry has earned the respect of MoreThanCorn with his past writing. As of the above article, Mr. Raspberry’s respect has taken a misstep and fell into libel with the article being published. He has not done his research on Bill Bennett’s statement. Without Mr. Bennett being readily available to retort, this could loosely be considered slanderous.

Will Raspberry should look no further then fellow Washington Post Op-Ed Columnist, Richard Cohen and the article he wrote on Oct 4, 05, This Is the Free-Speech Party? An important point Mr Cohen makes in paragraph 5 & 6;

[Bill Bennett] “Responding to a caller who argued that if abortion were outlawed the Social Security trust fund would benefit -- more people, more contributions, was the apparent (idiotic) reasoning -- Bennett said, sure, he understood what the fellow was saying. It was similar to the theory that the low crime rate of recent years was the consequence of high abortion rates: the fewer African American males born, the fewer crimes committed. (Young black males commit a disproportionate share of crime.) This theory has been around for some time. Bennett was not referring to anything new.

But he did add something very important: If implemented, the idea would be "an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do."

MoreThanCorn summation; If those on the William Raspberry and Nancy Pelosi bandwagon would slow their rhetorical comments long enough to listen to the entire recording, they would both see the benefits of such constructive (and philosophical) arguments. Raspberry, Pelosi and others could focus their energies on debate on how to fix the true crime of Fatherless Black Children.

A footnote to William Raspberry and the Washington Post; your article is well written and enjoyable to read. Your ability to write and provoke thought is now tradition. Those who write well, provoke thought and have the medium for publishing their views also have a moral obligation to be objective and fair.