Bill Bennett: Shut up already

AP

Former Education Secretary William Bennett on Saturday blamed the news media for distorting his remarks about aborting black babies, saying he had intended to make "a bad argument in order to put it down."

Bennett, making his first public speech since the comment aired on his radio show last month, said the meaning of his remark linking the crime rate with black abortions was reversed in many news reports.

"I was putting forward a bad argument in order to put it down," Bennett said, drawing sustained applause from nearly 4,500 people attending the Bakersfield Business Conference. "They reported and emphasized only the abhorrent argument, not my shooting it down."....

Bennett 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."

And now you're putting foward a really bad excuse. Just say I'm sorry and move on. The media is twisting your words? Dude, you made a comment about killing all the black babies in America and how, although it would be a naughty thing to do, it sure would help the crime rate. What part of that sentence don't you understand to be offensive? You weren't shooting down the validity of your statement, you were shooting down the morality of doing it - but you still believe aborting all the black babies would help decrease crime. So, what's your point?