Bill Bennett: All I can do is laugh!

[Ming]

The only pedastal I put him on is the "Best Ever Basketball Player"... Beyond that... I don't really care.

Unlike Bill Bennett, he's doesn't tell people how to live their lives.

And even the "Be like Mike" Nike campaign is about his sports skills, his dedication, his competitive spirit, and has nothing to do with telling people to be like him in anything besides sports

[Sava]

let's ask Kwame Brown how he feels about M-Jeff and his competitive attitude...

[MRT144]

what the hell is this m-jeff business?

[Jac de Molay]

Mr. Bennett Apologist: As I prefaced, Bennett's gambling isn't what bothers me. It's his moral protelesizing and hypocrisy.

I agree. The fact that his 'bread and butter' is telling other people how they are lacking in moral integrity makes him particularly odious IMO.

MJ can gamble all he wants, as long as its not on hoops.

[Sava]

Originally posted by MRT144
what the hell is this m-jeff business?

Don't you watch ESPN? Michael Jeffrey Jordan... I think Stuart Scott started it.

[MRT144]

That is the worst nickname EVER. EVER! it just doesnt make sense to a lay person and it doesnt roll off the tongue.

as for nicknames ill stick to jim rome. his are much better.

[Shi Huangdi]

Originally posted by Sava
Mr. Bennett Apologist: As I prefaced, Bennett's gambling isn't what bothers me. It's his moral protelesizing and hypocrisy. The only part of his gambling that I'll mock is his love of video poker.

I don't see how it is hypocritical to preach morality and gamble at the same time. If anything, I am disappointed that he chose to "repent". He shouldn't let the right-wing protestants have a monopoly on what is considered a conservative morality

[Sava]

I didn't realize gambling was a pillar of morality. Sorry.

[rah]

Originally posted by Sava
What is really funny is that Bennett was playing video poker... one of the few machines that the Casino's can flip a switch and YOU'LL NEVER WIN! At least he could have played craps or blackjack where skilled players have a better chance of winning.

Hmmm, I've heard this before. I wonder where.

[Sava]

Hmmm, I've heard this before. I wonder where.

QUIET!

I never professed to have any original thoughts anyways

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi


I don't see how it is hypocritical to preach morality and gamble at the same time. If anything, I am disappointed that he chose to "repent". He shouldn't let the right-wing protestants have a monopoly on what is considered a conservative morality

Consider where his lost millions are going, and what those people are involved with besides gambling--it's pretty much most things Bennett finds immoral. So he's funding the things he rails against.

He also has criticized gambling in his writing as being an addiction that destroys families. Gee, nothing hypocritical about that, nosirree...

[The Templar]

What I find insulting is that wingnuts like Jonah Goldberg deny Bennet's hypocricy by noting that Bennet never listed gambling as a vice.

Seems like an ad hoc choice to leave gambling off the list - unless of course gambling is your vice. Gambling is traditionally considered a vice, and Bennet being a supporter of traditional morals should justify his choice of leaving gambling off the list of vices.

I suppose Bennet could make a McIntyre-esque arguement (that's a real philosopher for all you conservative types who don't read anything with smaller print than the O'Reilly Factor). McIntyre would say that vices and virtues are a function of era and culture. That's why Aristotle and Aquinas are both virtue ethicists but vary widely as to their virtues. Nonetheless, this would require Bennet to show either (a) that his era and culture don't see gambling as a vice, or (b) a non-ad hoc, non-self serving justificatoin of why gambling is not a vice.

Despite all of this, Bennet is a total idiot. He thinks gambling is not a vice, but that sodomy is. In gambling, the house always wins - which means on average you lose. With sodomy, all participants win all the time!

[Sava]

(that's a real philosopher for all you conservative types who don't read anything with smaller print than the O'Reilly Factor).

great line

[The Templar]

I should also note that sodomy helps keep couples together, where gambling only creates problems.

So much for Mr. Bennet's much lauded defense of family values!

[gsmoove23]

Templar, what the HELL are you talking about?!