The following article by Bill Bennett appeared in James Dobson's January 1999 issue of Focus in the Family. I would like to deconstruct Bennett's arguments. Bennett's original article appears in italics while my comments appear in normal type face.

      George Orwell once said that sometimes the first duty of a responsible man is a restatement of the obvious. So let us restate an idea that should be obvious: Good character in our leaders matters a lot. Things like honesty, self-discipline and trustworthiness are important. They are especially important in the President of the United States, still today the most powerful and influential man in the world. Bill, you and I agree on much of the above. Where was your moral outrage at Iran-Contra and the half-billion dollar Savings and Loan Fiasco? Where was your moral outrage at the antics of a President who was suffering the initial stages of a very debilitating mental disorder, Alzheimer's disease? Do you truly believe that an individual suffering from Alzheimer's disease is capable of leading this country? Yet, you served under him, doing everything in your power to destroy the Department of Education that you were sworn to serve. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      Since January 1998, when President Bill Clinton's tawdry affair with Monica Lewinsky was first revealed (and then adamantly and repeatedly denied), I maintained that one of the worst, most damaging things about the whole affair was the messages that were being disseminated. Oh, Bill, we agree on so much. It's so sad that the news media couldn't butt out of a man's private consensual sexual affair instead of spreading the stories on the front page of the newspaper. To many European and other sophisticates around the world, we look like a bunch of country bumpkins. Those lessons, radiating our from the White House into newspapers, magazines, across the television and radio waves and then into our homes, were lessons in corruption. Corruption? I call it, lessons to the naive in how to have oral sex. Perhaps Clinton has done more for this country than we know, perhaps the birth rate among teens will drop because now they know how to obtain sexual gratification without running the risk of pregnancy. And you thought Jocelyn Elders did our country a disservice by talking about masturbation. Shame on you and your kind, Bill Bennett. Oral sex belongs in the closet. Only adults should know about it. By the way, Bill, how many times did you stop to whack off while you were reading Starr's report? Are you jealous of Clinton, that he got his for free and you have to pay for yours? You sound like a shriveled-up, old prude who can't get it up anymore without serious assistance (including Viagra). Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      These lessons will have negative real-world consequences. Among other things, impressionable children are watching. So true. I wonder how many have been emboldened to engage in oral sex, one of the forms of sex for which worries of pregnancy are not a problem. Hell, now women can't even use the excuse, "It's that time of the month." Shame on you, Bill Bennett, making it harder for women and young girls to say, "No." If we teach them it is fine to tolerate dishonesty, irresponsibility and lawlessness, they will teach us that lesson back - by their own actions and by their own behavior. And how exactly is Clinton's actions any more serious than your own actions - taking the responsibility for a Cabinet department after very publicly declaring that the department should be abolished? Tell me, would you vote for someone to head the Republican Party who publicly declared that the Republican Party should be abolished? Yet, you swore to head a department that you wanted to abolish. How dishonest, Bill Bennett. How many twisted lies did you use to push through policies that devastated your agency? You did a fine job of teaching our youth about honesty, responsibility, and character- your honesty, your sense of responsibility, and your character. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      Indeed, perhaps the most important residue of the Clinton scandals will be pedagogical; Quite right. The charges are petty and only by appealing to "what do we tell the children" can you get any reaction whatsoever. that is, the lessons they will teach children, most of whom, no matter who occupies the Oval Office, look up to the President. If the arguments of this White House are left standing, consider some of the lessons that will be taught.

     

• Character in our President doesn't matter. It's the economy stupid. Well, like I said before, neither Regean's nor Bush's character in the Iran-Contra, arms for hostages, arms for Regean's private war, seemed to matter much either to you, to most of your fellow Republicans, or to most voters. So I guess that is a political fact of life. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

       

• Some powerful people are above the law. They don't need to play by the rules. So true. So many Republican Congressmen and Senators are guilty of the same "crimes" as Clinton. Yet, notice the silence of the media and the Republican Party regarding them. Seems that Republican, right-wing moralists are nothing more than a bunch of partisan hypocrites. The moral of the story is: if you are a right-wing Republican, it doesn't count. You are above the law. If you aren't a right-wing Republican, they will nail you on any technicality they can. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

       

• Adultery is no big deal. It's commonplace. Europeans don't care about it; neither should we. No Bill, that's not the message. The message is "Republican's try to use Adultery as a partisan political cudgel and most American's are too smart to fall for their half-witted attempts at partisan political sexual MaCarthyism." Clean up your own house, Bill, before you complain about the other guy's. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

       

• If you get caught doing something really bad, pretend to take full responsibility, ask to be forgiven and then insist that you pay no consequences. Oh, Bill, really. Clinton had enough decency to be ashamed of a tawdry affair and he tried to shield himself, his family, and his accomplice from embarrassment which, by the way, is more than I can say about either Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, Livingstone, or any of the other leaders of the Republican Party when they were caught with their pants down. Clinton has been pilloried in the media for months and has spent perhaps millions on legal fees, and you claim he has not suffered any consequences. Enough is enough. Do you have no sense that the penalty should fit the crime? Is there no end to your moral outrage? Have you ever heard of Christian compassion? And yet you remain silent on what you think is a fair punishment for Henry Hyde for destroying a man's marriage and his paramour's family. When will any Republican suffer the consequences of a sexual indiscretion? And I do exclude Livingstone's resignation from office - the rumor mill claims that the charges against him included both sexual extortion of staffers and lobbyists, as well as kinky S&M sex with a paid prostitute, accusations, which, *if substantiated*, he would never have been able to overcome politically. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      I don't need to explain the flaws in these specious arguments to readers of this magazine. Unfortunately, so true. They are as brain-dead as you are. But the fact is, unfortunately, that the arguments of the White House have seeped in and onto Main Street, USA. So true. The vast majority of American's see through your lies, half-truths, and partisan political sexual MaCarthyism. Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY. I wonder if Larry Flynt has anything on you.

      Consider what we know: Bill Clinton had a sordid, reckless affair with an [sic] 21-year-old intern. The President then began a methodical, calculated seven-month effort to cover it up. That cover-up consisted of lies to his family , his aides, his Cabinet, and - emphatically and passionately - lies to the American people. He lied under oath during the Paula Jones deposition in a case that was subsequently thrown out of court because the Judge decided that there was insufficient evidence that a crime was committed to proceed to a full trial and before a federal grand jury. And he continues to lie. Yet, month after the American people knew all of this, Bill Clinton achieved public-approval ratings that were among the highest of his presidency. Yes, perhaps now you understand the frustration that many liberal felt when the Iran-Contra scandal quietly died away - an affair in which Regean sold American military equipment to our enemies in order to raise funds to run his own private war in Nicaragua against the expressed wished of Congress - a true threat to the American political system. Regean should have been impeached and Ollie North should have done some serious jail time, but both are now considered icons of the American right. When are you going to speak out about your role in Iran-Contra and your support for North and Regean? Bennett - thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      Make no mistake: There is a high cultural cost to this phenomenon. For the President to maintain his popularity requires that the country disregard standards of honesty, personal integrity, basic decency, and the rule of law. Oh, come now, Bill. What it means is "For the President to maintain his popularity requires that the country manage to overlook personal failings that don't rise to any where near the same level as the personal failing of Nixon, Regean, or Bush." Bennett - thy name is HYPOCRISY (or perhaps, stupidity.)

      In that sense, then, this President is not only corrupt, but corrupting, more morally corrupting than even President Richard Nixon. Bill, are you using hyperbole? How can you compare Watergate to Monicagate? Clinton didn't approve of burglarizing his political opponent's campaign headquarters. Clinton didn't raise hundreds of thousands of dollar in hush money for his plumbers. Clinton didn't raise millions in illegal campaign contributions. Clinton didn't use the IRS, the FBI, or the CIA to silence his critics. Clinton didn't run a private war in Laos or Cambodia. Clinton didn't cheat on his taxes. Clinton didn't use his office to make millions. For Bill Clinton not only absolutely refuses to resign, he insists that we accept the arguments he and his defenders are making. He insists that we accept his claim, made on national television the day he testified before the federal grand jury, that all this "has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people." He insists, in other words, that we become complicit in his actions and lies. No, he insists that he won't be hounded out of office for offenses that you would have been more than willing to overlook if they had been committed by a Republican. And I hope he sticks to his guns. It's about time someone had the balls to stand up to the holy hypocrites in the Republican Party. More power to him. He's got more balls than you will ever have. But then, hell, I've got more balls then you'll ever have, and I am a woman. Bennett - thy name is HYPOCRISY

      Where should we, as Americans, go from here? I think we should clean up the Republican Party. Clean out the holy HYPOCRITES and cleanse our political system of self-righteous hypocrisy. What can we do? Vote to throw out the Republicans in Election 2000. Until they are soundly defeated at the polls, they won't get the message. One thing is to think right about this situation. True. Why don't you try to put things into proper perspective and quit making mountains out of mole hills? But this is really about Vietnam and Watergate and Nixon's resignation and the Civil Rights movement and equality for minorities and equal rights for women and feminism, isn't it? For example, we must reject the increasingly popular argument that biblical forgiveness requires us simply to "forgive and forget." Bill, when you quit being a HYPOCRITE and begin holding Republicans to the same standards as you hold Democrats, then we can talk about punishment. Until you are willing to punish Republicans just as you punish Democrats for infractions of YOUR rules, nobody is going to listen to you because they think you are nothing more than a self-righteous, sanctimonious, boring, obnoxious, two-faced, partisan political HYPOCRITE who uses morality and God for your own partisan political ends. Forgiveness is a sacred concept in Christian doctrine; We are making progress. it should never be allowed to become a pretext to excuse moral wrong. Then why do you use it so often to excuse the moral wrongs of Republicans? Your attack on Clinton is nothing more than a partisan smear campaign by a bunch of holy HYPOCRITES. And even in those moments when forgiveness is properly given, the person forgiven must still be held accountable for his acts. Like Hyde, Watts, Chenoweth, Barr, Delay, Armey, and almost all of the other Congressional and Senate Republicans who have been caught with their pants down? Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      It seems to me to be elementary: An American President cannot commit a felony crime, spin a massive web of deceit, violate his oath of office and still remain in office. Well, Regean did, and YOU helped him. If he does remain in office, the Constitution of this great nation is weakened. Yes, I know. Nixon, Regean, and Bush did a lot of damage to our political system. For the rule of law can mean only one thing: not the rule of man, not the rule of the most powerful man, but the rule of law. Without exception. True. The President is not above the law - and neither is he below the law. Where were his constitutional protections during the House Judiciary Committee hearings? Where were his legal protections against the illegal prosecutorial acts by Kenneth Starr? Where was the assumption of innocence until proven guilty? Where was one fact witness to present first-hand testimony, as opposed to fourth- hand accounts, of the actual events that the President was accused of participating in? Where was there a clear statement of the charges against him? Just as the President isn't above the law, neither is Congress nor the Special Prosecutor above the law. When are you going to recommend that Kenneth Starr be indicted for his misuse of prosecutorial power and government office? Bennett, thy name is HYPOCRISY.

      There may be only one other more important lesson. We can never forget the inevitable and permanent fragility of this enterprise. George Washington reminded us of it; Abraham Lincoln reminded us of it; it is now high time that we remind ourselves and our children of it. Nowhere now or then was it written that this noble experiment in self-government - the United States of America - is guaranteed to continue. That sounds suspiciously like a threat to wreak the country if you don't get your way, just like you want to wreck the schools because you can't get your way there. It depends on us. On our energy, on our ideals and on our action. I agree. We need to keep this great country strong and free. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country.

      Those who shrug their shoulders and mutter to themselves, "Whatever," need to be reminded of how precious an inheritance we Americans have received. As always, it is a continual struggle to prove that this government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth. The men who wrote the Declaration of Independence meant it when they pledged to each other "Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They believed they were talking about something real, enduring and worth preserving. So should we. And so should our children. Yes, Bob, we do agree on some things.

      In the year 2000, vote to defend the President, the Constitution, and your rights.

      Vote as if your life and your freedoms depend on it, for they do.

Sunny

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