Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Mr. Virtue Ethicist Bennett Still Losing His Virtue?

Bill Bennett, author of The Book of Virtues, and hero to such pro-life champions as Rick Santorum, just argued:

"[Y]ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."


Bennett mangled the argument in Freakonomics. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner did not argue that the crime rate dropped precipitously due to black women aborting babies after the legalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade. The arguement was about poverty and how future criminals often hail from poverty stricken backgrounds or mothers too young to be capable of raising their children well.

Mr. Virute Ethicist Bennett, however, makes a pro-abortion argument (not a pro-choice argument) that is racially motivated.

Earlier today on Feministe, Jill got into a "debate" (in the comments section of her entry, "Looney Bin Round Up") over whether or not the GOP is has a history of racism.

Well, I wouldn't want to embrace or affiliate myself with Bennett at the moment if I was trying to attract African Americans to the party.