CNN Gambles on Bennett

The Cable News Network has added conservative Reagan administration official, outspoken crusader – and gambler anonymous – William J. Bennett to the network’s newly minted lineup of right-wing talent.

Bennett is scheduled to make his first appearance on the network later today commenting on the "Situation Room."

Many remember Bennett from his days moralizing about the evils of homosexuality, pornography and other perceived vices. Others may have read his best-sellers on "virtue,” "moral clarity" and "outrage," which took the Clinton administration to task for behavior unbecoming a president.

Fewer still are familiar with Joshua Green’s 2003 report, which revealed Bennett to be a "preferred customer" at casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas where his losses have been estimated at more than $8 million.

"As gambling spreads, so do its associated problems," writes Green. "Heavy gambling, like drug use, can lead to divorce, domestic violence, child abuse, and bankruptcy."

Where’s Bennett’s sermon on that?

Bennett created more controversy in 2005 when he told listeners to his radio show that aborting "every black baby in this country" would reduce crime. He later defended this statement, saying he was making a hypothetical argument and was not stating his position.

Bennett joins right-radio talk jock Glenn Beck in CNN’s brain trust of upstanding Americans. It was Beck who called Hurricane Katrina victims "scumbags" and said he hated some family members who lost relatives on Sept. 11 because they complained too much.

Beck also blasted grieving war mother Cindy Sheehan as a “big prostitute” for "pimping out the tragedy of her own son's death." He called the father of murdered American Nick Berg "despicable" and a "scumbag" for criticizing President and the war in Iraq after his son's death there.

"It’s exhausting trying to figure out what in the world the game plan is at CNN," Tim Goodman writes of network exec Jonathan Klein’s extreme Fox News Channel makeover. “There’s a sadness here. And it has nothing to do with CNN’s inability to ‘counter’ Fox News with a respectable progressive slate of contributors. CNN used to be a reliable source for national and international news. Now it mostly chases storms and tragedy — and Fox.”