I received a response from Salem Radio Network Re: Bennett

[verdalaven]

This is regarding the comment Bill Bennett made about aborting black babies lowering the crime rate. I complained, as many of you did I am sure. I thought you might be interested to read their response. It is less than satisfying, to say the least. Bear in mind I wrote to them AFTER I read the transcript.

Dear Ms. xxxx:

Thanks for your e-mail expressing your concern over an out-of-context
portion of a recent "Bill Bennett's MORNING IN AMERICA" program which
have been widely distributed by the news media across this
nation...distorting (whether intentionally or not) Dr. Bennett's actual position on this controversial issue.

We regret any offense taken by people of good will who may have
misunderstood Dr. Bennett's comments. If Dr. Bennett had advocated what some news outlets are reporting, their outrage would be justified.

The widely-reported comment does not accurately reflect the actual
on-air discussion that occurred between Dr. Bennett and a caller on
September 28. Sadly, internet media sources took selected portions of
the exchange out of context to attribute to Dr. Bennett the exact
opposite position he was making about abortion. Dr. Bennett was
referencing the correlation on crime and abortion that is discussed in the New York Times bestseller, Freakonomics. Dr. Bennett believes that linking these two issues is an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, and he said so in just those words. He has long been recognized for his consistent opposition to abortion, and for his efforts to advance social and racial justice and equality.

Dr. Bennett's record on civil rights is well-documented and he has a
considerable body of published work that supports these views. He has built a long and distinguished record of service in both the public and private sectors. He was confirmed to Cabinet positions on multiple occasions by the United States Senate with support from both political parties.

Salem does not condone racism or racist behavior in any form. We take
our responsibility for truth and fairness seriously.

I would encourage you to review the entire transcript of the discussion and Dr. Bennett's full explanation. You may do so by linking to www.bennettmornings.com or referencing the attached document.

TOM TRADUP
Director of Network Programming
Salem Radio Network
6400 North Beltline Road, Ste. 210
Irving, TX 75063
E-mail: [e-mail]

[Hobarticus]

1. "Out of context"...sounds like out of their asses...

Bennet said it, plain and simple. He even repeated it.

[seabeyond]

2. the issue with bennett isnt abortion, suggesting blacks

should be aborted. the issue is racist. for him to suggest the black population, is the feeding of bigotry to black crime. he could have pulled out white males, and made the same point. he chose black, and it was racist, and it fed the racist notion that blacks commit more crimes. that is what the issue is. not the suggesting that we should abort blacks. this response made up the outrage, instead of addressing the real outrage

[jayfish]

3. Yup.

Bennett himself (or the media for that matter) can't even see the true racism in his comments. Because he doesn't see his own racism he is racist. Oh and he's an asshole. How nice of the station to add it's version of what was and was not contextual about the conversation. Must be that liberal bias showing through.

Jay

[hiley]

4. I hope you send this to

Congressman Conyers.:)

[verdalaven]

7. I hadn't thought about doing that

but I will! Thanks :)

[Nimrod2005]

5. I am glad he wrote this letter himself

For them to ditribute to all interested. What a bunch of Fraud.

[kcass1954]

6. "Dr. Bennett's record on civil rights is well-documented..."

It certainly is. We've known for a long time what he expressed in this outrageous comment.

I particularly like the implication that you need to read the "entire" transcript. I did, and I still came away with the same impression.