White House criticizes Bennett remarks on blacks

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Friday criticized
as “not appropriate” a comment from former Education Secretary
William Bennett that aborting black babies would reduce the
U.S. crime rate.

Bennett, a conservative radio commentator, stirred outrage
for saying on his talk show on Wednesday: “But I do know that
it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if
that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby
in this country and your crime rate would go down.”

“That would be an impossibly ridiculous and morally
reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down,”
he said on his call-in program “Morning in America.”

Asked for President George W. Bush’s reaction to the
remarks, spokesman Scott McClellan said: “The president
believes the comments were not appropriate.”

Bennett has not served in Bush’s Cabinet, but has held
various senior roles in the administrations of Bush’s father
and President Ronald Reagan. He is a former education secretary
and head of U.S. drug policy.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat of New Jersey, said
Bush’s response was not forceful enough.

“Not appropriate is wearing white shoes after Labor Day
(the last U.S. summer holiday). These comments were
reprehensible and racist,” Lautenberg said.

Lautenberg said he would be introducing a resolution in the
Senate condemning Bennett’s comments.

Bennett, author of a book on morality called “The Book of
Virtues,” faced controversy two years ago when it was revealed
that he lost millions because of a gambling habit.

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
said Bennett’s comments were “hateful, inflammatory” and asked
whether they represented the values of the Republican party.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, a
former campaign adviser to Bush, has been trying to reach out
to African Americans, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic.

The widely criticized federal response to Hurricane Katrina
dealt a setback to that effort. Many poor, black residents
appeared to bear the brunt of the suffering in flooded New
Orleans because they did not have the means to evacuate.

Mehlman said Bennett’s comments were “regrettable and
inappropriate.” But he also accused Democrats of “hypocrisy”
and race-baiting for suggesting that insensitivity to African
Americans played a role in the slow federal response.

On his radio program on Friday, Bennett said “I was putting
forward a hypothetical proposition … and then said about it,
it was morally reprehensible to recommend abortion of an entire
group of people.”

“But this is what happens when you argue that the ends can
justify the means.”

His remark was in response to a caller who had suggested
that the Social Security system’s finances would be in a much
better position if it were not for the 1973 legalization of
abortion, because there would be more people paying into the
system.

Attorney Robert Bennett, came to his brother’s defense,
saying on CNN: “What I would emphasize is Bill’s comment that
such a position would be morally reprehensible. I think it is
largely making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said on CNN that
Bennett’s comments were “blatantly racist.”

“(He) stated as a fact that if you did this it would in
fact lower the crime rate which clearly is him making blacks
and crime synonymous,” Sharpton said.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro)