How Bill Bennett went from 'preachy self-righteousness' to 'mind-boggling hypocrisy and opportunism'
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Bill Bennett wasn’t the least bit shy about expressing his socially conservative views. Bennett, who served as secretary of education under President Donald Reagan and was President George H.W. Bush’s drug czar, repeatedly said that without God, morality and family values, America was lost — which was a recurring theme in his books and on his radio show. And when it came to President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs, Bennett’s message was one of scathing condemnation, not forgiveness.
But in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on December 6, journalist/author Jill Lawrence stresses that the strict moral code Bennett was preaching 30 or 35 years ago fell by the wayside when he allied himself with former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.
On November 29, Lawrence notes, Simon & Schuster published a 30th anniversary edition of Bennett’s “The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories,” first released in 1993. Morality was the dominant theme of Bennett’s Clinton-era books, which also included 1995’s “The Moral Compass: Stories for a Life's Journey” and 1998’s “The Death of Outrage: Bill Clinton and the Assault on American Ideals.” But morality, Lawrence writes, is something that Bennett obviously doesn’t demand from his ally Trump.
https://www.alternet.org/2658839149/
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