Bennett and deep-thinking conservatives

A right-wing extremist by the name of William Bennett made one of the most hateful comments yesterday I have ever heard any current or former public official say -- and when I say hateful, I mean worse than any of Pat Roberts' assassination requests or his Supreme Court vacancy visions of grandeur(NYT):

"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 impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan responded to this when asked by reporters (AP):

"The president believes the comments were not appropriate."

Well good.  But we did hold our breath for a second on that one.  Know that William Bennett was the Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan, and is currently a distinguished member of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Bennett is also the brilliant mind that said this as Education Secretary:

"The elementary school must assume as its sublime and most solemn responsibility the task of teaching every child in it to read. Any school that does not accomplish this has failed."

What a bright one!  Kind of like this quote from Bush back in 2001:

"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test."

Well they had me at hello.  These conservatives are some deep thinkers!