We all had some fun at Bill Bennett’s expense a few months ago when news broke that he had a moderate gambling problem that caused him to lose, according to some reports, as much as $8 million.
Within days of the story breaking in the news, Bennett quickly doused the public relations fire by announcing he wasn’t going to gamble anymore.
“I have done too much gambling, and this is not an example I wish to set,” Bennett said on May 5. “Therefore, my gambling days are over.”
Sounds pretty clear, right? No ambiguities there. Bennett gambled a lot, but now his “gambling days are over.” Got it.
The good folks over at Demagogue, however, appear to have stumbled upon Bennett trying to give himself a little wiggle room on the permanence of his no-gambling pledge.
Bennett was on Sean Hannity’s right-wing radio program this week announcing that he was preparing to re-enter the public limelight again after two months of self-imposed exile. On the program, he indicated that his gambling days may not be completely over after all.
“So, in this case, the excessive gambling is over,” Bennett said. Excessive gambling? That’s an interesting qualifier, isn’t it? I mean, “excessive” is an obviously subjective word. If Bennett goes to Vegas and drops a half-million dollars, can he justify his gambling to himself because it isn’t, in his mind, excessive?
Bennett also said on the radio program, “Since there will be people doing the micrometer on me, I just want to be clear: I do want to be able to bet the [Buffalo] Bills in the Super Bowl.”
Was this a joke or an indication that Bennett’s gambling days are anything but over? Hmm.