EvilGOPBastards.com reports, "The nation was shocked to discover that the national scold and morality czar had lost millions at high stakes gambling. A source claiming first-hand information now reports that Casino Bill's other vice runs to the exotic -- liasons with a very buff Las Vegas dominatrix. According to our source, national-press reporters have interviewed the 'beautiful domme muse mistress,' but have been reluctant to publish the story to date." Rumors say Josh Green of the Washington Monthly has the story - the same reporter who broke Bennett's gambling story. Stay tuned!

Thomas Ball writes, "Gambling is the least of Bennett-the-virtuous' vices. Indeed, he has made a very comfortable living and drawn a loyal, powerful following by preaching the virtues of such fun-loving things as bigotry, hatred, despotism, war-mongering and dogmatic religious fanaticism all while working breathlessly to undermine the Constitution's separation of church and state and holding his tongue on selected issues of greed and corruption. Now gambling doesn't sound like such a big deal after all. Does it? Thus, this 'revelation' of Bennett's hypocrisy is akin to the 'revelation' that Trent Lott is a racist. The subtle clues and outright admissions have been dropped along the way. Only now, however, has anyone decided to notice. To make the situation crystal clear we must look at the real Bill Bennett, the one that has flaunted his hatred and hypocrisy in front of an uncaring public for the last several decades."

Bennett's defenders "will say: 1) He never specifically criticized gambling. This, if true, doesn't show that Bennett is not a hypocrite. It just shows that he's not a complete idiot... 2) His gambling never hurt anyone else... If a hypocrite is a person who says one thing and does another, the problem with Bennett is what he says -- not (as far as we know) what he does. Bennett can't plead liberty now because opposing libertarianism is what his sundry crusades are all about. He wants to put marijuana smokers in jail. He wants to make it harder to get divorced. He wants more 'moral criticism of homosexuality' and 'declining to accept that what they do is right.'... 3) He's doing no harm to himself... If he's not in denial, then he's simply lying, which is a definite non-virtue. And he's spraying smarm like the worst kind of cornered politician -- telling the Washington Post, for example, that his gambling habit started with 'church bingo.'" So writes Michael Kinsley.

Mimi Hall writes: "Elayne Bennett, wife of conservative virtues maven William Bennett, says her husband is 'not addicted' to gambling and has not lost millions of dollars at casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. 'We are financially solvent... All our bills are paid.' But expressing annoyance at the attention generated by news about his gambling, she said her husband may have pulled his last slot-machine lever. 'He's never going again,' she said... Bennett did not return calls seeking comment Sunday. But his wife said she'd like her husband to tell his side of the story." Hey, we remember Bennett going on gasbag shows and bloviating about Clinton that "this man has no character!" What about THIS man? By the way, we'd like to know how much of Richard Mellon Scaife's money bankrolled Bennett's gambling sprees? Described by Scaife as a "personal friend", Bennett sits on a Scaife Foundation board, and draws a salary from Scaife contributions to the Heritage Foundation and Empower America.

"William J. Bennett, author of 'The Book of Virtues' and one of the nation's most relentless moral crusaders, is a high-rolling gambler who has lost more than $8 million at casinos in the last decade, according to online reports from two magazines... Mr. Bennett is popular among social conservatives, but many of them consider gambling a serious problem... In the 1990's, leaders of the conservative Christian Coalition joined with other religious leaders to create the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, called gambling 'a cancer on the American body politic' that was 'stealing food from the mouths of children." Friends of Mr. Bennett [such as Grover Norquist and William Kristol] were reluctant today to criticize him directly." We'd like to know what kind of perks and special 'entertainment' Bennett enjoyed at these casinos for being a valued customer with a revolving credit line. Where Is The Outrage?

"In his best-selling anthology, 'The Book of Virtues,' William J. Bennett writes: 'We should know that too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing...[We] need to set definite boundaries on our appetites.' Does Bennett? The popular author, lecturer and Republican Party activist speaks out, often indignantly, about almost every moral issue except one -- gambling. It's not hard to see why. According to casino documents, Bennett is a 'preferred customer' in at least four venues in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, betting millions of dollars over the last decade... With a revolving line of credit of at least $200,000 at each casino, Bennett, former drug czar and secretary of Education under Presidents Reagan and Bush, doesn't have to bring money when he shows up at a casino... According to one casino source, on July 12 of last year, Bennett lost $340,000 at Caesars in Atlantic City, and on April 5 and 6 of 2003 he lost more than $500,000 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas."