Tag: Pundits

Where’s the Outrage?

All over the press this Saturday morning: moral exemplar William Bennett is a high-roller, losing over $8 million in the past ten years at various casinos. I play a biweekly poker game and have been known to throw down some money in Vegas, so I’d be the first to argue that gambling within limits is a minor vice at worst. But then again, I haven’t made a living peddling sanctimonious garbage like The Book of Virtues or The Moral Compass either. Yes, this is gotcha journalism making entirely too much out of a mildly disreputable pastime – it’s not like Bennett is a child molester or anything. But that doesn’t mean I won’t enjoy watching Mr. Virtue squirm on the petard of his own hypermoralism. Mr. Bennett, is schadenfreude a forgivable vice in this instance? Update: Mrs. Bennett drops the hammer. Update 2: Mike Kinsley weighs in, also invoking the schadenfreude angle.