"OUTING" PEOPLE IS IN AGAIN, THANKS TO NEWSWEEK

Legal gambling, if you're a rich Republican writer with some morals, and have a photo with George Bush that can be used for the story, is going to get you "outed" this election cycle. No prostitute required. No big debt needed either, just proof that you gamble big in Vegas or Atlantic City. This story about Bill Bennett reeks like it was commissioned by Larry Flynt or Clinton's P.I., Terry Lenzner. Yet, it's not even a scoop. It's old news being re-reported as another pre-election smear on the GOP. In fact Drudge found it was reported before, during a previous election cycle in 1996. He didn't hide it then either. Bennett has been gambling in public for years, and never said it was wrong if kept under control, and within your means. Even though he's done that, keep an eye out for a NY Times cover story during the 2008 race if Bennett is still gambling.

The "grave sin" here, as with Santorum, is to think that morals are important. Do that, and the amoral left will smear you. Then, when the time is right, they'll "out" you for anything short of Jesus-like perfection. It's strange when the Left decides there are moral standards after all, but they're only good when used to smear people. Sticks out like a loser's sore thumb, or maybe a sore loser's thumb. Bennett's crime is not even being a hypocrite either, since he considers gambling something that should be controlled be the individual, and controlled by government, but not eliminated. Imagine if we tried a prohibition crackdown on all gambling. I don't think there's a Christian in the world who thinks that is a realistic public policy idea.

Nice try with the latest smear on those moral Republicans, but Newsweek forgot about the unintended consequences. If you can now get a major reputable newsmagazine to "out" a rich guy who doesn't play pro sports for gambling -- something that a majority of rich people do every month -- then all bets are off. Closeted gays are going to feel more pressure after Newsweek's tactics. Like poor Elian Gonzalez, if they refuse to come out of the closet, the tabloids can now forcibly drag them out with pride and arrogance. It will be seen as a "professional hit" -- a Newsweek-style investigative report. Given all the new databases, tracking technology and cameras available today, compared to when "outing" gays was legit news before, this round could be brutal on closeted gays of all political persuasions.

There will be more Tom Cruise-like court cases as people get paid bigger cash for dubious information. In fact, we just had two mainstream reporters busted in Utah for selling gay rumors to the tabloids. The tabloids must now feel vindicated, since mainstream reporters at Newsweek and the Salt Lake Tribune are reaffirming and joining their mission to seek and destroy people. Larry Flynt, with his Vegas connections, must have some other stories on Republicans up his sleeve if he passed on this one, and allowed Newsweek in the game to gamble their reputation. Flynt is currently working on obtaining a rumored video of Bush's daughter, Barbara Bush, nude at a Yale party. He's offering $1.6 million, so we may soon find out if she's "Gone Wild" and kissing other girls. It's probably just a publicity stunt for a non-existent video, but since Uday Hussein is no longer in the Bush daughter video market with all his oil-for-porn cash, Flynt is the sole bidder. He's obviously going to team up with the DNC again for some dirty tricks to embarrass Republicans in 2004.

Back to Larry Flynt's less-talented business peers at Newsweek. They've made this old news about Bennett a major "Internet-exclusive" cover story. This is on the same week they refused to put a no-brainer, thrilling photo of Bush hugging troops on the carrier deck, on their cover. A greeting that will go down in history as a heart-warming classic, like his visit to Ground Zero, was ignored for political reasons. Instead, Newsweek is playing CNN-style business-death politics, and will lose sales and customers by running a standard photo of Bush at the podium. Pathetic, petty liberals. They can't even run a business right, let alone a government. Just as with the NY Times, "They Decide (the news that's fit to print), We Report (the truth)."

UPDATE: The gambling story has succeeded only in annoying Bennett's wife. She also says the report that he lost $8 million is a lie.

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," she said Sunday from their Chevy Chase, Md., home. "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.

Notice how she refuses to say if he drank alcoholic beverages or smoked cigars on his trips though. Very suspicious. This is Newsweek's Watergate, I just know it. If they can only assign more reporters to this, Jonathan Alter will win a Pulitzer. Finding a maid who can testify she once found the stub of a Cuban cigar in his room might break this case wide open.