FundRace: CNN's Bill Bennett Never Disclosed GOP Donations

Last December, conservative author and CNN election analyst William J. Bennett gave over two thousand dollars to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, a fact that Bennett has not mentioned during any of his appearances on the network, according to a review of transcripts by the Huffington Post.

Moreover, after giving the donation, Bennett claimed on-air that he was neutral in the GOP race, even as he repeatedly dispensed advice to McCain on how he could win over doubtful conservatives.

Following Wednesday's GOP debate in Los Angeles, Bennett exclaimed on CNN that he "had three hours of calls this morning of people angry at me because I was defending John McCain."

"I don't have a candidate," he protested. "I haven't endorsed anybody."

In fact, on December 31, 2007, Bennett contributed the maximum primary amount, $2300, to McCain's campaign. [See Bennett's fundraising details on Huffington Post's FundRace.]

Informed of the donations, a CNN official said that Bennett also gave an unspecified amount to Mitt Romney's campaign in January 2008, which would not show up on the latest campaign filings.

Last month, Talking Points Memo reported that, for the duration of the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton backers James Carville and Paul Begala would no longer be appearing on CNN unless they were paired with a supporter of Barack Obama. The CNN official said Bennett's situation was different since he had given to more than one candidate.

Still, the donations raise serious questions about whether Bennett can act as a neutral analyst in a race that still includes Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Ron Paul. Following protests of Carville and Begala's role on CNN, the network's political director Sam Feist said, "As we got closer to the voting, we made a decision to make sure that all the analysts that are on are non-aligned."

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Though Bennett has at times criticized all of the candidates -- he called McCain's assertion that Romney supported an Iraq timeline a "cheap shot" -- he sticks out as a rare defender of McCain amid furor from conservative activists and talk show hosts over the Arizona senator's recent rise.

"The title commander in chief seems to fit John McCain, doesn't it?" Bennett said on CNN on January 30. Noting issues like immigration that people use to "try to tag John McCain as being liberal," he offered counsel: "It doesn't mean he has to qualify his convictions, but he has to repeat and remind people of the good parts of the voting record."

And after McCain's win in Florida on Tuesday, Bennett addressed his advice directly to the candidate: "Start to talk about people like Senator Coburn from Oklahoma as someone you're thinking about [as vice president]. Have him travel around, very strong fiscal conservative." Also, "Go to the border. Stand there and say, I know people disagreed with me on immigration, but we are going to seal this border. We're going to get this thing right."

Bennett's actions stand in seeming contrast to the advice he offers other politicians and pundits. In his best-seller The Book of Virtues, he writes, "Honesty is of pervasive human importance. ... To be honest is to be real, genuine, authentic, and bona fide. ... Honesty imbues lives with openness, reliability, and candor; it expresses a disposition to live in the light."

* Note: Online fundraising databases have conflicting data on the level of William Bennett's contributions to Sen. McCain. A CNN official says that Bennett gave $2300, not $4600, so we are using that number until itemized general election receipts are available from the FEC. The story was also corrected to clarify CNN's policy on having Carville and Begala appear.

Comments

[guajiro]

Bill Bennett, he of the House of Hypocrites!
What was it he said about babies? "Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."
It's estimated he has lost over $8 million in gambling, an immoral vice which this 'morality czar' fails to address:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0306.green.html
And while Secretary of Education: " Bennett never disclosed the fact that his primary business venture at the time was on the administration's payroll.

Money from a federal program intended to expand public school choice has instead been used to prop up a scheme cooked up by William J. Bennett to boost home schoolers in Arkansas, Education Week has reported.

Newspaper staffers David J. Hoff and Michelle R. Davis report that a for-profit firm called K12, Inc., run by former Education Secretary and "drug czar" Bennett, has received $4.1 million from the U.S. Department of Education.... One department employee involved in the process, who wished to remain anonymous, told Education Week, "Anything with Bill Bennett's name on it was going to get funded."

The crap the FCC allows to be thrown at the american people as 'representative' of their views is preposterous.

[JohnJames]

Just take a look at him. He's a slimy Vegas gambler and looks like a serious lush on top of it and he's gotten rich by lecturing on "moral values". After the gambling scandal broke he turned around and told conservatives to butt out of people's personal lives, this after getting rich by demonizing gay people. God, he is disgusting but at least he seems to know it - he seems to be very uncomfortable with himself on CNN.

[buddy7777]

Past tense - Pond Scum
Present Tense - Pond Scum
Future Tense - Pond Scum

[Colmore]

Maybe Bennett could write a book about staying in shape. Telling us all about "virtues" made as much sense as a diet book from him would. It seems to me that the fatter they are, the more pious and hypocritical they are. Limbaugh, Rove, Bennett are all overweight yet seem to think their opinions are more sought after than others are. I would stay off TV if I was as obese as any of these guys.

[TXfemmom]

Bennett should be removed, and they should make him refund all the salary that he received from the time of the donations.

This just proves that Republicans HAVE NO ETHICS, AND WILL LIE, AND LIE, AND LIE.

Bennett showed what he was with his gambling, after lecturing about morals and ethics, and shouldn't be included in discourse anyway.

[woundedduck]

Of course Bennett wouldn't disclose the truth--he's just another leg of the slimy centipede that is the Conservative movement.

[OilWarsDotCom]

Bennett is one of them thar New American Century bush ass kissers. Don't trust anything he says.

[Camarosc35]

CNN should pull Bennett from its group of political commentators, it removed Begala, Carville and Zimmerman because of perceived political bias. But, it seems more and more that CNN is biased toward the Republican groups. The distasteful and obvious ploy of trying to get a black rapper, Snoop Dogg, on Larry King with the expectation of him stating his support for Obama, a black candidate backfired. Worse, the ticker last night on CNN stated that Snoop was "torn between the candidates Obama and Clinton," that is an outright distortion. I taped this show, Snoop clearly stated that we need someone who knows the issues and can do the job, does not matter what race the candidate is, and recalled the heady days of the Clinton administration. My take is that he indirectly supports Clinton, albeit with deep admiration and respect for Obama. It was rude of King to walk out during the breakfast with Snoop, too. Plus, whatever happened to Michael Ware? Yup, CNN is showing its true conservative colors these days and I, for one, don’t like it. The “Best Political Team on Television”, my foot.

[WilliamWallace]

He's a Reagan-ish Bushie, no surprise here.

[Colmore]

Looks like Bennett has reduced his time at the gaming tables to spend more time in the buffet line! His head looks ready to explode. He looks like a cross between Limbaugh and Shatner. Definitely a face for radio.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Bennett's a pompous jerk? Some things never change.

[americanwhocares]

Bennett is just a big bluff, full of baloney bloviate like Rush Limpbaugh, Bile O'Lielly, Sean Slanity and the other long gray line of GOP slime provocateurs. Only interested in the cash, not the national security of the United States.

[Blutus]

Ah, the whiff of moral superiority!

The man who wrote the Book of Virtues
but left out the "g"s:
gambling, greed, and gluttony.

Can't believe CNN wedged him out
of the IHOP.
The man is a fop, an amoral dweeb
who should be working as land fill.

[willengage]

I don't know why this would come as a surprise to anyone. These "holier than thou" types have no ethical values beyond biblical threats of eternal torment, and I am sure he reads his bible like a tax attorney.

[LawrenceL]

"The title commander in chief seems to fit John McCain, doesn't it?" Bennett said on CNN on January 30.

No, it doesn't. Rotting in jail as a P.O.W. does not qualify one for being the C-in-C. Almost sinking the carrier on which you were based because of a faulty rocket on your plane does not qualify one for being C-in-C. Getting shot down over Vietnam does not qualify one for being C-in-C.

Let's not confuse "going to the party" with "going home with the girl."