on Rhetoric

I just flipped on CNN. I'm not a big fan but at 1:50 p.m., what is there to watch when you are getting ready to go to work. The CBC is still in lockout mode so the pickings there are thin. So… Kyra Phillips it is.

The Bill Bennett spectacle is ongoing.

Two guests, were there to opine about the matter. Of course, they held diametrically opposed viewpoints. In a silly way, it was kind of funny. One fellow suggests that Bennett's words are not inherently the problem but that the vigourous reaction to them by blacks will create the impression that blacks can't understand rhetoric.

The other fellow, a pending talk show host who was kind enough to plug his show which starts on Monday, stridently insisted that he didn't know what rhetoric was.

It was comical.

Of course, Mr. Savoy, that's all I caught of his name, is not alone. There are others who missed the point as well.

Myself, I don't think much of Mr. Bennett. I have yet to hear anything come from him, ever, that gave me a single, small reason to respect him and if someone deserves a load of crap, he'll do. In a way, it is probably a measure of just desserts. As someone who overflows with falseness, it just seems fitting that he be hoist up on the hook of misinterpretation. Of course, that's just the petty side of me thinking that.

I wonder if the backlash will break his public persona. He could become more popular of course. Everybody is capable of misunderstanding his words. Many are insistent.

I have heard or read three people defend him. Bennett himself, this fellow on CNN and Brad DeLong. Only the latter did it well.

I fear Mr. Bennett is too smart for his own good.