Update: Bill Bennett lies and resigns

A couple of updates on Bill Bennett, who's still trying to recover from his remark on his radio show suggesting that if all black women had abortions the crime rate would go down.

First, as Media Matters reports, Bennett defended his racist remarks by lying:

On the September 29 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett defended comments he made the day before linking crime rates and abortion by blacks. Bennett, who said that "it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime ... you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down," claimed that he was taken out of context, and that his comment was based on a 1999 Slate.com online discussion between Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005), and right-wing columnist Steve Sailer, in which Bennett claimed that Levitt "discusse[d], as I did, the racial implications of abortion and crime." Levitt did not. In fact, in the Slate debate that Bennett cited, Levitt said the opposite of what Bennett claimed: "None of our analysis is race-based because the crime data by race is generally not deemed reliable."

Many conservatives have used that same untrue argument to defend Bennett's comments.

Secondly, the former secretary of education has resigned from K12, the for-profit company that runs a virtual school in Wisconsin, among other things. The announcement does not make it clear whether Bennett still owns a piece of the company; I think he does.

PR Newswire reports:

MCLEAN, Va -- K12 Inc. today announced that William J. Bennett has resigned as an employee, and as Chairman and member of the company's Board of Directors, effective immediately. K12 Inc. said the Board accepted his resignation, thanking him for his contributions to the company. K12 Inc. said that it has no relationship with, or involvement in, Dr.Bennett's radio program. The opinions expressed by Dr. Bennett on his radio program are his and his alone.

Dr. Bennett, in a separate statement said: "I am in the midst of a political battle based on a coordinated campaign willfully distorting my views, my record, and my statements. Given the controversy surrounding the remarks I made on my radio show, I am stepping down from my positions at K12, so that neither the mission of the company, nor its children, are affected, distracted, or harmed in any way."

What a selfless guy. Always thinking about other people and the kids. If he could only quit sharing his innermost thoughts...