Book of Virtues, Chapter 11: Ethnic Cleansing

The "moment of zen" concluding Jon Stewart's Daily Show last night truly was a stunner. William Bennett, former Secretary of Education and author of Book of Virtues, appeared to advocate aborting all black children in the United States as a means of reducing crime.

Here is what Bennett said exactly on his radio show Wednesday: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could--if that were your sole purpose--you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

Between the financial derring-do of Tom DeLay and Bill Frist and the loose lips of Bennett and Pat Robertson, it appears as if the Republican establishment is throwing itself over a cliff.