Bill Bennett has been at CNN too long

Bill Bennett, CNN's token conservative, has been at that leftist network for too long. He is fast becoming the liberal idea of what a conservative should be. We all know what kind of "conservatives" the Left pretends to like - Colin Powell, Peggy Noonan and the like. If any of these people is the least bit conservative, it would have to be Conservative Lite.

We could see which way the professor was going when he co-authored this defense of John McCain as the likely Republican presidential nominee back in February of 2008. Well, now we all know what a smashing success McCain proved to be as a presidential candidate. If it had not been for McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, he would have lost in a landslide, instead of just having Obama hand his backside to him.

Bennett got even more wobbly in March, after a presidential press conference in which a couple of reporters dared to ask Obama some actual questions. Forgetting about the majority of reporters there who didn't dare to hold the president accountable, Bennett declared that just a few of the sort of questions that every reporter used to ask George W. Bush somehow disproves the fact that the press is in love with Obama. Oh, sure, Dr. Bennett, all presidents get standing ovations from the press, don't they?

Now Bennett has gone all David Frum on us and is dissing Rush and Sarah:

"One of the things the media could do – some of the media – is to move the debate off Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh," Bennett, a CNN Contributor, said on State of the Union. "This is probably not the future of the Republican Party," added Bennett.

"You don’t think Gov. Palin’s the future of the Republican Party?" queried CNN Chief National Correspondent John King.

"I do not," said Bennett.

Hey, I'm a Palin supporter, but I don't expect every other conservative to line up behind the former vice presidential candidate. I do, however, expect them to refrain from feeding ammo to the drive-by media as they try to shoot her down. I also expect conservatives to give Rush Limbaugh the respect he's due for all that he's done for the cause over the years. Bennett can't seem to find the conservative in himself any longer to do either.

Bennett, who admitted to being a gambler, bet his donation money on Mitt Romney in the primaries and John McCain in the general election. Of course, you have to wonder just how smart a guy is who lost millions of dollars playing slot machines which are programmed to give the house an advantage of up to 15%. And gee, what a coincidence to see another Romney guy dissing Palin. How many does this make already? I've lost count.

Bottom line: Bennett didn't have to commit to Gov. Palin. He could have easily said something to the effect of, "We don't know who the future of the GOP will be. Gov. Palin will certainly have her opportunity to be the leader, as will Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford and others." It's the kind of non-committal answer that would have been fair to all of the potential GOP candidates, yet it would not have given the Democrats a club to beat conservatives with. But he didn't give that kind of answer. He chose instead to marginalize Gov. Palin and diss Rush. Like I said, he's been at CNN too long. Lie down with dogs, and you'll wake up with fleas.

- JP