Posted on 02/20/2005 9:10:28 AM PST by Brian Mosely
Feb. 20, 2005 — The friend of the Bush family who secretly recorded nine hours of conversations with George W. Bush says he never intended for the tapes to become public but felt he had a duty to accurately represent a man who he believed would one day become president.
Doug Wead, the author of the new book "The Raising of a President," surreptitiously recorded his conversations with Bush beginning in 1998, when Bush was governor of Texas and considering a run for president.
The candid conversations suggested Bush's strategies to deal with questions about whether he used drugs, to reconcile his born-again Christian faith with a tolerance toward gays, and other issues.
Wead, who has written extensively about other first families, including the Kennedys and the Roosevelts, believed Bush would become a "pivotal figure in history."
"I had a choice to either write propaganda about the Bushes or write accurately and fairly based on what I knew," said Wead in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America."
Wead said his publisher insisted on listening to the tapes to confirm anonymous sources cited in the book. The New York Times then got wind of the tapes, and from there, it "all became unraveled," Wead said.
Wead played about a dozen tapes to a reporter from the Times over the past several weeks, and the paper confirmed their authenticity with an audio expert, according to an article in the paper today.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
But I'm promoting my book, so it's OK...
That's why they are all over the news today.
God save me from people like this!!! How sad it is that a person, any person, cannot trust his friends to not "make a quick buck" on their association. This is a betrayal of the lowest form. Thank God that "W" comes off so well in the tapes - he is what he is, has been and will always be: Himself.
I guess I better pay attention to this to see if it's something earth shattering.. So far, I've not seen or heard anything that is exciting. What next, video tape of the twins playing in their sandbox!!
The tapes seem to confirm that Bush is a straight shooter who says the same thing in private that he says in public. They shouldn't cause him any problems.
This fails to answer WHY he felt compelled to play the tapes for the New York Times. A simple "yes, I have some tapes" would have sufficed.
What's different?/rhetorical
I thought Christians were supposed to be closed minded. Loving others is not the same as being tolerant of their lifestyles.
The MSM also never gave a rats behind about the taped conversations between Bill Clinton and Jennifer Flowers - which also took place BEFORE he became prez.
Good!
Amen! I cannot fathom ever secretly taping any of my conversations with friends. It's so creepy -- and then to profit from it by writing a book. What a sad man.
Who forced him to write a book at all????????
> ... and from there, it "all became unraveled," Wead said.
Sounds like he getting a lot of flak.
Earned every bit of it.
This half-vast backtracking pseudo-excuse also just
further reveals this guy to be a complete weasel.
He's going to find himself a pariah. Honorable people
will henceforth entirely shun him. The liberals are
congratulating his treachery, but they have no real
use for him, because the tapes contain no smoking guns.
Enjoy your 15 minutes of infamy, dude.
"Author: Bush Tapes Not Meant for Public"
SUUUUUUUUUURE they weren't!
does the publisher deny trying to force Wead to write a HIT piece on Bush.
This Judas will do anything to make a buck, apparently. Giving the tapes to the NY Slimes is surely a funny way of not making them public. He deserves to be sued for this, but of course, the President is too classy for that. Pity.
here's something you're not going to get from ABC news and the NYTimes ....
from the same author, Doug Wead
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2000/bush/wead.html
"Is there any story you can tell us that helps define another aspect of him that you think is important?
Yeah, one thing I haven't seen covered in the press a lot is his almost anal sense of integrity; anything fishy, anything grey. When he was running his dad's campaign, there were girls who would have loved to have slept with the vice-president's son, the future president of the United States, and they'd send signals out and he'd send signals back saying, "Not interested."
There was even one that was kind of pushed. I remember sitting in his office when a very prominent public figure walked in and said, "G.W., you really made her feel bad, you really hurt her." G.W. said, "Good. I'm married. Not interested. Case closed. Good, I hope she feels bad, good. Glad she got the message." And in his business life I saw that. "
another story:
"There was a congressman, former congressman, who came to me with a wonderful business deal that would be good for the cause, it involved a media purchase, it was a good deal. They had one little piece of the puzzle missing and G.W. had the contact and could make the phone call to make this work, to add, to make this work. So this congressman, I said, "Ok, I'll get you in to see G.W."
And we were rehearsing in his hotel room before the meeting, and he gets to a part where he's going to say to G.W., "And there's something in this for you, if you can be helpful to us, da da da da da." ...So I plead with the congressman "Don't do this, don't say this to G.W., he'll spot it" and, he says, "That's not the way Washington works, this is what we do here, it's quid pro quo, this is long before Washington, this is the essence of people, of politics and business and there's nothing illegal about this." I said, "You understand Washington, I understand G.W. Bush. Please don't do that, you're going to embarrass me and it will backfire." He says, "Alright," I say, "Promise me," he says, "Ok, I promise." So I took him in there, and sure enough, we get in the middle of this thing, G.W.'s listening to it, sounds good, and then this congressman says, "And we're not going to take advantage of you, and if you can help us and da da da da da" and G.W. jumped out of his chair so fast and lifted the congressman up-- former congressman-- and said, "Well, this was great, thanks, buddy, thanks," and basically threw him out of his office... "
"Sounds like he's getting a lot of flak"
I cannot imagine that anyone would ever trust him again.--And with good reason. I hope he enjoys the money from the book and his 15 minutes of fame because that is all he will ever have.
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