Posted on 02/19/2005 6:38:45 PM PST by Cagey
NEW YORK (AP) - Private conversations with George Bush secretly taped by an old friend before he was elected president foreshadow some of his political strategies and appear to reveal that he acknowledged using marijuana, The New York Times reported Saturday.
The conversations were recorded by Doug Wead, a former aide to George W. Bush's father, beginning in 1998, when Bush was weighing a presidential bid, until just before the Republican National Convention in 2000, the Times said in a story posted on its Web site.
The tapes show Bush crafting a strategy for navigating the tricky political waters between Christian conservative and secular voters, repeatedly worrying that evangelicals would be angered by a refusal to bash gays and that secular Americans would be turned off by meetings with evangelical leaders.
On one tape, Bush explains that he told one prominent evangelical that he would not "kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?"
In early tapes, Bush dismisses the strength of John McCain for the nomination and expresses concern about rival Steve Forbes. He also praises John Ashcroft as a promising candidate for Supreme Court justice, attorney general or vice president.
Bush also criticizes then-Vice President Al Gore for admitting marijuana use and explains why he would not do the same.
"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions," he said, according to the Times. "You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
According to the article, Wead played 12 of the tapes to a Times reporter. He said he recorded them because he viewed Bush as a historic figure. He is the author of a new book on presidential childhoods.
The White House did not deny the authenticity of the tapes.
"The governor was having casual conversations with someone he believed was his friend," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said, referring to Bush.
ooooooo..the Times and the AP. The only one missing is Danny Boy and the Texas Fax Machine.
The wording of that statement says a lot.
There's nothing in this story they can hang on the President. All he is doing is being brutally honest, as usual.
Well .. I hope the President has learned not to tell all to "someone who he believed was a friend".
Cross linking: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346966/posts
"You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
That says everything right there.
Of course implicit in this statement is "If I were Algore". The shallowness of these people still amazes me.
Exactly what does it say?
We heard that statement, or one very similar in 2,000.
As long as Bush, like the admitted dope smoker Willy J. Crinton, didn't inhale (cough-cough), it is okay!
treach·er·ous adj.
1. Marked by betrayal of fidelity, confidence, or trust; perfidious. See Synonyms at faithless.
2. Not to be relied on; not dependable or trustworthy.
3. aka Doug Wead
And yet, the author of this article says that Wead is an "old friend". Since when do old friends go around secretly recording private conversations of "friends"? I smell a book planned long ago but still, if this is the juiciest stuff he has to offer, it's all about nothing.
That the Slimes would suggest that Dubya may have known he was being taped is so typical. They just can't believe a person can be honorable.......on and off the public stage.
Get back under your rock.
Wasn't Algore's kid busted for possession?
What a great friend.
Oh yeah.
Especially in politics.
There's nothing incriminating here at all.
Honest answers to honest questions...I see nothing wrong with what G.W. said....so he says "what I tried"...as "Chef" says in South Park "There's a time and place for everything...and it's called 'college'."
What he may or may not have done as a youth does not bother me one bit. He has not pursued the path of the destruction of America like so many of the other political persuasion have done so since the sixties.
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