In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President

The New York Times ^ | February 20, 2005 | DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

[Nephi]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 - As George W. Bush was first moving onto the national political stage, he often turned for advice to an old friend who secretly taped some of their private conversations, creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality.

In the last several weeks, that friend, Doug Wead, an author and former aide to Mr. Bush's father, disclosed the tapes' existence to a reporter and played about a dozen of them.

[Nephi]

This could get interesting, though I doubt the President is surprised to learn of the existance of the tapes.

[MikefromOhio]

yeah I saw this story on Fox News as well.

I dont know if this is going to be quite as big as everyone thinks.

[GodBlessUSA]

I hope your right. It's bad enough how they pick apart what he says straight to the media. Now tapes. I'm sure I wouldn't be pleased with the media's distorted or revised versions of what Bush says on tapes.

[MikefromOhio]

I am certain of it as well. On Fox, they quote him saying something that really looks like he had smoked marijuana in his younger days. He appears to not want to talk about it so that it doesnt influence younger people to try what he did.

works for me. Quite a few people of the President's generation experiemented at the very least with the Mary Jane. It happens I guess, but you watch, the MSM will attempt to make a big story out of it.

[DoctorMichael]

He wasn't having phone sex or harrassing anyone (O'Reilly)..........

He wasn't arranging to have someone killed (Mafia).........

He wasn't plotting to circumvent the Constitution (Nixon)........

He wasn't cajoling someone into lying to save his miserable a$$ (Klintoon & Jennifer Flowers)........

.......and I happen to agree with his opinion of Algore .

Anything else?

Next.

[southernnorthcarolina]

The private Mr. Bush sounds remarkably similar in many ways to the public President Bush.

The New York Times is baffled by such behavior.

[Run Silent Run Deep]

No story here.

This Wead guy is an assh*le, Here's what Goldwater thought of him.

---

ARIZONA REPUBLIC

Oct. 30, 1992

Republican Barry Goldwater, Arizona's Mr. Conservative, shook up eastern Arizona's new 6th Congressional District on Thursday by endorsing Democrat Karan English.

It was a blow to Republican Doug Wead, who has touted himself as a ''Barry Goldwater Republican.''

The former senator is referred to as a national hero in a campaign video Wead has sent to nearly 30,000 households in the sprawling new district. advertisement

But it was English's 22-year residency in Arizona, compared with a two-year tenure for Wead, that tipped the scales for Goldwater.

''Doug Wead does not know or understand Arizona, and his record in Washington, D.C., is not the best,'' Goldwater said of Wead, President Bush's former liaison to conservative and religious groups, and a former minister.

---

English got ousted by Hayworth after one term in the revolution of '94 so all's well that ends well.

[Nephi]

Yeah, it won't be as big a story as it would be if the tapes revealed something damaging. In the end, the tapes may be helpful to the President in that they "document" his character.

[marty60]

The other question I had was the partial birth abortion [bill]. Was that really significant for the evangelical community? How would you characterize it?

Doug Wead:

I think the signing of that partial birth abortion bill will be a big statement to evangelicals, because they've never had anything on the right-to-life abortion front ever, from Reagan or anybody. So in that sense, it'll be significant, even to evangelicals who are pro-choice. I think at least they will stop and think, "You know, I'm pro-choice. But he had the guts to buck the whole media to sign that, and it's meant as a gesture towards me, even though I'm pro-choice." Therefore it will be meaningful to them. And most evangelicals are pro-life. ...

This is from a frontline interview of Mr. Wead.

[GodBlessUSA]

Oh great. Fox is the tamer of them. I hope this will blow over quickly. That person has some nerve taping him without his knowledge and releasing it now. Everything he said will be blown out of proportion.

Everything that we are involved in, now as a country, when we should be rallying behind our leader, they are still trying to destroy our leader. It's unbelievable and maddening to me! Hopefully, like most of their attempts this too will be futile.

[MikefromOhio]

yeah...

if there was something potentially damaging in there, you bet your @$$ they would have been out in the final week of October....

[Nephi]

No story here.

Maybe in your world.

[Howe_D_Dewty]

Perhaps someone can help.Is it illegal to secretly tape a confidential conversation? Is it similar to telephone tape recording? Thanks..

[Nephi]

Perhaps someone can help.Is it illegal to secretly tape a confidential conversation? Is it similar to telephone tape recording? Thanks..

Mr. Wead first acknowledged the tapes to a reporter in December to defend the accuracy of a passage about Mr. Bush in his new book, "The Raising of a President." He did not mention the tapes in the book or footnotes, saying he drew on them for only one page of the book. He said he never sought to sell or profit from them. He said he made the tapes in states where it was legal to do so with only one party's knowledge.

[maine-iac7]

The Times did, it seems, an actual balanced piece - and the whole thing offers nothing new - only that "W" is who he is. He says what he means, means what he says - We've always known that, now many more will.

That is comforting...Trust is crucial.

[CurmudgeonMuffin]

As always, the NYT buried aspects they didn't think jibe with Bush's caricature. Top among them was Bush's comments on homosexuals and his utter disdain for a proposal by a evangelical to use them as a divisive issue. His refusal to "kick gays" has puzzled the left. In the tapes, Bush criticizes the Christian Coalition: "This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however." Even more interesting was his middle-of-the-road stance on gay rights. "Gay marriage, I am against that. Special rights, I am against that." Polls show Americans back those positions by at least 3 to 1. But this tolerant -- even thoughtful -- perspective is dumped in the bottom of the story.

[Run Silent Run Deep]

Really? Why do you think it is a story?

[carola]

Somehow I don't think the guy who made the tapes is going to get the Linda Tripp treatment from the MSM.

[Nephi]

Though I disagree with Bush on many fronts I agree with those who suggest that history may show Bush to be one of this nation's great Presidents. These tapes from what I have read so far seem to document the character of the President and his character is a positive at this point. The ensuing discussion could also be an overall positive for Bush as people parse and compare his taped words to the words we've all heard him say in action.