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 ...
Other discussions of this article or topic are at the following threads if anyone is interested in reading the comments.....
I think we need an investigation to verify that these tapes were, in fact, made in states that allow one-sided, uninformed recording. Bet he is lying!!! Anyone who would do this to someone considered a friend would certainly lie about how he "accomplished the evil deed." Again, thank God that the tapes show that "W" is, indeed, what we have all come to believe he is.
They guy betrayed a friend he thought would go far and wishes to profit from it. That is reprehensible. The tapes show that Bush is Bush. Big shocker there. Bush is what he is and what you see is what you get. I am proud I voted for the man twice. As proud as I was for voting for Reagan.
Exactly. I think the tapes actually help GWB...they make him look good. He says in private exactly what he says in public.
The first thing GWB did was to thank God that he "comes across pretty good in the tapes." But to assume that he will be cool with someone having worn a wire to talk to him - and then having allowed himself to be "forced" by a publisher to make those tapes public - is IMHO a leap of faith which Mr. Wead might be ill advised to take.Unless of course he actually ran the tapes past Karl Rove first . . .
I agree. Of course the Bush-hating, ultra-liberal MSM will make it out to be proof positive of Bushes' "evil nature."
I think it's a big fat whoop. I can't wait for the MSM to milk this story over and over until the public gets sick of it, wonders what the big deal is, and thens puts another nail into the MSM already hammered coffin.
What it actually does is give insight into bush's character. now since the dums don't even know what that word Means and EVERYTHING is a strategy to win the NEXT election, this msm dullard ofcoure would use the term.
Nail in coffin? No we are already to the point of throwing dirt in the grave.
Yeah, you may be right. :)
I have not heard any of the tapes..Just knew that it had happened. When I heard it reported on the news I didn't believe it would have anything scandalous in them. He's a man of character.
But I thought Jesus said love the sinner more because the sinner needs our love more
that isn't saying you accept the sinful behaviour but I think Jesus's message was the way to bring a sinner back to the right path is by showing love not hate
I didn't need this lowlife to betray a friendship for 30 pieces of silver to know the President's character was genuine. The tapes simply prove we were right when he chose this man to our President twice. And they also reveal the sickness of the Dems that they would be convinced they could find evidence to indicate otherwise.
I hope Judas can live with himself for betraying a good man. Actually, I don't. Could care less whether he spends the rest of his life in shame for what he has done. I feel sorry for G.W. He didn't deserve this betrayal.
Well, your posting is the first I have found that mirrors my own thoughts. It's all good, so far as I can see.
I remember when the media was frothing about the Swifties, and demanded that Bush denounce them. Bush would only denounce all 527's, which I thought was purposefully tepid in order to distance himself from the favorable news the Swifties provided.
Perhaps someone somewhere in the loop of the administration, or family, was consulted prior to the release of these tapes, deliberately leaving Bush out of the loop? If we think we have seen the libs froth their best already, it will seem truly tepid compared to their response if they do find out that Mr. Wead was not such a Judas after all.
Oh, well. Where is Dan Rather when we need his expert investigative reporting?
Ha ha! Yep as he once said, if there's a story here to be broken, he'd sure like to be the one to do it.
Only problem, no doubt age related, lately he's been a bit late in his awareness of the "breaking" news story.
Because he is promoting his book, Because the Times likely said they would 'review' his book, because he is a duplicitous back stabbing ass*ole. The NYT will do ANYTHING in an attempt to hurt the president and I'm betting they promised him good things for the tapes.
As it stands...these tapes have no credibility.
HE WILL HAVE TO RELEASE THEM TO PEOPLE...OTHER THAN LIBERAL NEWS FOLKS...FOR INSPECTION FOR CONTENT AND EDITING.
BET HE WON'T DO IT.
Also....no where in transcripts shown yet...does Bush actually say he tried anyting.
There are claims that this guy worked for 41...
Sounds like another disgruntled guy who got canned and is now pushing payback.
TOO LATE! THE ELECTION IS OVER!!!!!!
BUSH WON!
Hey, ThirstyMan! I'm glad my sarcasm gave you (and me) a chuckle, but I don't think Rather's problem is age-related.
He couldn't hit an honest bull in the butt with a bass fiddle because his integrity is cockeyed, and always has been. If it was an honest story, he would "break" it by squashing it, not getting it out to the public.
Boy, am I glad I lived long enough to be listening and talking to people like you instead of the pap we used to be stuck with. WooHoo!
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