Posted on 02/20/2005 2:03:25 PM PST by rs79bm
By Sue Pleming ( <---- LIBERAL ALERT!) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush indicated in interviews secretly taped by a friend before he became president that he had used marijuana but would not admit it for fear of setting a bad example for children.
Portions of the tapes, recorded from 1998 to 2000 by author Doug Wead without Bush's knowledge, were aired on ABC News on Sunday and published by The New York Times. Their authenticity was verified by the media outlets but has not been independently checked by Reuters.
"I wouldn't answer the marijuana question. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried," Bush purportedly says on the tape.
He added: "But you got to understand, I want to be president. I want to lead. I want to set -- Do you want your little kid say, 'Hey, Daddy, President Bush tried marijuana, I think I will?"'
In the tape, Bush mocks former Vice President Al Gore -- who fought him for the presidency in 2000 -- for admitting he smoked marijuana.
White House officials did not dispute the tapes' veracity and indicated the president was disappointed by their release.
"These were casual conversations that then Gov. Bush was having with someone he thought was a friend, and that's what they are," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with Bush to Europe aboard Air Force One.
NOT AWARE
McClellan said Bush, who was governor of Texas when the tapes were made, was not aware he was being recorded and the White House found out only when contacted by the New York Times for comment.
"Look, I think that, one, the comments in the tapes speak for themselves. And two, I think that what I just said pretty much speaks for itself," McClellan said when pressed about the details.
"Those were issues that were addressed ad nauseam four years ago and they were conversations that took place more than four years ago," he said, adding that Bush had not been in contact with Wead for several years.
No, they just get saddled with drug convictions, in some cases felony drug convictions, that follow them around for the rest of their lives. Not that George W. Bush would have had to worry about that if he'd ever been caught, unlike many less fortunate people.
"Someone gets caught with a bunch of pot plants, they go to jail sometimes for the rest of their lives. Mother in Atlanta strangles her kid, and gets a "get your tubes tied and be good now." That's a steaming load."
In fairness, George W. Bush didn't make those laws, and Bill Clinton didn't do anything to change them when he was in power, either.
He has stated publicly that he has hours and hours of unheard tapes, but wasn't planning on using them.
...wasn't planning on using them? Unless what?
You are so right with your post.
Nobody should judge him,because many have tried this or that in their youth and admit as adults that it was a mistake to do so.
BTW,you learn from your mistakes and can teach others(your kids for example) from it.
"No, they just get saddled with drug convictions, in some cases felony drug convictions, that follow them around for the rest of their lives. Not that George W. Bush would have had to worry about that if he'd ever been caught, unlike many less fortunate people."
It is a shame though that so many have their lives ruined over youthful indiscretions that may very well have never hurt anyone. I'm a public defender and I was just having this conversation a minute ago with a client in my office. He's a drug addict who is struggling with getting off the drugs. I played around with drugs when I was younger, even some of the hard stuff. I was lucky though. I never got caught and I never got addicted. Like this guy said to me a moment ago, when you are young you feel bulletproof. No one thinks they'll get caught and no one thinks they'll get addicted. Only stupid weak people get caught or addicted, so many of us thought when we were younger. But the truth seems to be that some people are just predisposed to addiction and anyone could get caught, although most don't. All I know is that I am lucky, and but for the grace of God go I.
Um, I know, that's who. I and others who are capable of following a transcript.
Frankly, it wouldn't bother me if he had, either. It really bothers me not one whit if he smoked marijuana and I completely respect the stance he took on what it means to be a leader and setting an example. I've often thought over the years that he and Laura set a marvelous example in many areas of life.
BTW, I don't think at the time period in question coke was that popular or easy to obtain. That period of pretty open coke use would be in the 70s, not the late 60s. I do not think he's done cocaine for that and other reasons.
I do not need reassurance about what matters. I simply deal with what is and what is likely.
I always thought Clinton should have been dismissed as too dumb after his "didn't inhale" comment.
Now when they talk about the dope smoker in the whitehouse they will have to be more specific. He he
Yes, this is not their fault individually per se.
But for the media's hatred of Pres. Bush they would praise his early use of pot. They just cannot shed their hate.
Excerpts of the tapes have been published and also played on tv. Not only did I hear him say if anyone comes forward to say he did coke they'd be lying, but that is how several other respected people have interpreted his comments, too (I heard them AFTER I had heard/read that part of the tapes).
In addition, the tapes explain a bit more in-depth his rationale for deciding to not answer the drug questions...a rationale which he had publicly stated but more generally.
He did not ever directly take on the drug question, but he did give, in 1999, a 25 year window of saying there was nothing since that time.
There is nothing at all that indicates he did coke. Yes, you can hypothesize it was possible, but there is no witness, there were no hints, and now we have the tapes where he says if somebody shows up it will be made up.
Sorry, but it is time to acknowledge that there is no evidence for it and to drop it.
BTW, as to your point that he has not denied it. That is the very point he's made in public and on the tapes. He was not going to address the subject at all for the reasons he articulated.
And as I said earlier, it was the second half of the 70s when coke began to be wildly popular, not the early 70s.
You 100% miss the point.
Bush has refused to deny or confirm ANY OF THIS RUMORMONGERING.
He has done so by design. He has explained why, and it makes perfect sense. If you start down that road, there is no end. The media and your political enemies will raise rumor after rumor, question after question, on an endless series of possible fauxpas in your past. So regardless of what you did or did not do in your past, the stories become all about your past...15, 20, 30, 35, 40 years ago.
Get it?
George W Bush is not going to let people like that - and apparently like you - do that to him, his life, his family, and by extension, this nation!
Well, I remember when it happened and here's a lib source confirming my statement.
excerpt:
"As I understand it", Bush told a press conference, "the current [FBI] form asks the question, `Did somebody use drugs in the last seven years?' and I will be glad to answer that question and the answer is No." Taking him at his word, this meant that Bush had not used drugs since 1992.
The following day, Bush shifted the boundary back farther, stating that, at the time his father was inaugurated as president in 1989, he would have passed the background check that was then in force, which required a statement that the subject of the check had not used drugs in the previous 15 years.
He was saying, in other words, that he had not used drugs since 1974. And this, essentially, is his final word on the matter.
~snip~
Furthermore, here is the part of the tape on cocaine:
In Secretly Taped Conversations, Glimpses of the Future President
excerpt:
He worried, though, that allegations of cocaine use would surface in the campaign, and he blamed his opponents for stirring rumors. "If nobody shows up, there's no story," he told Mr. Wead, "and if somebody shows up, it is going to be made up." But when Mr. Wead said that Mr. Bush had in the past publicly denied using cocaine, Mr. Bush replied, "I haven't denied anything."
~snip~
He was right.
And, yes, this shows the moral worthlessness of politicians who pursue the War on Some Drugs after getting a free pass for their own violations.
That was not the point. There are plenty of sources. I chose the first one that popped up on Google. The FACT is as I stated.
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