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.
Who cares !!!
I never thought it a big deal that BC smoked---only that he lied about it (and everything else). I was in a rock band: it was like the army---just to get in, you had to get your "shots," which included marijuana and crabs :)
He "tried" it, but did he inhale? ;^)
People who have had thier house siezed for doing the same thing.
Yeah, Dubya was talking about how ALGORE was approaching the marijuana question, then suggested how HE would approach it. This is not an admission of guilt - it's an analysis by Bush of ALGORE's and CLINTON's admission of guilt.
From the NYT article:
Mr. Bush, who has acknowledged a drinking problem years ago, told Mr. Wead on the tapes that he could withstand scrutiny of his past. He said it involved nothing more than "just, you know, wild behavior." 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."
He refused to answer reporters' questions about his past behavior, he said, even though it might cost him the election. Defending his approach, Mr. Bush said: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
He mocked Vice President Al Gore for acknowledging marijuana use. "Baby boomers have got to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs, but instead of admitting it, say to kids, don't do them," he said.
BTW, the quote in this article is NOT in the NYT.
DID HE INHALE!
I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF HE INHALED!
House siezed for trying marijuana??....I think you may have been trying a bit of it today
Does anybody know where this quote came from? It is NOT in the New York Times article.
Has this guy given other interviews?
Plus, who cares. It all sounds like the MSM just attempting to continue to trash dubya and to be truthful, I am tired of hearing/reading about all of it.
Well, there's one that grabbed the pot line........
That does it....the last straw.
That dog smoked weed. Shame.
I bet it was those Oaxacan "wife beaters" common back then.
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