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.
Portions of the tapes, recorded from 1998 to 2000 by author Doug Wead without Bush's knowledge, .....White House officials did not dispute the tapes' veracity and indicated the president was disappointed by their release.
This is the part of this story about which supporters of Pres. Bush should be appalled. In link after link that I've looked at, Doug Wead is described as Christian friend and confidante of the President. (See, for example http://www.frif.com/new2004/with.html AND http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/president/)
A so-called CHRISTIAN friend secretly taped a friend and then revealed private conversations. That is why the president is said to be "disappointed."
You wonder where a man like the president is able to turn.
I honestly feel sorry for him.
I would think so.......concensus is that many evangelicals stayed home in the 2000 election after hearing he simply had a DUI......just think how they would have reacted to pot.....I"m just stating what Karl Rove and others said about that episode......
OK, lets disqualify everyone who's ever tried pot for everything. There'll still thirty-forty of us left to run things!
< /sarcasm >
It's a good thing Dan Rather and Mary Mapes didn't get this info before the election. :)
Well...maybe not - then they would accuse him of plagiarism!
And what planet have you just returned from? I am currently kicking down $20 a week for commissary money and providing remail service for a good friend doing 9 months on just that, and one hears worse stories. This one I know for fact.
By the way, before everybody goes nuts with the "didn't inhale" line, Clinton may well have been precisely honest on this one. At that time, especially in UK, baking pot in cokies or brownies was very popular. Takes longer to feel, but quite effective, lasts longer too.
Many, many public service jobs would go begging - Otto couldn't drive the school bus on The Simpsons, for instance!
What is the average depth of sewer lines?
How far has the MSM sunk in its unceasing effort to destroy President Bush, his character and his legacy?
In God's name why are they doing this?
How can the destruction of President Bush be good for the USA, its citizens, our security, the direction of the War on Terror and our stature in the world?
I give up!
Well, that gives W and me something in common. Bet he inhaled, too.
"I tried,it didn't like it,DID inhale and then never did it again"
I tried it,LOVED it,inhaled deeply,tried it plenty more times then realized it was hurting my personal growth and haven't touched it for more than two decades.
Them - "Holy #%#@ the cops!".
Me - "F^%#".
State prison?
I'd be interested in the story.
2ns term has already started... who cares?
That is the only part of real interest to me.
The information released only proves he is a genuine man in a town of two faced weasels. It can't harm him. Right now you have Liberals kicking themselves that these tapes didn't reveal a man of a different character. They may not admit it publicly but they've got nothing.
The part that infuriates me is that this President was betrayed by a Judas. His "FRIEND" betrayed him. I can only imagine how the President must feel. It has to be a blow not because the information is harmful, but because he lost a friend. Trust was broken. I despise this guy for his betrayal. George W. Bush did not deserve that broken Faith.
I can't imagine what purpose the friend imagined this served, and I pray this wasn't for money.
I pray it wasn't for 30 of anything -- not thousands of dollars, not minutes of fame ... not pieces of silver.
FOX's weekend liberals has included the shots at Clinton and Gore - but they have run this story for the last 4 hourly programs.
That's enough for me - I'm off to another channel.
I'll be back to see War Stories and the special on Hollywood (with John Gibson) - that's it.
I heard the tapes. I agree. If this man is supposed to be a long time friend he is truly pathetic.
I would think that taping phone calls without consent or alerting the other party would be illegal.
At any rate, typical how the commie media is doing backflips to air the story.
Recall how ABC went to a commie country to discredit the John O'Neil. Our President, brave Veterans. That's who they hate. Bastards all.
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