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!