Posted on 02/22/2005 5:41:29 PM PST by PDR
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Being an otherwise slow news day, the revelation that a pre-presidential George W. Bush had been caught on tape got a lot of attention.
Bush, then the governor of Texas, was surreptitiously recorded talking about life, faith and his strategy for a possible 2000 presidential campaign. In the excerpts cited by The New York Times, Bush also talks about drugs, saying, "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
This statement has been taken as confirmation Bush once used illegal drugs, something the media have for years speculated and tried to prove to the point of being a broken record, much as they have on the subject of his service in the Texas Air National Guard.
And that's how the current so-called revelations are being covered. A quick Internet search produces hundreds of hits, most of them variations on the theme "Secret tapes hint/suggest/reveal Bush smoked marijuana."
Here's how Shreveport, La.'s KTBS covered it Sunday on the station's Web site: "The New York Times is reporting that President Bush admitted trying marijuana to an old friend during a conversation that was taped without his knowledge." The farther out into the blogosphere one goes, the stronger the allegations become.
It is certainly possible to read that into it -- but it is also possible he was engaged in an intellectual exercise designed to probe the ramifications of such an admission, something his condemnation of former Vice President Al Gore's own statement suggests.
"Baby boomers have got to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs," Bush says of Gore's marijuana use, "but instead of admitting it, say to kids, 'Don't do them.'"
Here, Bush is consistent with his other statements on the subject. In fact, what may be the only remarkable thing about the tapes, at least as far as the excerpts go, is that Bush in private situations with those he presumes to be friends and allies is very much as he appears in public.
Yet for those who lie in wait for any opportunity to trip him up, any hint of marijuana smoke leads straight to a cocaine fire. And because the story broke on a three-day weekend it has stretched out over several days and eclipsed coverage of Bush's thus far successful European trip.
The idea of secret tapes is, from a journalistic standpoint, unbelievably sexy. It has been this way ever since Richard Nixon was done in by the White House taping system. In this case, though, there is no missing 18 minutes and no one calls the president "the big creep."
No, the portion of the tapes that have been made public show a determined, thoughtful man with a healthy respect for his own failings and the responsibilities of the office he might someday seek.
"I think it is time for somebody to just draw the line and look people in the eye and say, 'I am not going to participate in ugly rumors about me,' and blame my opponents, and hold the line, and stand up for a system that will not allow this kind of (stuff) to go on." From this was born his promise to change Washington as "we" know it.
Bush comes across as a straight shooter, self-confident enough to define the terms of any debate and to avoid being drawn into the trap of letting others set the agenda. The tapes were recorded by former George H. W. Bush White House aide and author Doug Wead, who has generally been happy to have people think of him as a friend of the Bush family.
Wead, who was asked to leave his Bush 41 White House posting as liaison to the U.S. evangelical community after he put his own interests ahead of those of the president he served, is now hawking a book about presidential children. He claims to have recorded Bush because he sensed his future historical importance; that he did so only in states where it is legal for one party to tape a telephone conversation without the consent or knowledge of the other belies the seeming innocence of the claim.
Rather than give interviews, he should hang his head in shame over his gross betrayal of Bush's trust and friendship. I, for one, hope he finds enough satisfaction in his book sales to ease his conscience -- but I doubt the book will sell that well.
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(The Peter Principles explores issues in national and local politics, the American culture and the media. It is written by Peter Roff, UPI political analyst and 20-year veteran of the Washington scene.)
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(Please send comments to nationaldesk@upi.com.)
I'll wait till more details are out and verified, but one thought: At least he didn't say "I smoked, but didn't inhale."
This whole dust up is less revealing of Bush than it is of Wead.
If I tell you a secret will you promise not to tell?
"If I tell you a secret will you promise not to tell?"
Sure I can keep a secret it is the people I tell you have to worry about.
sure
This is a non-issue. The only thing interesting is the pinheads who are getting all breathless talking about it. They have no idea how stupid and pathetic they look.
This is a non-issue. The only thing interesting is the pinheads who are getting all breathless talking about it. They have no idea how stupid and pathetic they look.
What's next "dirt" on Bush? He spit on the sidewalk when he was 13? Keep diging morons, W is miles ahead of your crap!
George Bush is so far ahead of the MSM it is ridiculous.
These tapes, and his words, will be totally accepted by DEMS and the MSM because they beleive he was not aware he was being taped.
Because they believe that a person lies all the time, but when in private and if not being taped, tells the truth. (Based on their own personal experience, and true about themselves).
Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for them, George Bush is not like them.
They will make a big issue out of these 'tapes' and it will defeat them in the end.
p.s.
Wead is not the 'bad guy'. President Bush is at the goal line, and the Dems are still arguing over who gets to toss the coin.
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