Wead: "Forgo TV For A Time"

TV Newser; MSNBC ^ | 02/23/2005 | Brian Stelter via MSNBC via Doug Wead

[Joann37]

Wead: "Forgo TV For A Time" Doug Wead, the man who taped his pre-presidential conversations with George W. Bush, cancelled his appearance on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and sent a note to Hardball producers yesterday explaining why:

Dear Mr. Matthews,

I am so sorry to cancel your show. It was very gracious of you to allow me a chance to share my heart and regrets about recent events. It seems the better part of wisdom for me to forgo television for a time. It would only add to the distraction I have caused to the president's important and historic work.

Contrary to a statement that I made to the New York Times, I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history. I am asking my attorney to direct any future proceeds from the book to charity and to find the best way to vet these tapes and get them back to the president to whom they belong. History can wait.

Thanks for your consideration,

Doug Wead

MSNBC sent the message out to reporters this afternoon...

[Joann37]

It looks like Wead has seen the error of his ways, and the damage he has done to the President.

[DManA]

As I understand it, Wead didn't release his tapes. It was the scum bags at Viacom who did it.

[lonevoice]

Contrary to a statement that I made to the New York Times, I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history. I am asking my attorney to direct any future proceeds from the book to charity and to find the best way to vet these tapes and get them back to the president to whom they belong. History can wait.

Strange. This is sure to fuel the conspiracy theories that the WH had something to do with the tapes seeing the light of day in the first place. This will be one to keep an eye on.

[Russ]

Now the MSM can say that the White House (Carl Rove) put the strong arm on Wead to make him quit.

[epluribus_2]

He used to be a big time AMWAY motivational speaker. As republican as a $100 bill. Shame to see how he ended up.

[IrishGOP]

I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history.

Well duh!

[Luke21]

Wead is a religious conservative to the right of many of us here. (As hard as that is to believe) He's also sadly lacking in common sense. That hasn't changed since he was writing books about President Reagan in the eighties.

[AmishDude]

Yeah, it was that he used the tapes to verify to his publisher that what he said in the book was true. I guess the publisher realized that he/she had a PR goldmine and released them to the NYT. But let us not forget that Wead did not disavow it at first. He defended it.

He's probably worried that (a) he will never work in this (GOP) town again and (b) legal issues.

[JesseJane]

RELEASE THE TAPE!!!

Oh wait.....I mean the EASON JORDAN tape...

heh.

[evets]

Rove's fault.

[motherof 3]

People who care about "personal relationships" do not tape conversations much less write a book about it. How sick and devious can one be. Who would want to talk to this guy on the phone ever again?

[Egon]

He used to be a big time AMWAY motivational speaker. As republican as a $100 bill. Shame to see how he ended up.

I saw him speak a couple of times. I am extremely disappointed. I never would have imagined he would be involved in something like this.

[WoodstockCat]

this reeks of someone close to Wead at the publisher that he trusted too much...

[TexasCajun]

I'm glad Mr. Wead got my email and decided to take my advise and give all his tapes to The President!

Gotta go, the camera crew has arrived.

[harrowup]

It looks like Wead has seen the error of his ways, and the damage he has done to the President.

While he may have overstepped, I certainly don't see that he damaged President Bush or his family in any way.

The President comes off in private just as he is. A thoughtful human struggling with how to tell his story without being portrayed as either a bible thumper or a reckless youth just because he believes in Jesus Christ and partied when he was in the mood.

President Bush's greatest assets are his family and his character and his honor, all of which he has in great abundance.

Anyone in the media or elsewhere that tries to demean this common man of uncommon strength will have to answer to history. God will take care of this good man and forgive his detractors...and screw the Belgians, as an after-thought.

[Joann37]

You're right; I don't think he actually did any damage. I should have written "the damage he MIGHT have caused...". Bush has enough integrity to be the same in private as he is in public, and the tapes did not tarnish him in the least.

[OldFriend]

Wead did no damage at all to the president.

On the contrary, much to the dismay of his critics.

[MEG33]

Good decision..a bit late..

[TheOtherOne]

Author Who Secretly Recorded Bush Says He Regrets Publication

The Associated Press
Published: Feb 23, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - An old friend of President Bush who secretly recorded their private conversations and released them to the media said he has regrets and is turning the tapes over to Bush.

Doug Wead allowed journalists to hear and broadcast the tapes in the past week as he promoted his new book on presidential parents. But he said he canceled plans to be on "Hardball" on MSNBC Tuesday night to talk about his regrets because "it would only add to the distraction I have caused to the president's important and historic work."

"Contrary to a statement that I made to the New York Times, I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history," Wead wrote in a letter to the show's host, Chris Matthews, that MSNBC released to the public on Wednesday. "I am asking my attorney to direct any future proceeds from the book to charity and to find the best way to vet these tapes and get them back to the president to whom they belong. History can wait."

On the tapes, recorded over the course of the two years before Bush became the Republican presidential nominee, Bush discusses strategy for his presidential run and appears to acknowledge past drug use. He says he will refuse to answer questions about using LSD, cocaine and marijuana because "I don't want any kid doing what I tried to do 30 years ago."

The White House said Bush did not dispute the content of the tapes. The president's aides brushed off repeated questions about them during his tour of Europe this week by saying Bush considered them casual conversations "with someone he thought was a friend."

AP-ES-02-23-05 1402EST

[Gojira]

Doug Wead isn't nearly as big a jerk as his brother Dick.