Posted on 02/27/2005 7:50:54 AM PST by rface
No reporter ever asked the Texas governor why all those other people deserved to serve five or 10 or 20 years in prison, when their crimes were no different from what everyone knew he had done, whether he admitted it or not.....Joe Conason wonders why the president is punishing drug users for offences he has also been linked to.
On the audiotapes of George W. Bush recorded secretly by his erstwhile confidant Douglas Wead in 1999, the future president revealed how much he feared candid discussion of his personal use of marijuana and cocaine. As quoted in The New York Times, Bush vowed that no matter what rumours and facts circulated about what he did or might have done, he would doggedly decline to answer forthrightly.
His natural urge to protect his privacy evokes sympathy, however quaint his expectations might be at this point in our political history. But in justifying his refusal to talk about his foolish youth, he appealed to a higher purpose. "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions," he told Wead. "You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
For many American parents of a certain age, that self-serving yet poignant response must strike an empathetic chord. Concern that children will mimic parental misbehaviour is universal, and so is the impulse to conceal embarrassing truths. Bush rightly worries that children imitate adult models in the belief that they, too, can escape the consequences.
When Bush uttered those words, he was in his second term as governor of Texas and on his way to the White House. After all, if he could drink too much, smoke those forbidden herbs and perhaps even snort illegal powders and nevertheless become a successful politician, then "some little kid" might reasonably assume he or she could sin likewise without undue risk.
Any such assumption would be terribly mistaken, of course, unless the kid happened to belong to a wealthy and well-connected family like the Bush clan.
Prisons and jails across America are crowded with non-violent drug offenders whose lives have been ruined — and whose families have been damaged or destroyed — by the same punitive legal system that never touched young "Georgie," except to issue him a drunk-driving summons.
The poor and the black are incarcerated for using pot and coke, while the rich and the white lie to their kids (and occasionally to the voters) about those same transgressions.
Certainly that was how the justice system worked when Bush and Wead had their candid chats. The Texas politician couldn't reassure his friend that he hadn't used cocaine, let alone marijuana, but as governor he was imprisoning young people unlucky enough to be arrested in possession of those narcotics, often for draconian mandatory-minimum sentences. He always cherished his image as a tough, swaggering, law-and-order politician who didn't hesitate to imprison teenagers. But that isn't what happens to people from good families.
His niece Noelle Bush went through a drug-rehab program and was released two years ago. His friend Rush Limbaugh went through rehab and has returned to berating the less fortunate on the radio, without doing one day of time.
The lopsided cruelty has only escalated since Bush entered the White House. Federal agents have cracked down on medical users of marijuana, depriving them of a substance that eases their sickness and keeps them alive.
The human and economic costs of the drug war continue to swell. So burdensome are those costs that many conservatives, including such Bush tutors as former secretary of state George Shultz, have publicly pleaded for saner policies.
Despite his claims to be a "compassionate conservative," Bush has ignored those pleas. He seems to feel that if he overcame his substance-abuse problem, then nobody else really has an excuse.
No reporter ever asked the Texas governor why all those other people deserved to serve five or 10 or 20 years in prison, when their crimes were no different from what everyone knew he had done, whether he admitted it or not.
No reporter will ask the president that question today, either, although it is just as pertinent in light of his revealing conversations with Wead.
Indeed, Bush not only avoided public responsibility for his own past mistakes but found a clever way to turn those wayward years to political advantage. He brandishes his late return to sobriety as a symbol of his Christian faith.
It is hard to tell what Bush learned in his recovery from sin, except that other people got caught and he didn't.
That would be enough to make anybody smirk.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Conason is the author of The Hunting of the President:The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Irresponsible charge you're making there.
marajade, bigsigh is only interested in posting up the Leftist smear, not any actual documentation.
What did you say to FRs founder, Jim Robinson, when he made this same charge in August of 1999?
"To: Freedom Wins
So, it doesn't matter if he snorted coke as a youth? It was a long time ago, a youthful indiscretion? Kinda like people who frequented sneakeasies during prohibition? Kind of a cute story, eh? Well, how about all the people whose lives have been destroyed by being arrested for the felony of drug possession? What about the millions of people who are rotting away in your filthy drug infested prisons at this very moment?
Well, by God, if you people insist on electing another cokehead as President, you damned well better throw open all the prison cell doors and free every man, woman, and child you're holding on drug charges. And if you're gonna elect another drug felon as President, you'd better rescind each and every one of your unconstitutional drug laws now on the books, including all of your unconstitutional search and seizure laws, and your asset forfeiture laws, and your laws that enable your unconstitutional snooping into our bank accounts and cash transactions. Well, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. You people are sick! Conservatives my ass. You people are nothing but a bunch of non-thinking hypocrits! You're a shame and a disgrace to the Republic!
And, I, for one, am tired of taking orders from cokeheads and felons! Elect another one and I'll tell you what. I'll be ready for war! It'll be time to take up arms and run the filthy lying bastards out!
2 Posted on 08/20/1999 03:19:31 PDT by Jim Robinson [ Reply | To 1 | Top | Last ]"
To: A Navy Vet
I'm here to work against government corruption and to try to find a way to repeal and/or abolish unconstitutional laws and agencies in an attempt to force our government to abide by the Constitution. I do not believe a Bush Presidency will be good for our Constitution or for our Republic. I also oppose Dole, Hatch and McCaine on the same grounds. I believe that Forbes, Keyes, Smith and perhaps Buchanon would be strong supoporters of the Constitution. I'm neutral on the other Republicans whoa re running. I oppose all Democrats as being anti-constitution (and corrupt). I am not connected to any political party or candidate. FR will continue as an independent non-profit organization no matter who wins the election.
177 Posted on 08/20/1999 16:54:27 PDT by Jim Robinson [ Reply | To 175 | Top | Last ]
And here is that link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37bd2556430e.htm
http://www.corr.ca.gov/CommunicationsOffice/facts_figures_budget.asp
According to this link its K-12 education. My guess was incorrect, health care was third. But your prediction was even more wrong than mine.
I guess if JR says it the kool aide line will swallow. Good day!
I'd only worry about a poor dyslexic aas like yourself, bs. :-)
your misunderstanding my point on the budget. I am addressing the operating budget of the department of corrections and youth authority, not the total state budget outside of corrections.
Please tell me what I'm required by you to answer so that I can get in the kool aide line also. I'm out til tomorrow.
I'd ask him to verify his charge.
Nothing. It's his forum, he can say what he wants. Perhaps you should contact HIM about that quote. But I doubt you'll do that. :-)
You knocked yourself out of the thread early on, pal. :-)
As I'm out the door for today, I just want to say how impressed I am by your cogent arguments and your avoidance of personal attack. So refreshing for our local discourse. You are indeed a role model for ex-coke users.
I've provided a link to the corrections budget. Unlike you, I can back up my statements.
As he walks along,
He wonders what went wrong,
With his party, a party that was so strong.
And as he still walks on,
He think of the things they've done
Together, a-while their hearts were young.
He's a-walkin' in the rain,
Tears are fallin' and he feels the pain,
Wishin' Clinton were here you see,
To end this misery
And he wonders--
He wah-wah-wah-wah-wonders,
Why,
Why, why, why, why, as he ran away,
Yes, and he wonders,
Even to this da-ay,
DFUs little runaway,
Run, run, run, run, runaway.
Nothing. My question was for rface and I included you in my reply simply because I mentioned you in my post to him/her.
And the 'banned' play(ed) on...right, bigsigh?
Budget: $5.7 billion (2004-2005 Budget Act)
Avg. yearly cost: per inmate, $30,929; per parolee, $3,364 Staff: 49,073 currently employed including 42,453 in Institutions, 3,114 in Parole, and 3,506 in Administration (about 31,220 sworn peace officers)
Total offenders under CDC jurisdiction: 301,181. One year change: +766 (0.2%)
I don't see the line item budget posted with the total for "personal services" vs "operating expenses." If you did see please link, if you didn't then you haven't found the relevant info to be beating your chest.
During my last year, our facility had a $57 million budget. 90% was employee salaries and benefits which the state calls "personal services." This is distinguished from "Operating Expenses," which ran about 10%. If you have different numbers on these line items, I'd be glad to see them. Does this mean Bush never used coke?
bookmark
I am not sure where you are coming from on this, and I have not read the entire thread.
In my mind, it is debateable whether prison changes people for the better. With respect to drug addictions, I think it often has the opposite effect.
I was arrested once. I only spent one night in jail. The effect on me was to make me less afraid of being arrested again. Jail is not so bad. The food is lousey, but the people are nice. Even the cops were nice.
Narcs are NOT conservative.
Narcs are unionized tax eaters with guns.
Why would any conservative support narcs?
A thousand apologies! I was referring to Conason. It should have read: "I hope Conason doesn't think pedophilia is a game."
Do you know Conason has never denied being a pedophile?
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