AP Gives Bush Another Free Pass On Cocaine Abuse (2000 Redux?)

[DrFunkenstein]

Stigma Weakens for Pols Who Smoked Pot

WASHINGTON - When it comes to marijuana, youthful indiscretion has come of age.

Eight candidates at a recent Democratic presidential debate were asked whether they ever had used marijuana. Three of them — Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Howard Dean — each answered with an unadorned "yes," drawing enthusiastic applause from the "Rock the Vote" event's youthful audience. It was candidates who said they hadn't smoked pot who felt the need to elaborate.

The candidates' admissions caused barely a ripple in the media, launched no significant Republican attacks and no signs of public outrage. But conservative moralist Bill Bennett, co-chairman of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, said he was disappointed by "this kind of tee-hee, ha ha, winking and nodding at marijuana."

"It's not a lighthearted issue. It's a serious issue," said Bennett, who served as director of drug control policy under the first President Bush. "They wouldn't joke like this about smoking cigarettes."

Character was a big issue in movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger's election to California governor, but film of him smoking pot back in his bodybuilder days was not. President Bush, who speaks in broad terms about overcoming a drinking problem, refuses to answer specific questions about his past behavior.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=5&u=/ap/politics_of_pot

So you mention that he refuses to answer specific questions, but forget to mention the questions? What might they refer to?

Three independent sources close to the Bush family report that Governor Bush was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession, and taken to Harris County Jail, but avoided jail or formal charges through an informal diversion plan involving community service.

Bush has essentially admitted that he used cocaine in his Clintonesque, carefully worded partial denials. He won't deny using cocaine or marijuana, though under persistent questioning he said that he hadn't used cocaine in the last 7 years. Most newspapers report that he denies using cocaine since 1974, but that's not exactly true.

What Bush actually said was ""I could have passed the FBI background check on the standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United States - a 15-year period," Mr. Bush said. This is ambiguous because background forms ask slightly different questions, depending on the position. Drug questions can go back one year, seven years or 10 years. Bush Jr. didn't have any formal position in his father's administration, so which one applies is unclear. And 15-years is not one of the choices.

Since Bush Sr.'s presidency began in January 1989, reporters assumed that Jr. was denying drug use for 15 years before that, to 1974. But that is not at all clear. His only direct statement was for seven years before today. He could easily have been denying drug use only for 15 years before today, based on 7 or 10 years dating back from the END of his dad's term. 10 years before 1993, the end of Bush Sr.'s term, is pretty close to 15 years before today.

The Clinton administration actually has a stricter standard than Bush did -- the FBI now asks about any drug use after age 18. But Governor Bush has refused to say whether he would pass that standard. Bush also has refused to answer whether he could have passed the FBI test when his father was vice president, during the 8 years from 1981-1989.

As for the arrest and diversion charge, Governor Bush admits working at the center in 1972. When asked for comment, Bush's campaign spokesman reportedly said "Oh shit... no comment." McLellan denies saying that.

http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#cocaine

"When I was young and irresponsible, I was really young and irresponsible." - George W. Bush

<>

Kerry was asked by reporters to explain why he thought that questions surrounding George Bush regarding whether or not he had used cocaine were more substantively relevant than Gore's use of marijuana. Kerry, noting that Al Gore had already admitted his use of marijuana, said:

"(H)e (Gore) said 'I used it.' So that's not an issue... And I don't think Al Gore intends, you know, to make prior use an issue of other people, except to the degree that it affects public policy."

Pressed later on the question of the Bush cocaine rumors, Kerry laid out his thinking on why Bush's drug use, if substantiated, is indeed an important issue for voters to consider:

"The issue about George Bush is not the fact that he may have used it, said Kerry. "The issue about George Bush is, how can you, if you have (used cocaine), have a position that is so at odds in terms of being a governor where you send a lot of other people who may have done the same thing you do to jail. That's the issue. It's not a question of whether he used it or when he used it, it's a question of what his policy is today and whether that's hypocritical and dangerous."

The Week Online spoke with Kerry Spokesman David Wade, who reiterated the Senator's position.

"The Vice President has long admitted that he has used marijuana," said Wade. "Governor Bush, on the other hand, will say only that when he was young and irresponsible, he was young and irresponsible. But when Bush has had the opportunity to score political points in Texas by promulgating tough, extremely punitive new laws against drug users, he has been happy to do so."

http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/123/gorequestions.shtml

[blm]

1. Gore needed more Dems to stick up for him in 2000 the way Kerry did.

I don't know why more did not. There were certainly enough issues to contrast Bush and Gore and enough reasonss to point out Bush's hypocrisies.

[librechik]

3. great article--Don't forget to rate it at Yahoo

Everyone should read this article and send it to their Bushie relatives who always rail about how anyone who smokes a doobie ought to be jailed and hung.

Ha ha! look who they voted for and have turned into their very own little plastic Jesus!

He's a LIAR too! A sneaky, calculating self serving snake oil selling
dirty plutocrat who never does anything for anybody except himself and his fat cat cronies.

[Bandit]

4. Dems need to stick up for each other ~ What a laugh

Democrats seem to care for no one but themselves. I see it here al;l the time with the constant candidate bashing and fellow DUer bashing. Reagan had a thirteenth amendment. Thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican. That is a great part of their success. Even if they know the guy is a crook they won't speak up about them. We could learn a lot.

[Karmadillo]

2. How does Bill Bennett still manage to get quoted? Here's a profile

by Dennis Podvin.

http://www.buzzflashcom.bigstep.com/generic.html?pid=1

<edit>

He supported the Vietnam War, but chose not to participate because he believed that it was better for our country’s moral compass if an American other than him died fighting in it. After all, had Mr. Bill perished in a steamy Southeast Asian jungle then there might not have been anyone virtuous enough to be both the Secretary of Education during the worst decline in test scores in American history and the Drug Czar during the explosive increase in the use of crack cocaine. That’s two lifetimes of ineptitude for a mere mortal, but Bennett achieved all of this in less than a decade. In fairness, the rumors that America’s foremost hardliner on incarcerating nonviolent drug users was voted Man Of The Year by the Medillin Drug Cartel have never been proven.

Bennett is a practical moralist; he is not above lying in order to achieve the desired effect. He said on ABC News that the gay lifestyle is so unhealthy that the average age of death for a gay man is 43. When confronted about this ludicrous pseudo-statistic, Bennett indignantly cited the scholarly research of Dr. Paul Cameron. Cameron is the same reputable academic who came up with the following research: lesbians are 300 times more likely to die in car crashes than are heterosexual women. That’s 600 bull dikes for every Thelma and Louise. Even after being challenged with this information, Bennett continued to cite the phony figures because, after all, the ends justify the means.

This is not to say that Bennett never takes a heartfelt moral stand. The three pack a day smoker, who lectures to kids about the need to avoid addiction, was almost arrested in Southern California for refusing to put out his cigarette in the nonsmoking section of a hotel. As an act of civil disobedience it doesn’t quite rank with Rosa Parks refusing to submit to Jim Crow, but it does add another undertaking to the Bennett resume – that of scofflaw.

In October of 1999, the Las Vegas Consumers Union asked Bennett, who publicly proclaims himself to be a deeply religious Roman Catholic, to refuse to go through with his paid speaking engagement before the National Check Cashers Association. The check cashers provide payday loans to low income workers, charging as much as 900% interest. This is a clear violation of the biblical admonition against usury. It presented Bennett with a stark choice between God and Greed. He made the speech and pocketed the cash.

more...

[DrFunkenstein]

5. bump n/t

[UTUSN]

6. Two or More C-SPAN Callers This A.M. Didn't Give * a Pass

In answer to the question, would-you-vote-for-somebody-who-smoked-pot, at least two said, "Why not? We've got an alcoholic cokehead there NOW." Hahah.