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Questions
of Possible Drug Use
On
the tapes, Bush discussed strategies for stonewalling
questions about past marijuana use.
"Do
you want your little kid, to say, 'Hey daddy,
President Bush tried marijuana; I think I will?'"
said Bush on the tapes. "That's the message
we've been sending out. I wouldn't answer the
marijuana question."
In
a taped segment played on "Good Morning America,"
Bush also addressed how he would deal with questions
about cocaine use.
"The
cocaine thing, let me tell you my strategy on
that," Bush said on the tape. "Rather
than saying no … I think it's time for someone
to draw the line and look people in the eye and
say, you know, 'I'm not going to participate in
ugly rumors about me and blame my opponent,' and
hold the line. Stand up for a system that will
not allow this kind of crap to go on."
Tapes Show Bush Liked Gays And Smoked
Pot
2-20-5
Secretly recorded tapes released yesterday show
that George W Bush rejected calls to take a hard
line against homosexuals and that he had smoked
marijuana.
The material, published in yesterday's New York
Times, was recorded from 1998 to 2000
by a Christian evangelical called Doug Wead, who
had worked for the first President Bush.
The tapes cover the period when Mr Bush was governor
of Texas to the time he declared for the presidency.
Taken as a whole, the material indicates that
the private Mr Bush is very similar to the public
man - a figure who means what he says and whose
personal faith is at the centre of his political
life.
In the months running up to his declaration, Mr
Bush sought to co-opt the support of the Christian
Right.
But the Wead tapes indicate there were limits
to how far he was willing to go.
Aware that many evangelicals have powerful feelings
about homosexuality, Mr Bush said after a meeting
with a leading Texan evangelical minister: "I
think he wants me to attack homosexuals."
But the president-to-be said he would not. He
told the preacher:
"Look, James, I got to tell you two things
right off the bat. One, I'm not going to kick
gays because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate
sin?''
Later he says: "This is an issue that I have
been trying to downplay. I think it is bad for
Republicans to be kicking gays."
Mr Bush also says in passing that he had tried
marijuana,
a question he refused to answer when asked by
journalists.
"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions.
You know why? Because I don't want some little
kid doing what I tried."
* The president and his wife Laura are looking
for a new White House chef and they want someone
who knows barbecue and other American fare.
Mrs Bush told Newsweek she is looking for a chef
who can cook spicy food of all kinds. "We
like Tex-Mex and barbecue," she said.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited
2005.
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