You are right - there isn't much here. We already knew most of this stuff. The drug comments might make some headway, but after he got a DUI and admitted he was an alcoholic it will be hard to get any worse coverage.

-JP2

Heh, if nothing else, the moonbats can glom onto the Doug Wead Amway Connection - http://thomasmc.com/1213ep.htm - "First off, lets take a look at evangelist Doug Wead, a divorced Baptist Minister, and former Diamond distributer, who is still a regular speaker at Amway conventions....Wead was the first President Bush's liaison to the Christian Right and he later served as Special Assistant to the President in the first Bush White House. Time magazine referred to him as "the man who coined the phrase the compassionate conservative.""

It's bad enough that a so called "friend" secretly tapes you, but why did he go public with them? If it was merely for publicity for his book, he's no friend. If I were Bush, I would kill him.

Where is the outrage? I seem to remember many liberals having a hissy fit over Linda Tripp secretly taping Monica for such a minor thing as possible felonies. They brayed about how awful she was. No one seems outraged at Wead for the same behavior. But of course he taped a conservative Presidential candidate so that is juicy not outrageous! Hypocrits.

but of course there's nothing for you Faux clones to see.your eyes are glazed with false media fodder.
i heard there was a WH limo sighting at Taco Bell around midnight.LOL

geez,WH media backing a gay reporter and now shrub smoking dope.hmmm how's James Dobson and the Coalition gonna take this? he he he he

Actually, the story just reaffirms my trust in Bush - he is a straight shooter. He is honest, and his core beliefs and principles drive his positions, and he doesn't waver. The kind of guy you want in the White House, but rarely get.

Consistency and logic in one package!....Four more years!

Secret tapes?

Ok, seriously is there no low to which the left will sink to try to paint Bush in a negative light? And isn't this illegal in most jurisdictions?

I agree, the fact that he is honest and consistent give me more confidence. Also, regarding the pot smoking-I think from here on out it is going to be difficult to find a presidential candidate who hasn't tried the stuff. I think what he is smoking right now, is far more important to what he was smoking 40 years ago.

I think secretly taping your "friends" and then handing the tapes to the media sucks, and indicates you aren't much of a friend.

Raise your had if you honestly believe that the release of these tapes has noting to do with getting a little publicity for his book.

I know I will not be buying it.

I'm with you, Stephen. Why release tapes now?

I totally agree that the desire for money is what spurred the release of the tapes now. This guy can get his name in the news, do a few interviews and get his book promoted all at the same time.

You think the left is doing this?Hello? I bet this was planned to come out late this year to reset the dial to moderate for 2006/2008. (Bet they're clearing the decks for McCain.)

They had to ramp it up to be a smokescreen for Gannongate. "Hey look over there,secret tapes!"

Haven't you Republicans been maintaining all along that marijuana use is the gateway to harder drugs?

You're right, it doesn't sound so damaging on paper, but I guarantee the audio will be posted on almost every Lefty blog in cyberspace!

He comes off as a craven, selfish, manipulative jock! His 'values' were always up for sale to the part of the political spectrum that would benefit him most. He looks nothing like the 'morally centered', principled Conservative, Karl Rove has created.

He comes off like a spoiled, ambitious and petty weasel. And, in his own words....

Interesting to read the number of folks advising a boycott on the Amazon site. This could be a new blogalanche effect - instant boycotts of authors...

He comes off like a spoiled, ambitious and petty weasel.

Actually, this sounds more like you, clive.

Stop flirting GW,

I'm spoken for!

Have the tapes been released? It sounds as if Clive Trollson has heard them.

Is Clive Tolson your real name?
Are you related to the Clive Tolson who worked for Edgar Hoover? As in Google:

"Adult Ftp Site
... amateur pictures ftp list of the bond girls nudist naturalist gallery photo clive tolson j edgar hoover homosexuals adult comix free ftp free adult ftp sites ...
www.uk-shopping-warehouse.co.uk/Adult_Ftp_Site/ - 76k -.."

Hmmmm. A tape of Bush being, well...Bush. How refreshing to hear a president say the same thing in private that he says in public.

Let's see, I believe that pesky amendment says "No person shall be *elected* to the office of president more than twice."

I have an idea! Cheney runs in "08 with W as VP candidate. Cheney wins, resigns due to poor health and...ta da...FOUR MORE YEARS.

Cute, but one of the requirements to be Vice President is that you are eligble to be President. The other is that you can't be from the same state as the President.

I feel sorry for Dubya, not because anything on the tapes is damaging, but for being betrayed by someone he thought was a friend.

This is clearly a cheap stunt to get press coverage for what would have otherwise been (and will likely remain) a completely irrelevant and unremarkable book.

I hope Mr. Wead enjoys his 30 pieces of silver...What profits it a man, to gain the whole world and lose his soul?

Here is the full marijuana quote, from the AP story:

"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

In all likelyhood, these tapes will help Bush's image. In the most reliable kind of source (casual conversations that he didn't know were being recorded), the first thing he thinks of is not how politically damaging it would be, but the example he would set.

Regarding "dictreycee's" comment about limos at Taco Bells, an acquaintance who used to be on Condi Rice's detail when she was NSA told me a story once about having to pull the motorcade over at a Taco Bell on the way to Camp David because she'd missed lunch and wanted to get something to eat along the way.

The people who run our country are just people like you and me, you know? They get hungry too.

Jeff: Wasn't there some qwelshed news story about Kerry, Edwards, and their wives stopping and pretending to eat at a Burger King? They had already called in their orders to go from some chi-chi resturant and soon left to pick them up.

dictreycee: Taco Bell for thee but not for me

"He comes off as a craven, selfish, manipulative jock! "

"He comes off like a spoiled, ambitious and petty weasel."

Poor Clive. Four more years of W is going to be a total bitch for the little turd.

"In all likelyhood, these tapes will help Bush's image."

I agree. Bush is clealry not a pretentious little snot like Kerry. If anything, it shows he's just a regular guy that abhors the politics of personal destruction, appreciates loyalty and rewards it, and is not nearly as married to the hip of the "religious right" as the left tries to make him out to be.

This article doesn't confirm that Bush smoked pot, but I would be very surprised if he, or any other college student of the day, hasn't puffed on some happy weed. I did.

another makeup lies from the librel ny times. fuck them.

MisterPundit to be honest I would probably view with skepticism any politician that grew up through the 60's and 70's that says they haven't tried it. Shoot, I would probably view it with skepticism for anyone frome about 1960 on.

It just all seems to boil down to the fact that the left is really, really, REALLY searching with abnormal intensity for some flare issue to base a firestorm on, regarding anyone/everyone on the perceived "right" and the CBS thing along with the Clinton impeachment thing has them in permanent fire setting mode. They are trying to find some handle by which they can flame the greater popular opinion...so far, it's not working.

S you make a good point about the left wanting to "one up" the right in regards to Clinton's impeachment and other things like the rather story.

I think the left has been out to get Bush from the begining in some attempt to get a GOP president in the same way the right got Clinton. So far their attempts aren't working, and it is driving them insane.

"Clive Tolson":

It's the drug that is the gateway, not the user who opens the gate.

Not everyone is attracted to amping up the volume where substance abuse is concerned, some do, some don't while a lot of both find their way to alternate perspectives inorder to just stop it all.

President Bush, to my knowledge, has been very straightforward about having a substance abuse problem that he found treatment for and about and a spiritual problem that he also found salvation for and about.

But, what does that have to do with MJ as a gateway drug? I don't see the flame point you're huffing over, although I do think you're hoping that you'll get a bonfire going. I think it sorta smoked and then went out.

Yeah, Just Me, there is a lot of hunting going on by the left for and about everyone else who isn't towing their indulgences. I mean, it all comes down to that by the left in each and every theme, meme and cause: get someone, get something from them, ruin when and how necessary inorder to get whatever. Which, by this point, seems the point of being "left" and again and again I write here that that is the true advance toward fascism if not fascism itself and it is a liberal perspective, not a conservative one.

You'd think people would rejoice -- hey, "celebrate" -- that a man found sobriety and salvation and was candid about both. I mean, I don't get the presumption that either or both should be shameful things.

I found Clinton's "yes I smoked but I never inhaled" thing far more doubtful and incredible than what Bush is taped to have said. President Bush there concerned for the example he and any/all adults would set, Clinton trying to cover his arse. I mean, there's no similarity of character there.

It is cracking me up that conservatives feel all betrayed by Weam taping Bush but they were dancing in the street when Linda Tripp taped Monica Lewinsky. It makes me laugh out loud. I guess what goes around, comes around, eh?

I for one am proud of President Bush for lying about his pot smoking; he only wanted to protect the children.

I just hope none of them find out that he did that now, and ask "Mommy, the President did it, so why isn't it ok for me to smoke drugs and then lie about it to protect the children, since I might want to be President someday."

This man who leaked these tapes should be punished, for hurting our President and also the children.

Okay, Minnie, so you're saying that you're proud that the President lied? Would that be just in this case? Or would it be okay if he lied about other things as well? And does this pride cover things he may lie about in the future? My point is that, from what I've seen around the blogosphere today (dear jeebus I despise that self important term, but I digress) it's okey-dokey to be a perfect hypocrite. As long as you're a Republican, of course.

To clarify: I don't think the President is a hypocrite. I would have to grudgingly agree that he does seem to maintain consistency. I was referring to the many sanctimonious bloggers (and boy howdy, are there ever a bunch of those!) and the sometimes vomit-inducing comments left behind on various blogs.

"It is cracking me up that conservatives feel all betrayed by Weam taping Bush but they were dancing in the street when Linda Tripp taped Monica Lewinsky. It makes me laugh out loud. I guess what goes around, comes around, eh?"

Tripp, for her faults, had a reason to do what she did. She wanted to protect herself from possible legal problems as she claimed she was being asked to lie under oath.

"I for one am proud of President Bush for lying about his pot smoking; he only wanted to protect the children."

Bush said he didn't do it...when? He simply made the