Can We Trust W. Bush?
By Mike Hersh, Sep 28, 2002
I wrote this article two years ago, November 2000, and it still applies. Questions I asked then remain unanswered.
Mere days before the election, the stunning question remains unanswered and even unasked: Is Governor George W. Bush really in recovery? That brings up another question: Where were the media?
Governor George W. Bush is hiding the truth about his drinking. From us, and maybe even from himself. He admits he has had a "drinking problem," but has deceived us about the scope and seriousness of his "problem."
Bush denied several times that he was arrested for drunk driving. Now, after the truth is out, Bush is trying to blame others and diminish his crime. This is very troubling. Sadly it is not surprising. It is a pattern familiar to anyone who knows about addiction.
As long as Bush is a private citizen, or even governor of Texas, his "problem" remains his problem or Texas' problem. But Bush is asking us to trust him to be our President.
TIM RUSSERT: If someone came to you and said, "Governor, I'm sorry, I'm going to go public with some information." What do you do?
GOV. BUSH: If someone was willing to go public with information that was damaging, you'd have heard about it by now. You've had heard about it now. My background has been scrutinized by all kinds of reporters. Tim, we can talk about this all morning.
"Just after the governor's reelection in 1998, [Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne] Slater pressed Bush about whether he had ever been arrested. "He said, 'After 1968? No.'" New Republic Magazine.
"Bush has often acknowledged past mistakes, but CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan reports that in a 1999 interview with CBS station WBZ in Boston, he denied there was any so-called smoking gun." CBS News.
Bush will not face up to his "drinking problem," but assures us he can handle the most high-pressured job, the most important responsibility on earth. If elected, his problem will be our problem. Can we trust him to do it?
Addicts learn how to charm and mislead even those closest to them. They recruit "enablers" to assist in the cover-ups and deceptions. People with substance abuse problems learn how to make people trust them. That's what addicts do. Look at this campaign.
Knowing he misled us, Bush every day promises to "restore trust, honor and dignity to the White House." Can we trust him when he says that? Can we even trust him when he says he has been sober for several years?
Just a few days before the election the stunning question remains unanswered and even unasked: Is Governor George W. Bush really in recovery?
Bush tried to deflect attention from this critically important question four times in a very brief press briefing. He offered unconvincing excuses about why he never told the truth about this.
This contradicted assertions from his campaign that he did tell the truth. Clearly Bush did not tell the truth because he does not want us to know the truth.
Even now Bush is trying to hide from the truth. Wayne Slater, one of the reporters Bush lied to, discussed this in detail. Slater specifically asked Bush if he had ever been arrested after 1968, and Bush said, "No."
We now know this is a lie. Slater remembers Bush seemed ready to explain further, but Karen Hughes broke up the interview at that point. Who is Karen Hughes, and why would she try to protect Gov. Bush from what he might say? More on that later. Back to the issue of trust, the cornerstone of the Bush "Victory 2000" Presidential Campaign.
Bush is running a multimillion dollar campaign based on his promise to "restore honor and dignity" to the White House. We now know that Bush lied about his criminal record, and his Texas record.
Bush has covered up past misdeeds and now that he's been caught, he is trying to deflect blame to others. That's what addicts do.
How serious were Bush's substance abuse problems, and are they really all in the past? These are serious questions the media have not asked, and the Governor has not answered.
Where has the media been on this, and why are some in the media accusing the Gore campaign of "dirty tricks" when they still haven't reported the real story?
Bush keeps asking, "Why did this story come out now?" The real question is, "Why didn't we find out about this sooner?" Some in the media are falling for the Bush spin and are still asking the wrong questions.
ABC's Nightline focused on who "leaked" the story, and why did they do so now? The real question is, why didn't Nightline find out about this long ago? Why didn't they report this until now?
The answer is only partially because Bush denied it, and his campaign covered it up. Last summer, [1999] the Washington Post reported that W. Bush drove drunk into garbage cans and threatened to fight his father, former President George H. W. Bush.
The former President and First Lady Barbara Bush confirmed at least some of this in an interview with NBC. Where was the follow up?
We still haven't heard an explanation for why Bush was performing community service with the inner city PULL organization during the 1970s when he was under oath to serve in the Texas Air National Guard. We haven't learned why Bush's superiors reported he was "not observed" at his National Guard base.
We do not know why Bush reported at most one day during an entire year he was supposedly serving in the Alabama Guard. We do not know why Bush refused to take a drug test and thereby lost his pilot's status. Why don't we know?
Why was Bush absent from the Guard for so many weeks? The Bush campaign claims that he received an honorable discharge after making up for lost time. They refuse to answer the critically important questions. They refuse to say where he was or what he was doing when he was supposed to be serving.
We know Bush covered up and denied the DUI in Maine. We know that he drove drunk other times in other states. We know he refused to take a drug test. We know he had to perform community service in Texas. We know he has had his driver's license suspended at least once.
What do we not know that we should know? The media have been AWOL on these stories.
Now that we cannot trust Bush's reassurances about his DUI record, how can we trust any of the other vague dismissals of these serious, unanswered questions? How can we let these questions linger about someone who could be the next President of the United States?
It's nearly the eve of the election, but we still have no assurance that Bush's admitted, albeit downplayed problems really are in the past. There is no excuse for this.
The Bush team is trying to blame the Gore campaign to distract attention from Bush's "mistakes" and deceptions. They imply without any evidence that this is just a "dirty trick."
The point is not who informed the media that Bush's denials were false or why they did so. They performed a public service the media should have performed long ago.
The public has the right to know if their possible President is truthful or not. The public must know if Governor Bush is a deceiver who might still have substance abuse problems.
Bush attacks others for not telling the whole truth. He claims to offer a clean break with the sordid past. That is his fundamental promise to the voters. He has already broken that promise, and the media are letting him get away with it at enormous risk.
This risk goes far beyond what Bush calls "a fundamental difference of opinion" on policy matters. It goes to the very heart of the Bush candidacy. Is he honest? Is he qualified? Is he in really over his admitted "drinking problem?"
Governor Bush is telling us we can trust him, and that makes him qualified to be our President. But if we can't trust him, how is he qualified? This DUI cover-up story -- just a part of a long pattern of cover-ups, shading, distorting and even lying -- illustrates a much larger issue.
It all comes down to an issue of trust. Can we trust Governor Bush and the people around him to tell the truth or handle a crisis? Look at how the Bush team is handling this crisis.
They are doing all they can to squelch this story and distort the facts. It is not a big deal, they tell us, even as they lie about the details. They claim the police pulled Bush over for driving too slow. Wrong. Bush drove off the road.
The story goes beyond the DUI arrest at age 30. It goes beyond the admitted problem drinking at least until age 40. If the Bush team believes this was just a "mistake" from his "youth," why did they hide it? What else are they hiding? If their automatic response to crisis is to blame others and try to trick people, how can we trust them to run the country?
Instead of telling the American people the truth, the Bush team is in desperation deception mode. They sent for Sen. Arlen Specter to claim this is really about who "leaked" the story, and not about something that happened 20 years ago.
If you want a cover up, there is no one better to call than Arlen Specter. He made up the ridiculous "magic bullet" theory for the Warren Commission on the Assassination of JFK. He played point man on the Clarence Thomas cover up, trying to intimidate Anita Hill into silence, even accusing her of "perjury" when she dared to say Thomas sexually harassed her.
Specter is a master of misdirection. It's a clear sign of desperation that Bush has to call on such a hatchet man.
Specter is right that this is not just about something from 20 years ago. Bush lied about this last night. He tried to duck his responsibility for his actions and his deceptions today. But do not let "Specter the misdirecter" fool you. The issue is NOT who "leaked" the story or why.
The issue is not just the DUI arrest from some time ago. It's not just that the drinking did NOT end at age 30 as Bush is implying, but at age 40 if at all. The issue is that we cannot trust Governor Bush because he and his enablers like Karen Hughes have been lying to us, and they are still lying to us.
Bush's efforts to deflect responsibility for his own lies and "mistakes" are not the actions of a person in control. They are the mark of an addict in denial. In his standard stump speech, Bush tells us to judge him "by the company he keeps." Look at that "company."
Bush surrounded himself in a cocoon of enablers who will not challenge him or help him overcome his clear weaknesses. On the contrary. They defend him and coddle him, which only reinforces his worst tendencies.
Recovering alcoholics have to admit they were alcoholics just to start their recovery. An alcoholic is always an alcoholic. Making the first admission is just step one. But Gov. Bush won't admit to that. He will not come clean or even make a sober assessment of his substance abuse. Unless and until he does, he is not in recovery.
An alcoholic President not in recovery would be a clear and present danger to the national security -- all the more so if "the company he keeps" are enablers. Bush has surrounded himself with enablers, such as Karen Hughes.
Bush's mouthpiece Karen Hughes is claiming Bush told the truth when he was asked about his drinking and arrest record. She said he admitted it because he said he didn't have a perfect record "as a youth."
A reporter asked if 30 years old is a "youth" and Hughes refused to answer. The record shows Bush lied about this lone incident three times at least, and he directed or let his representatives lie about it as well.
Who is Karen Hughes, and why is she lying to us? I remember Hughes said people "all over the country" called to congratulate Governor Bush for his charming appearance on the Oprah show. This was before the show was seen anywhere except Chicago.
Not only was that a lie, but Hughes even made up quotes from the people "all over the country" who hadn't even seen Bush on the Oprah show yet. "'He hit a home run!' is what most people are saying." Then she lit into Al Gore for being a liar.
Confronted with the facts that Bush lied about the DUI arrest, Hughes implied the reporter was lying and tried to say the remarks were off the record. This is typical of enablers. They protect their beloved addict at any cost, and learn to create a false positive image around him to shelter him. Beware anyone who dares to challenge this fantasy world.
Bush partisans have been savagely attacking Al Gore for "lying," while denying, assisting and covering up Bush's lies. Bush is trying to blame the Gore campaign and the media for his "mistakes" while trying to diminish them. That sounds like a person with a severe substance abuse problem who is in denial. This is dangerous.
It is even more dangerous when the substance abuser surrounds himself with people who refuse to face facts, or even worse aid and abet the liar's lies. The record shows we cannot trust W. Bush, and we cannot trust "the company he keeps" to tell us the truth or handle a crisis. We cannot trust them to protect the National Defense, the economy, Social Security, Medicare, the environment or our future.
Now we face another round of elections. Bush is still betraying us. The media are still failing us, looking the other way while Bush gets away with illegal abuse of power, deception and failure. Voice your dissent. Vote against Bush November 5. Vote Democrat!
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