BUSH'S BOOZE CRISIS

[im10ashus]

You know when you lose the National Enquirer - you've lost your base. True or not, I get a certain amount of schadenfreude from reading this.

BUSH'S BOOZE CRISIS

By JENNIFER LUCE and DON GENTILE

Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer can reveal.

Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe.

Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster.

His worried wife yelled at him: "Stop, George."

cont'd...

http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/63426

[Sanity Claws]

1. Started with Katrina?

He started way before. Maybe this is the first time Laura caught him.

[mattclearing]

7. So you're affirming the premise of a National Enquirer story?

I'm so sure the Bush Ranch is leaking Laura Bush's quotes about the President's alcoholism to the National Enquirer.

Please.

[lancdem]

13. I'm with you

I hate Bush as much as the next DUer, but the National Enquirer is hardly reliable, just like when run stories on the Clintons with similar dubious "sources."

[bostonbabs]

261. the Enquirer broke the blue dress / Monica ,,,no?

Who are these people ...they ain't friends of W's and I thought Bush had it all "sewn up"....The Enquirer is actually right some of the time and they do know how to fact check.They are not afraid of Rove ?...is what I can't get over. I had heard that the mafia owned the "Rags" No?.......Gotti just got off too.....What is happening out there....? I listened to Randi Rhodes today and she kept saying: "something is wrong with him... something has happened"....do you think he'll roll down the front steps of the White House screamimg..... "Lauraaaaaa" and the scene ends.....This is the lowest form of theater... borders on porn but that would be unkind to strippers and I would never......

[ElsewheresDaughter]

480. The Nation Enquire recieved the massive does of Anthrax because.....

of the story about the twins being busted in that Austin club and published the photos

[krkaufman]

271. Aside from the fact that the basic premise is faulty....

... that is, that Bush was remotely aware or concerned with what was going on in New Orleans. Sorry, NE, one too many aliens in that story for it to be believable.

[Geo55]

333. Yeah , me too....

I'm inclined to agree....but everybody complains about the MSM....lol

[TankLV]

376. A broken clock is correct twice a day. I like to believe this is similar.

It sure is fun!

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

504. Exactly right. This is pure sleaze.

It was sleaze then (when they went after Clinton, and its sleazy now.

BTW, I don't hate Bush, nor am I trying to cover his ass. I'm just saying that this is sleaze.

[Sanity Claws]

14. I believe the story

Lots of people visited the ranch during the 5 week vacation. ** even had a barbecue with friendly journalists who saw him with non-alcoholic beer. Someone close to ** could have revealed things to others not knowing that the person to whom they said it will not keep in confidential. Some people also unintentionally reveal information in a kind of "oops" moment.
I also think someone close to Bush could have leaked it out of concern for the country.
This story rings true for me.

[nothometoday]

514. does anyone know

a Real good drunk??? You can put real beer, or a mix, in a bottle.
Also, Alcohol FREE beer........still has alcohol in it.

[lancdem]

15. I'm with you

I hate Bush as much as the next DUer, but the National Enquirer is hardly reliable, just like when run stories on the Clintons with similar dubious "sources."

[KansDem]

101. No, really! I saw the headline, "Bush hits bottle...

...after meeting with aliens wanting to have his baby."

I saw it! Really! Really, I did!












;)

[Imagevision]

505. Laura just caught him because they knew about enquirer story

hitting the streeets - George has mental issues...now he's going back on the sauce, just hwat we need for a prez!

[roguevalley]

121. I hate to tell you this, but the enquirer over the past few years has

had a tremendous track record in being right and waaaay the hell ahead of the curve over the MSM. They vet everything up the wazoo with lawyers and they are now filled with british tabloid journalists who go for the juglar in a country with incredible libel laws and they don't give a shit about anything but the story. believe them.

[ClintonTyree]

173. Now if the Weekly World News released this info........

I'd be convinced. You DID know bush is an alien, didn't you? You can't make this stuff up, I swear! :wow:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

204. Hard to believe, but,

we have two "celebrities" in our family, people whose names you'd recognize, people who are in the news regularly, and it's shocking how many times the Enquirer has gotten stuff right, not only about them, but about their colleagues.

It's not the filthy rag it used to be.

[TankLV]

378. And it's also amazing how time and newsweek and cbs, etc have become

as UNRELIABLE and FULL OF LIES like the old enquirer and star used to be!

"Trading Places".

[OldLeftieLawyer]

447. Excellent point

Those publications are nothing but house organs for this alleged "administration," and you're absolutely right - they're not worth the paper on which they're printed.

[King Coal]

456. Midget rasslers don't count as celebrities, Lefty.

:hi:

Just funnin'.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

498. Maybe in YOUR world ........

We worship them here.

After all, that's how Mom got her start...............

:yourock:

[katty]

216. Agree-actually the NE has been pretty accurate-they wouldn't

do this unless they had some verifiable evidence--they have been sued and now they are messin' w/Texas--NE retain extremely expensive lawyers/firms

[winga222]

357. Actually they have been right a lot

particularly beating the MSM to quite a bit of OJ scoop that did turn out to be true. And the Clinton blue dress thing. I'm not saying their focus is worthy but a lot of Bushbots get their news from two sources - NE and Fox News. I know all my right wing relative do.

[Jackpine Radical]

389. You are exactly right on this.

The National Enquirer hasn't been proved wrong on this kind of story in many years. They got burned very badly years ago in a libel/defamation lawsuit & have been very reliable in getting their gossip right ever since. They are the ones who broke a bunch of nasty-but-true Enron stories a few years ago. They were also anthraxed after printing stuff about the Bush twins. Stuff that turned out to be 100% on the mark. Believe them. About the drinking, anyway. Not necessarily about how compassionate the Resident Psychopath is or how much he bleeds for the dead troops. That stuff is no doubt fluff. But the core of the story will turn out to be dead-on.

[Raster]

395. Carol Burnett is one of the few who have successfully sued N.E.

believe me, there aren't many. They have an army of fact checkers and buttload of attorneys. Don't equate the other supermarket tabs with the N.E. They're not even in the same league.

[Drewskie]

418. Was Michael Landon another?

I remember he was pissed at some tabloid.

[Trevelyan]

439. I remember the Anthrax also, the Natl Enquirer offices took a MUCH BIGGER

HIT than Congress but I heard it was because they had a photo of Bush in the coffin at Skull and Bones with his long time lover (much older than Jeff Gannon) and the BFEE wanted to dissuade NE from publishing it.

They have also had stories on the terrible serial murder case, Hell Ranch - though there are two stories with this name - one directly involving bush and this one that did not - in Texas where the MSM reported that police were looking at the videos to check out 200 missing persons cases in Texas but the media dropped it like a hot potato though the perp got the death penalty, his SO got life and his poor daughter got a year although according to NE story, she had gone to the local FBI offices to report what her father was doing years before and the FBI "inexplicably" did not follow up.

only way these monsters were caught was one of their victims managed to escape, possibly with the help of the daughter.

See the site and the book Programmed To Kill, part of MK-Ultra and like the cattle mutilations, 911, etc. designed to instill fear in US population so they will accept a dictator like bush.

[LostinVA]

455. She won, but they weren't guilty

They were found guilty, but they weren't. Ian Calder's book ex-plains this lawsuit in great detail. fascinating reading. I highly recommend it (except for the boring first chapter)

[digno dave]

474. right, just because they report on sleeze doesn't mean they are lying

[goclark]

392. I'm with you, I read the Enquirer and I read Newsweek

and Time.

When the War in Iraq started, they were waving the flag and supporting Bush like crazy.

Then came the twins and their drinking antics. They ran those stories- big time! Twins rolling on the floor in the bars drunk.

Recall the Enquirer reporter/photographer that died from Anthrax?
I believe that I read someplace (not in the Enquirer) that he had photos of Bush and Victor Ashe.

Can't remember all the facts on the above Chimp/Ashe. I thought it was some photos of the two of them in a not so nice position during Skull and Bones days.

Anyway, I think they are ready to go with the Chimp now. They know he is red meat and people want to buy those papers.

I can't wait to get my copy!

[sendero]

450. People..

... lump the Enquirer in with the Globe and the Weekly World News, and they are not the same. The Enquirer is, and has been for many years now, more like USA Today.

They got their asses sued off many years ago and changed their policies. You can believe that if they printed this, they have a source that they believe is credible.

[LostinVA]

453. Exactly -- I stated this up thread

Read Ian Calder's book. They have HIGHER legal/libel standards than the MSM. They don't acre about someone's connections or pissing someone off, all they care about is the story. As long as it's true, they go for it.

Oh, and sources? usually close family members, sometimes employees, but usually close friends or family.

[ginnyinWI]

177. It's fiction at it's finest,--but it shows they are reading the polls too

And it shows the overall attitude is shifting away from the chimpster.

[Straight Shooter]

199. I agree with ginny

Anyway, the real damage to bush from Katrina did not come right after it hit; that was several days later. I don't think bush gave a flying flip about Katrina until then. So, why bother to booze?

[Liberty Belle]

295. He was in San Diego when Katrina hit and some thought he was drunk.

A local TV station commented on him stumbling up the ramp onto AF 1, right after he cut short a visit to the naval hospital, fueling speculation that he might have had a medical problem, or been drinking or on drugs. This was on Tuesday -- same day the levee broke. Earlier Tuesday he spoke to veterans at North Island; a local radio host who was present said Bush showed pronounced facial tics and implied something wasn't right with him.

So...the story could be true, though given the source, there's no way to know. Still I'd find it tough to believe the Enquirer would risk libeling the President if they didn't have some sources to back up this sort of story.

Possibly an insider is feeling guilt pangs after the Katrina deaths, knowing that one reason for Bush's inaction could be that he was drunk.

[Straight Shooter]

335. Hmmm ... interesting.

I don't watch television, but perhaps this is the same bush interview when so many DU'ers were wondering why his "coke jaw" tic was in overdrive.

He has definitely looked like crap lately; no amount of makeup can disguise it.

[ginnyinWI]

484. I do believe they are hiding his medical condition

His annual checkups sound just too clean for a man his age. We'll doubtless find out after he leaves office.

[Liberty Belle]

501. Wonder if they checked for a pickled liver?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

402. Fiction? Recent Photo. September 14th.

[RaleighNCDUer]

466. That's just apple juice.

And say, do you like bridges?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

467. lol! Let me put it this way, there's one about 50 miles south of here

that has been bought and sold zillions of times! ;-)

[saskatoon]

159. nevertheless

the readers NE are not reading what we are SO this at least is getting exposure of negative Bush details that those people would not otherwise be aware of.

[anitar1]

393. And every person who goes through a grocery line will see it

at the checkstand--great.

[kissmygrits]

462. Enquiring minds want to know

It is true that most stories in this rag needs to be read with a box of salt at the side, but a lot of shoppers will see this. They may not believe it but the idea is planted in the minds. Monkey man has fracked up and will continue to frack up and people will associate this story with his sorry ass. They will forget where they saw it and accept it as fact.

[rfranklin]

229. The National Inquirer is more reliable than the NY Times...

Remember Judith Miller? Curveball? Remember the Weapons of Mass Destruction and various other stories leading up to the Iraq invasion?

[NYCGirl]

485. Really? Check this out:

http://slate.msn.com/id/13102/

According to the National Enquirer, the Secret Service fears that Hillary may bring about that final day. "Hillary Beats up Bill," screams one headline. Says the story: "The furious First Lady attacked the President, hitting him so hard she left a visible mark on his face--and Secret Service agents had to separate them. 'Keep that bitch away from me!' Bill Clinton told one agent." She apparently has excellent aim, having also winged him with books and an ashtray. The Enquirer also cited the much-publicized scene of Hillary pulling her arm away from Bill during a recent memorial service in Israel for Yitzhak Rabin. "It was like his touch was revolting to her!" an "insider" reports. The Globe acknowledges this incident but attributes Hillary's behavior to the heretofore unknown baba ghanouj syndrome. Jet lag, a busy schedule, and "the change in her diet to Middle Eastern food had caused the first lady to feel queasy and out of sorts," it explains.



The Enquirer has an in-depth report on the supposed feud between Gore's wife Tipper and first lady Hillary Clinton. (That's them on the cover, mouthing "You … Moron" and "You … Witch" to each other.) A White House "insider" says that the two women got off on the wrong foot on their 1992 campaign bus tour, when Bill Clinton "flirted shamelessly" with Mrs. Gore. "Just look at Gennifer Flowers or Dolly Kyle Browning—big blousy blondes—and you know Tipper's exactly Bill's type," explains the insider. (We're pretty sure they mean blowsy, but you never know with the tabs.) Things have just deteriorated from there, apparently, to the point where the Gores "don't want anything to do with" the Clintons once the election is over.

[calimary]

306. Don't laugh. If this is for real, and it IS in THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER

then bush is in bigger trouble than we thought. Much bigger. On several levels.

I posted about this in the GDP forum - please forgive the repetition... I had a "Holy Crap" moment when I saw this. It's a HUGE deal if this is for real (a story in the "Enquirer" that is):

One of the things that, I think, kept the Clinton persecution going was that you saw stuff about it at the grocery checkout counter EVERY FRICKIN' WEEK - in the "National Enquirer" and other tabloids.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!

If this has gotten into the "Enquirer," he really does have a problem. Not just the drinking. The fact that it's in the tabloids now.

Please believe me: if this is for real, it's a BIGTIME black eye for him (or is that bloodshot eye?). It means that, after years of behaving themselves, and having been scared silent by that anthrax letter (to one of the tabloid photographers who'd taken some unappreciated shots of Drunk and Disorderly - the twins - misbehaving in some bar - which killed him), the "Enquirer" has become emboldened. Maybe the editors are no longer afraid. Maybe they've been sitting on this stuff and have started truly to become concerned about out country and the AWOL "leadership" at the top. Maybe they've started to wake up in the wake of Katrina. Or maybe they smell road kill and are just circling the carcass like any other self-respecting vulture would. Sometimes a pile-on starts when the subject becomes perceived as damaged goods. Maybe all the editors over there are looking at are the poll numbers that won't come back up, and the louder and more widespread complaints and criticism about him. Maybe they're putting two and two together and realizing it's a big, fat, juicy, titillating FOUR.

Whoa! If this is for real, bush is sunk. And will probably stay drunk.

BTW, when I worked at the AP in L.A., we had several "comp'ed" copies of the "Enquirer" arrive in the mail every week, just a day or so before the weekly copy hit the stands. Everyone would POUR over it. One issue went to the news editor in the big desk in the middle of the newsroom. The others were passed around among us peons. Especially on stories like the ongoing Michael Jackson saga, some of our best hotshot reporters repeatedly confirmed that the "Enquirer" had an excellent track record, usually got it spot-on correct, and was usually way ahead of the pack. The editor and various writers and reporters would scour the "Enquirer" for bits and pieces that the AP might have missed or to which we should pay more attention. People sneered at the "Enquirer" in our bureau, but they made a beeline for it every time it came in. And it WAS taken seriously.

They were always able to get good stuff, and frequently, details we didn't have. One reason was because they had staffers and stringers EVERYWHERE. Another was because they never hesitate to pay for news - as in - drop a 20-dollar-bill or 50 or 100 on some hotel concierge, or maid or plumber or delivery guy or ambulance driver or club bouncer or valet parking guy or hospital orderly or whatever. That's how they always got tips galore, and how their reporters were kept abreast of juicy inside stuff. Some of these reporters had quite a few of these sources on their own personal payrolls. The AP, on the other hand, had a strict policy of never paying for news tips.

I bet some folks at the "Enquirer" have been sitting on this stuff for a long time, and now, perhaps, feel emboldened to go with it, because bush is no longer Mr. Invincible and they're not as intimidated anymore.

Other posters there (I'll go back and get the thread for a link) also reminded that it WAS the "Enquirer" that broke the story of OJ's shoes (remember the Bruno Maglis he said he never owned - they published a photo of him walking around wearing those shoes), and a LOT of other stuff during the OJ trial.

I do not claim to defend the "National Enquirer" here. I'm just passing along the newsroom buzz about it from when I was still working. Lots of people in the bureau, from news executives to writers, reporters, supervisors, the sports guys, etc. - would sop up every page with a biscuit. Sometimes they'd even take an "Enquirer" story - especially stuff about the Julia Roberts/Kiefer Sutherland wedding that suddenly wasn't, and other celebrity-tabloidy items and use 'em as the basis of a "more on the up-n-up" version fleshed out by the Associated Press. Nobody in the office scoffed at the "National Enquirer." I still remember the News Editor sitting at his desk in the middle of the bureau, going through his brand new copy carefully and deliberately, cover to cover.

This also means the bush travails have now made it to "water cooler talk" status. If it's in the "Enquirer," EVERYONE is going to see it, even if all they do is stare at it, or sneak a quick peek, while they're waiting to pay for their groceries.

Here's the link to the GDP story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2105624

[mermaid]

354. Bush Twins - The Bar In Question Was

Chuy's Restaurant, on Barton Springs Road, in Austin, Texas. I was there the night it went down. I used to live in Austin.

I really hope this stuff is all true, it will do more to tarnish his image, and drag him even further down...and sooner or later, maybe we can impeach him and his entire rotten, lousy Administration. Maybe, just maybe...he won't out-trick ol' Dick after all!

Damn, I hope Bush goes down...HARD. I don't normally wish ill on people, but Bush really DESERVES ill...after all the ill he has caused to so many during his so far four and a half year long mis-Administration.

[Garbo 2004]

419. NE also broke story of Limbaugh's drug habit & the investigation. They got

an exclusive with his former housekeeper/supplier. http://www.nydailynews.com/10-02-2003/front/story/122839p-110349c.html

As you suggest, the story itself isn't that remarkable (whatever its merits); the fact that the mag ran with it is.

Wonder if the PTB behind the PTB are working up to an early retirement for Dubya? Or just fed up with the incompetence and making it easier for the Repubs to distance themselves as an election year looms. Something's up if it's been fed to the NE since it's clearly been PR massaged....poor Bush so stressed out by the levees in NOLA. Ha! That part's simply not believable. That he's drinking and has been (likely for a long time) is.

[Pachamama]

426. Having the Sheeple in Supermarket lines & those that read the NE regularly

and seeing this story about Bush boozin it - is HUGE! Those people have been buying into the Bush/Rove spin for the last 4 years. We are talking about people who probably wouldn't know what the Downing Street Memos are if you polled them. They probably have never read the NYT or watched the BBC World News. In their world, the National Enquirer is the news. If this is what they see, this definitely means the tides are turning and will continue to turn...

And, I agree with you that while the NE is not going to be up for a Pulitzer, they have remarkably managed to break some very interesting details on major stories of interest in the last decade. Your example of the Bruno Magli shoes photo from OJ is a perfect example. And we also know that lil Blue dress story was the beginning of big wave of problems for the Big Dawg...

[LostinVA]

452. The National Enquirer actually has a decent track record

For being right about this. They break alot of stories we all laugh at and poo-poo... then they turn out to be right. For me, I'll say this has a good chance of being true.

[mattclearing]

463. I'm not denying that Bush drinks.

I think he probably does, and most DU'ers have seen pictures of him with wine glasses on diplomatic visits, anecdotal evidence of him drinking socially, etc.

I just think the Laura intervention nonsense is completely unbelievable and likely fabricated. Who would have witnessed such an exchange?

I still declare bullshit.

[zanne]

454. You can't take the National Enquirer seriously....

I agree that Bush has been acting irrationally lately, but he's been acting that way for five years. I'll need confirmation from a reputable news source before I take this seriously.

[nothometoday]

528. The " Laura caught him" is sheer drama. But...

This guy is hitting the sauce, and It ain't Hershey's chocolate syrup. I doubt the Laura quote is perfect, But most often these stories are given by underpaid household staff. I doubt Laura would break a nail doing dishes...Even on vacation.

[indepat]

8. I was going to say to take the first drink in over 15 years ain't so bad

[mirandaod]

22. That's the one that does us alcoholics in.

Very important to stay away from the first drink.

[indepat]

56. Having had too much to drink only twice in the fifty years since reaching

drinking age, I sometimes forget that some must never again have that first drink. For the sake of our country, hopefully NI is wrong on this story.

[Orrex]

97. Possibility

Maybe he poured the first drink on the ground and drank the second, third and fourth?

Heck maybe he drank the fifth?

Lord knows, he'll plead the fifth if it comes to that.

And then maybe he'll plead for a fifth.

[CBGLuthier]

169. exactly

As the old saying goes, one drink is too many and a thousand isn't enough.

[flamin lib]

2. schadenfreude!!

I love your vocabulary!

[Orrex]

98. Silly me

I thought "Schadenfreude" meant "being in the umbra of a largely debunked psychoanalyst."

Oh, the things you learn on DU.

[rpannier]

252. I'm guilty of it right now

I don't revel in other people's misfortune -- usually. But this guy is such a hypocrite, I'm enjoying it. I do hope he gets better though.

[bostonbabs]

264. feel sorry...?...not me n/t

[rpannier]

359. I never said I felt sorry for him

I said I was enjoying it. But, I hope he gets better.

[PurpleChez]

266. There is no one whose misfortune I would enjoy more than *'s

He has destroyed 10s of 1000s of lives on his psychotic whims. He deserves no sympathy. Whether or not this is a legit story I hope he suffers.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. So where did the booze come from?

Just happened to have a well stocked cabinet? I guess they must keep a supply on hand for the girls.

[Ishoutandscream2]

6. LOL! Gave me a good laugh.

I can just hear Jenna - "Mom, we're out of Wild Turkey!"

[Richard D]

32. maybe more like . . .

. . . who watered down the booze?

[Inland]

17. See, I thought the "booze crisis" was running out.

Is there a scotch pipeline through Lousiana?

[dean_dem]

54. If there is...

I know where my next vacation is going to be.

[im10ashus]

170. Free-flowing scotch.

My idea of Utopia. :hi:

[melody]

81. or it was Pickles' "Secret Recipe"

[ClintonTyree]

178. "Pruno".......

the stuff convicts make and keep in their toilets. At least that's what I've been told. :shrug: Home-made hooch straight from the bush toilet. yum!

[amandabeech]

193. He's an alcoholic. They have their ways.

Undoubtedly, he's using all his abilities to get booze into the White House, Camp David and Crawford. Someone's probably enabling him, too.

Jenna? Lil Barbara? I bet they have their stash, and I can see Jenna in particular sharing it with good old Dad.

[DrZeeLit]

298. Ah, come on.... let's not play the Blame Game..... muuaaaaahhhhhhh....

And ya know.... I'll bet they are pulling out all the stops to help raise the poll numbers.

Who will feel sorry for him? All the other alcoholics? mothers -- don't beat up on him when he's down?

Pity party -- plenty of suckers will feel sorry for him.
Poooooooor baby. See?

He's workin' hard. Cuz...he's a hard worker.

And surely.... he's drinkin' hard...cuz...he's a hard drinker.


Sheeeeeee it.

[eridani]

404. No kidding

Ever read John Callahan's Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot?" He describes his drunken accident that made him a quadriplegic. With no functioning limbs, he was still able to get booze! That really blew me away.

[RamboLiberal]

509. Why do people here assume WH, Camp David and Pig Farm

are dry? I assume all are well-stocked with liquor, wine, beer for guests who do drink.

[Mari333]

4. LOLOL that was hilarious

"Its Jim Beam or me!" says Laura.

[Beetwasher]

5. LOL!

Looks like the offices of The NE might be getting more anthrax soon..

[Brother Buzz]

66. Good, at least someone remembers the Enquirer anthrax incident

That was a story that died a quiet death (well, the whole anthrax story did, too). Perhaps you can ask your connection, the Senior Editor, what the buzz is these days, and maybe shed some light on what the real story might have been.

The controlling shareholder of American Media, which publishes The National Enquirer, is Evercore Capital Partners, which is led by Roger C. Altman. He was deputy treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, and long time close friend to the Big Dog going back to their college days. I'm just saying.

Inquiring minds want to know. :)

[bostonbabs]

267. THANK YOU !....

[bostonbabs]

287. American media...did'nt they do the Schwarzenegger

"deal"....no gropinator stories if you sign our other mags ad deals....8 million a year?....pant down around his ankles... "Enron Arnie!"..Upon hearing that Warren Beatty wanted to run against him , Arnie said..."he just vants attention".....such a brilliant man.California is the 8th largest economy in the world?...The energy companies run it all....from California to Saudi Arabia....thats why they hate Chavez....he has cheap oil for us to buy to bring down our gas prices....oohps....can't do that ....I think americans are understanding how things work more than ever because we realize our lives and those of our sons are in peril with this clown sitting on his throne.
This news has me soooo happy....I'm smiling....my sister reads the Enquirer and I have been very angry about some of the crap I hear out of her mouth. And she attended Fordham.

[mrdmk]

337. Hell, California used to be the 7th largest economy

until these Bozos got a hold of it!

[npincus]

113. LOL- that's funny!

[peekaloo]

293. My first thought also....after the laughter subsided.

[BlueEyedSon]

9. more:

Dr. Justin Frank, a Washington D.C. psychiatrist and author of Bush On The Couch: Inside The Mind Of The President, told The National Enquirer: "I do think that Bush is drinking again. Alcoholics who are not in any program, like the President, have a hard time when stress gets to be great.

"I think it's a concern that Bush disappears during times of stress. He spends so much time on his ranch. It's very frightening."

[insane_cratic_gal]

25. Actually I'm more afraid

when he's free from his ranch!

At least on the ranch he's contained and out of the way.

Otherwise he's a natural walking disaster.. literally

[FreedomAngel82]

51. I wonder if he ever stopped personally

I think it's all a PR thing for the fundamentalist's in the country who believe his Jesus story. I was watching the documentary "With God on Our Side" on the Sundance Channel a week or so ago and according to this film there's two different stories of how Bush "found Jesus". One was this guy who's name I can't remember, but he was in Midland for some crucade type thing like Billy Graham has and he carried this huge cross all over the country and stuff and Bush had a meeting with this guy at a hotel restaurant and told him his problems and that this guy inspired him. But there's another story of him saying Billy Graham incouraged him to "become a Christian." So which is it?? I think it's all nothing but a PR stunt personally.

[ClintonTyree]

188. I'm sure of it.........

in fact, most politicians share this hypocrisy. They make a very public display of their christianity but in real life, they could give two craps about it. Why do you think so many are caught with their hands in the cookie jar? Of course they're ALWAYS forgiven by their fellow christians (except if your name is Clinton) and everything is as good as new, back to square one. No doubt there are some who actually believe in the myths, but for the most part it's an act to keep the truly faithful sheep in line. In my book there's only one thing worse than a pushy christian, and that's a hypocritical pushy christian.

[red_rasta]

240. tee hee!

for a second there I thought you said "hand in the nookie jar"!

[bostonbabs]

297. I agree. The neocon's God , Leo Strauss

spells it out...religion is the easiest way to manipulate people and it is not important that you yourself be religious...oh and he says too that these religious people want and need to be lead due to their inferiority....great concept uh?....and they call us elitists

[howmad1]

302. Uh Huh. So many hypocritical Christians, so few lions.

[im10ashus]

69. That's a very good point.

He is what's referred to as a "dry drunk." One who stops driking but doesn't do anything to deal with it. It makes them very unpleasant people to deal with.

[FeloniousMonk]

414. Being unpleasant is normal around the likes of Rummy and so on. eom

[LiberalEsto]

143. "It's very frightening" Particularly when ..

wehn Dubya is armed with a chainsaw, clearing brush. I don't even want to THINK about it. :scared:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

212. It's a great book, by the way.

I just re-read it, a year after first reading it, and it's frightening how well the good doctor nailed Ratface's pathology.

He's a dry drunk. That's a bad, sorry condition.

[bostonbabs]

275. Pelosi said it: "Denial oblivious ....Dangerous"

....I think that was the quote ... Hugo Chavez calls him "Mr. Dangerous"....what are these asshole Senators from both sides of the aisle doing ?...Impeach him for treason and throw away the key. We will never gain respect in the world if we don't. Every one hated Gerald Ford a good man for pardoning Nixon ...this is beyond the pale of modern societies.What this punk was able to do to this country by lies and mass manipulation is beyond a bad novel. I want to see Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh , for starters, tarred and feathered....scum propagandist...30 million a year to do that terrible job.....all of them. I heard Hannity say today that Senator Reid has no mind of his own because of all the money he takes from Liberal Groups.......SCUM..........smoke and mirror men.

[calico1]

10. ROFL!

Even if this isn't true (it is the National Enquirer after all) its still funny as Hell. And it is also true that a lot of Freepers read the Enquirer, Globe and Star and believe most of what is printed in them.

[Tess49]

60. What are my cats doing on your couch?

[calico1]

62. You have two like that?

The one on the left is Tabitha, aka Tabby, aka, Tabs. The kitty on the right is Quincy, aka Quincydoodle, aka Quincydoodlebug. Both were rescues literally from off the street. Got any pics of yours?

[Tess49]

85. Mine look exactly like yours. The gray one is a female that my

son dropped off at my house six years ago on his way to another town to go to school. "Just until I find an apartment", is what he claimed. The orange one is a male that I adopted when he was about 10 weks old. I don't have any pics, but I was startled to see yours. Looks just like them.

[ninkasi]

405. I love seeing happy "rescues"

Mine is a dog, though. As far as the story in the NE...I just hope all the Freepers believe it...talk about meltdown. It would be poetic justice, in a way, for Chimp to finally be brought down by a rumor, especially since Rove has been so quick to plant them when it was convenient for them.

[W2Hague]

368. yech

bird-eating motherfuckers!

[Name removed]

491. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JDPriestly]

11. Since when do you believe what you read in the National Enquirer?

Is this the rag that reported that Hillary is a lesbian, that Chelsea is an alcoholic, etc., etc.? Or am I confusing the National Enquirer with the Star or one of the other gossip mongerers? This report sounds very plausible, but if the National Enquirer is the only source for it, I can't take it seriously enough to repeat it. I hate having to give Bush the benefit of the doubt, but a National Enquirer article?

[lancdem]

20. That's why I think we shouldn't give it credence

[Beetwasher]

28. Credence Shmedence, It's Just Hilarious To See It Printed!

It'll be read by millions who will believe it, regardless.

Here's an interesting tidbit, while I'm no fan of the National Enquirer, I do know the Sr. Editor socially, and I can probably get an off the record confirmation on the veracity of this story at some point.

[im10ashus]

176. Please do Beetwasher.

I would love to know for real. I have seen some replies asking why I would put credence in the NE, but I believe I stated the absurdity of it all. Laughter is a great drug. :-)

[kcass1954]

270. Whether it's true or not, it's straight out of Rove's handbook...

Get it out there, and let the victim try to prove it's false.

[alittlelark]

319. It also sounds like the 'busted' televangelists.....

whether it be sex or alcohol or whatever - Beg for forgiveness after seeing the light.... you can be re-born YET AGAIN!!!! His Fundie-Whacko base would get off on it.

[hardrainfallin]

95. You don't have to read or believe the enquirer to get the

feeling that he's back on the bottle.

Anyone with any experience with alcoholism (either recovering alcoholic or family member of one) is probably thinking and suspecting the same.

I've been watching it: for at least the last two months, I've suspected he's drunk -- on the job. He's slurring his speech all the time, his movements, everything about his physical appearance just screams: FALLEN OFF THE WAGON

[Nay]

107. I think he's off the wagon, too. As the daughter of an alkie, I can sure

recognize the slow, confused and slurred speech as that of someone back on the booze. The vacant looks, the uncoordinated, overly-controlled hand movements, etc. Sure looks like it to me.

[hardrainfallin]

115. Yep. and, like most alks in the 'upper classes', he's very good at

controlling it, trying to look normal and covering up his ailment with $3K tailored shirts and the like....but we (adult children of alcoholics) know what it looks like.

I'd like to see a piss test.

I'd like to see AA groups and possibly the national organization turn him into their poster boy, you know kind of like Dole and ED!

But I really think he'd have to have a piss test first....since he's the prez and there's so much at stake, random UAs, over a period of say a month, performed by an INDEPENDENT org or agency, hey how bout AA!?

sneer.....

[Mikimouse]

131. Alcohol doesn't show up in a piss test, only on a blood test...

and at that, the test has to be done at the right time, during or immediately after a bout of drinking. That said, it isn't my place to take his inventory.

[hardrainfallin]

137. Oh. I didn't realize alcohol was piss-test proof. Nor am I in favor

administering controls of this nature. But he is the highest ranking fed official in the country (and I believe there exist drug testing regulations for fed employees, like it or not).

In the case of the pResident of the US, I think we, the employer people, do have a right to demand this teeny-tiny infringement on his "right" to privacy--as much as we'd have the right to inquire about the DNA of sperm on a blue dress, yaknow.

[MojoXN]

140. Alcohol most certainly WILL show up on certain piss tests...

The GC/MS comes to mind. This is the most expensive, hence the least common of the urine tests. Alcohol won't show up on an EMIT or RIA though. Put it this way, if you're taking the test for a Probation or Parole officer, you're probably taking the GC/MS, and I wouldn't risk it, but hey, it's your ass!


MojoXN

[Fiendish Thingy]

230. Alcohol DOES show up in a UA,

but only within about 8 hours or so of drinking, not 2-4 weeks like marijuana does...

[la la]

330. maybe that's the reason

for the 'misbuttoned' shirt. ( from the gwb unabridged dictionary!)
Ever try to get yourself dressed when you've been inbibing?

[NMDemDist2]

324. agreed, Sober 14 years here, and he isn't sober (or even dry) that I

can see

:beer:

[Laurab]

343. Congratulations!

20 years here, and I've seen a LOT of drunks in my time. If he's not off the wagon, he's on some good drugs IMO. It's hard enough to stay sober with a program - he doesn't have one, and you can't hide behind fake "Christianity" forever.

I really don't care about the Enquirer's credibility, or lack thereof - * voters probably read it regularly - at least the ones that can read. If the gloves are off, I can't wait to see what they report next!

[NMDemDist2]

363. thanks! and back at ya

hubby celebrated 20 this summer

your statement is spot on, and what we've been saying about bushit since 2000

[hardrainfallin]

500. See, "experts" know. lol. and congrats btw. nt

[MindMatter]

387. "Back on the bottle"?

I don't know why anybody would take his word that he ever stopped drinking. Nothing else he has said has been true. Why should he get any benefit of the doubt on this or any other question?

Remember he had a few nasty run-ins with pretzels and other dangerous opponents. A sober pretzel can kick a drunk President's ass any day of the week.

The guy is a fraud. He never put down the sauce.

[One_of_8]

196. It's still funny as hell

For the first time in years, I'm considering buying this rag, just so I can cut out and frame that particular article.

[calimary]

413. Welcome to DU, MindMatter and One_of_8!

My mom subscribes - and bought a gift subscription for her sister back east. When it arrives, it gets passed around all over their family (which is large). They're all a bunch of Hillary-haters. I would love to know their reaction when they read this.

Welcome, actually every newer poster here!

Glad you're here. We need you! Clearly, though, the fight is getting a lot more intriguing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Since CHB has had stories to this effect for months

since Newsweek and the other weeklies pointed to problems of command that may be related to drinking, I mean some even said Nixonian, and Nixon was also hitting the sauce quite heavily.... they are sending it to the enquirer to float among the base and see how it plays... that is my sneaky suspicion

[Pacifist Patriot]

68. A broken clock is right twice a day...

No, no. I understand what you are saying. I don't give them any credence for accurate reporting....but in this case their speculation may be on to something????

[im10ashus]

174. Who said I believed it?

I think if you read my post you will see that I qualified my posting by admitting to the ridiculousness of the NE. Sometimes a little levity is a good thing. :-)

[JDPriestly]

269. Agreed! Sorry.

If it makes you feel better, a post I intended as a joke was taken seriously by a few DUers, and I was similarly chastened.

[im10ashus]

278. No need to apologize.

I have thicker skin than that and you were merely calling it as you saw it.

:hi:

[Lost-in-FL]

364. Well...

The NE said that Hillary is a lesbian and most people still believe in that. I just hope this drinking spreads around so bad it will stain the credibility of Conservatives withing their own party for centuries to come... MUUUAAAHHH HAHAHAAHHHHAAAAA!!!!!

[Lexingtonian]

377. Haven't you seen "Men In Black"?

It explains quite a lot.

[Garbo 2004]

421. Yah, the NE even was the first to report that Rushbo had a drug habit &

was being investigated by authorities in Florida!

Oh yeah, that story turned out to be true....

Ya never know. I'm mainly curious why someone's apparently feeding this stuff to the NE and why the NE and its lawyers feel comfortable enough to run it.

[atommom]

12. So he was not drinking until Katrina, yet he had a bottle of Jim Beam

and a shot glass sitting ready for use? I can believe he's drinking. I just can't believe that it just started back up after the hurricane. It sounds as if they're already trying to cover his ass by saying it was just one shot, just one time, and just at a very stressful moment.

[alfredo]

220. He's the president, why is he drinking cheap swill?

If I was president, I would be drinking Old Pogue or something along those lines.

[atommom]

312. Because he's a cheap bastard with bad taste?

Remember, this is a man who loves pork rinds.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. :hide:

[alfredo]

350. He sure isn't cheap with our money.

He's spending like a drunken sailor.

[dhinojosa]

16. LMAO!!! Jr. challanged Sr. to a fight?

Age 26 in 1972, he reportedly rounded off a night's boozing with his 16-year-old brother Marvin by challenging his father to a fight.

LMAO!!!!

Jr: "Hey Georrrrrge, wake up George, or uh George SEEEENOR, I should say."
Sr: "Son, what is going o..."
Jr: "Shut the fuck up motherfucker!"
Jr: Laughs hard and grabs Marvin's shoulder "Haha, motherfucker, I am fucking witty aren't I"
Sr: "That's enough, your drunk! I brought you into this world and I'll take you out"
Jr: "Fuck off Dad, I am not..."
Jr: Falls and slams right through the glass coffee table

[mattclearing]

102. Yeah, that's actually true.

Been reported a number of times in "reputable" publications that also printed stories about the threats of Saddam's WMD.

:D

[nini]

18. This can't be true

It implies he knew and gave a damn about what was happening in NO.

He may have been boozing but it wasn't because of the hurricane. It's their way of excusing the drinking when the truth comes out he's fallen off the wagon for God knows how long.


but, funny to read anyway. :D

[garybeck]

what it really shows is that the media is starting to turn on him

they probably know he never quit in the first place. but they are starting to turn on him and Katrina is a good excuse.

[nini]

494. Oh.. I agree with you ..

I was being a bit sarcastic and forgot that stinking sarcasm smiley.

[Lucille]

273. He doesn't care about NOLA, he cares about his sinking poll numbers

Lots of people put good money into making him president, and they expect him to deliver.

[preciousdove]

19. WOW I hadn't seen ANYTHING negative about BFEE in these rags...

But they have at least one Bill or Hillary story an issue.

Grocery lines. I often turned issues around in the rack if a lying headline irritated me enough. My one vice.

[DoYouEverWonder]

423. Not since the Jenna rolling on the floor drunk pics

which cost Photo Editor Bob Stevens his life.

Interesting to see the NE is finally running an anti Bush story?

I too have an acquaintance who is an 'investigative' reporter for NE. When I first met him a few years back, he was very proud of the work they had done investigating Clinton. Well, I ran into him last Jan. and another friend brought up the fact that I was interested in the Bob Stevens story, he got all freaked out and just walked away as fast as he could. This was a guy who had spent hours telling me about his experiences in Vietnam and now he was afraid to come near me. Strange?

[benburch]

21. He has been drinking "socially" for years.

I know a woman who was at a function where he was drinking two years ago.

[Lochloosa]

31. An alcoholic does not drink "socially"...they get drunk

[benburch]

33. Agreed...

But he was able to stay sober most days...

Looks like he is on his plunge to the bottom now.

[MojoXN]

47. As an actively drinking alcoholic...

I can say that I don't ALWAYS drink to get drunk. I'll have a single beer or two with a meal, or when I'm out on a date, etc. If I want to get drunk (which is almost every day), I do. If I don't, I don't. It's as simple as that.

MojoXN

[personman]

61. Then you're not an alcoholic. nt

[MojoXN]

84. According to the mental health "professionals"...

I am. I like to get intoxicated as often as possible, therefore, according to their reasoning, I am an alcoholic.

MojoXN

[benburch]

87. I like getting high as often as possible, too...

Which makes me an addict to them.

Mind you, I haven't in several years...

But I still want to.

I just don't care to spend the money.

[MojoXN]

90. My favorite bit of idiocy from the "we know what we're doing"...

Mental health types is the ol' "If you have five drinks or more in a sitting, you have a drinking problem." Doesn't matter how big or small you are, experience is irrelevant, five=bad. less than five=OK. If you ever have to go through any sort of alcohol "treatment", tell the powers that be that you NEVER drink more than four drinks at a time. Then watch the confused look spread across their face as they ponder why you were sent to an alcohol program when OBVIOUSLY, you don't have a "problem" with alcohol.

MojoXN

[mattclearing]

104. Yeah, or if you drink three or more times a week, you're an alcoholic.

It's all so arbitrary.

[MojoXN]

109. I hadn't heard that one...

Three times a week? Hell, I drink three times a week! I drink 2.33 times more than three times a week, on average. OK, mental health "professionals", I want some answers. If I can drink 6-10 beers daily, go to work on time, get A's in all of my classes, ad not get into fights or do other stupid shit, am I an alcoholic? Anyone care to answer me here? Anyone at ALL?

MojoXN

[A-Schwarzenegger]

120. Yet.

Be patient.

[brainshrub]

126. Can you stop?

Have you ever tried to go a month without alchohol?

IMHO, as long as you are happy drinking and you don't hurt other people... go for it.

[MojoXN]

138. I went six weeks without a drop at the beginning of the summer.

I got sick of all of my friends saying, "Dude, you're an alcoholic!" so I decided to see how long I could go without drinking. I could have gone longer than six weeks, but didn't want to. Besides, it was right around the fourth of July. I didn't want to miss that!:) Anyway, now I'm starting to get the same old BS that I got before: Dude, you drink too much! I say that even if I do drink too much, it isn't fucking my life up, so what's the problem?

MojoXN

[ProudDad]

527. It's fucking your life up .... Yet...

Why bother?

What does that poison really do for you anyway?

[Mikimouse]

133. It isn't the amount that matters, it is the motivation...

If you drink to feel good, then you're generally OK. If you drink to avoid feeling bad, then you may have a problem, and if you think you have a problem, you probably do.

[MojoXN]

158. I drink because I like to get intoxicated.

Plain and simple. I don't usually try to "drown my troubles". Drinking when I'm upset only makes me more upset. I like to drink and read/write, or drink and socialize. I don't think that I have a problem, but everyone else seems to disagree. So, DU, what's the consensus? Am I an alcoholic or not?

MojoXN

[A-Schwarzenegger]

165. You have to decide that for yourself.

May I ask how old you are?

[MojoXN]

168. I'll be 24 in a few weeks.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

175. Well, more shall be revealed.

If youre getting drunk 5-6 times a week for long, it's a safe bet
that it's going to cause you problems and then more problems. I'm
a sober alcoholic (for 19 years) and when I was 24 I never even
knew there was such a thing as alcoholism. You like to read and seem
bright & curious so maybe get yourself a big book and see what you
think. But as long as drinking isnt causing any problems in your life,
as you say, then it's unlikely youre going to do anything to change
your habits. My own experience is that people (including me) don't
make big changes in their lives unless they have to, in other words,
unless the pain gets bad enough. And there might not be any bigger
change in the life of an alcoholic than stopping drinking and learning
to live sober.

[MojoXN]

194. Well, let me clarify a little...

I drank to complete excess for years, an all day, every day kind of thing. Also, I used to use drugs of various sorts. I don't do either of these things anymore. In the past, intoxication caused me many problems. These days, I can handle multiple responsibilities, and simultaneously integrate drinking into my daily routine.

I've been through AA, court-ordered, various times, and it offers nothing for me. Sitting in a room with a bunch of strangers and comparing notes and stories never seemed like an effectual thing to do. I've read the Big Book, and some other AA literature. I can't identify with it, or the basic AA philosophy, "You are powerless over alcohol." That's utter bunk. Nobody is powerless over alcohol, or anything else. It's simply a question of will.

Anyway, to rephrase my original question, how much stock should I put into the opinions of others with respect to me drinking often?

MojoXN

[A-Schwarzenegger]

207. Oh, I thought you said you drink 6-10 beers a day 5.33 times a week.

And that "all" your friends tell you youre an alcoholic,
people who know you better than anybody on DU.
And now you say youve been in court "various times" for
alcohol-related problems/offenses?
But you dont drink that much and you dont have any
problems in your life from your drinking?
Hmm.
Do you maybe hear some
contradictions in what you're saying?

[MojoXN]

331. Well stated...

"..."all" your friends tell you youre an alcoholic..."

Yes, and I disagree with their conclusion. I might drink the majority of the time, but I am fine with it, and as of late, I haven't experienced any problems with respect to my drinking.

"And now you say youve been in court "various times" for
alcohol-related problems/offenses?"

Yes, most recently four years ago. Four years is a long time, by most standards. I haven't had a single problem since I resolved to self-monitor my habits.

"Do you maybe hear some
contradictions in what you're saying?"

Absolutely! But if this was a clear-cut issue I wouldn't have brought it up. Contradictions are NOT, to my experience, mutually exclusive with the truth.

"But you dont drink that much..."

Sure I do! And I enjoy it profoundly. I see what you're getting at, but I don't think that I fit the so-called 'profile'. Stop me if I'm getting too tangential here...

MojoXN

[A-Schwarzenegger]

348. The main thing is ... more shall be revealed

as we gain experience & knowledge of ourselves.
As somebody else said, it's good youre thinking
about these things. Nobody else can decide for you
if youre an alcoholic, or whether some day you may
need help in doing something about it. That doesnt
mean we shouldnt listen to what other people say &
consider it. I did damage to not only myself but others
too, especially people I loved. I needed help to stop &
got it & am happy & grateful I did. Sobriety's been
berry berry good to me.

[Freedomfried]

385. Court ordered AA, multiple times??

You're a lush Dude....

[Kali]

191. Maybe you are just an asshole

- how did those same people treat you when you were sober for your "experiment"?

Some people are jerks that just get worse when they drink. Doesn't make them alcoholics.

[MojoXN]

197. Some people are jerks that just get worse when they drink.

Indeed!

That might have to be my new personal slogan.

MojoXN

[Kali]

226. I am glad you took that the right way

I was worrying I was going to get in trouble for a ersonal attack or something.:toast:

[TankLV]

382. What's an "ersonal" attack?

I've never heard of one before!

[Vinnie From Indy]

351. Have you ever tried to drink sterno fuel or rubbing alchohol?

Do you ever get smashed on Rebel Yell Whiskey?

[OregonBlue]

277. If you're asking, you probably have a bit of a problem.

Social drinkers tend to drink to relax and get a bit of a high. People who drink to get drunk, generally become one. You're 24 so it might be okay now because you have a good liver but, as you get older, the liver doesn't process as well and drinking is much harder on you and it's MUCH harder to quit.

I know of what I speak!! Sober now for 12 years.

If you start to feel like you have a problem, you do.

Glad you're thinking about it.

[FlaGranny]

362. I once knew a 24-year-old young man

who died from alcoholic cirrhosis. Another young man in the town where I grew up died after downing a fifth of whiskey on a bet. It didn't help that he was drunk before he started on that fifth. In fact, I bet he wouldn't have taken the bet if he were sober in the first place. So drinking too much can hurt a young person, too.

[OregonBlue]

519. Yah, you're very right. My only thought was that even if this

person doesn't get blind drunk all the time, he/she's damaging themselves. As we get older, liver really starts going. Especially for women who have smaller livers to begin with. Actually, I pretty much support the idea that if you think you might have a problem and your friends tell you you drink too much, then you do!

[Dora]

314. Be good to yourself, man.

The body is a temple.

[MojoXN]

323. My temple isn't my body...

It's my mind. And yet, I expose myself to propaganda on a daily basis.

My solution? Expose myself to things that remind me that mankind is essentially good. Like Jazz! Listen to N.O. jazz, and tell me that songs like, "When the Saints Go Marching In" don't perk your spirits.

MojoXN

[Dora]

326. Your mind is bound by flesh and blood.

The soul and the intellect are abstract, of course; but were our bodies not here to house them (to house us), we would never know the pleasures of thought, dreams, and desire.

Be good to yourself, man.

Do I have to give you a hugging smiley for you to know I'm serious?

[MojoXN]

329. My personal theology plays a significant role in my beliefs...

I believe that the soul is independent of the body, You make a very valid point that for the time being, my soul is trapped, as it were, within the confines of my corporeal body. I do not make the intellectual leap from that fact to the supremacy of my physical existence over that of the intellectual. That's just me, but what the hell do I know? ;)

MojoXN

[expatriate]

400. I'm in the process of watching my 22 year old adopted son die

of acute alcoholism, drug addiction and associated diseases - HIV, HepC and cirrhosis.

Youth is not any kind of protection. I realize you don't have some of the problems he has - but he started out just as you describe your drinking habits, only younger. Always sure he had it under control.

It's not a pretty death, it hurts, and it takes a long time.

Only you can decide if what you are doing is okay - and if you're willing to pay the eventual cost.

[calimary]

416. I'm sorry to hear that.

Twenty-two...

:cry:

[ninkasi]

407. Good observation

My husband is an alcoholic, a drinking one. It's not always easy, but when he has to refrain...like we have to be someplace, and I refuse to let him drive when he's drinking...then he refrains. Long story, no need to get into it now, but he can control it when he has to.

The difference in my husband and Chimp, though, is that my husband doesn't have the power to cause wars, push through hideous laws, and make life miserable for millions.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

217. Another well-spoken argument for

the decriminalization/legalization of all drugs.

I'm with you on this one.

[bloom]

258. Who can say exactly how much will have what effect...

How much do you want to risk?

"Alcohol addiction is a serious issue. Alcohol consumption is linked to 80 percent of suicides, 50 percent of murders, 30 percent of fatal road crashes, and 15 percent of drownings. It is also a factor in one in three divorces, and one in three cases of child abuse.

Drinking alcohol can increase the likelihood of cirrhosis of the liver, harm an unborn child, and has been linked to breast cancer in women and cancer of the mouth, oesophagus, pharynx, larynx, and liver.

Heavy drinking has also been associated with poor sexual performance, dementia and muscle degeneration.

On the other hand moderate drinking in middle age has been shown to reduce deaths from heart disease by about one third. An Australian study shows the heart attack risk is lowest among men who report one to four drinks daily on five or six days a week and for women who have two standard drinks a day, five or six days a week....

What is moderate drinking?

There is controversy over what moderate drinking is. A common guideline is one standard drink a day for women and two for men, and no heavy drinking sessions at all. Another recommendation is three or four small drinks for men, three or four times a week and two or three small drinks for women, three or four times a week. UK health authorities suggest a limit of 14 drinks a week for women and 21drinks a week for men."

http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/articles/alcohol.html

[aquart]

284. Do you remember your first drink?

How old were you? What was it like?

[MojoXN]

340. I was very young...

About eleven of twelve years old. It was HORRIBLE!! I never knew what a spinning room was until then. Any other questions?

MojoXN

[Flirtus]

479. yes, i think you are

speaking as the mom of a teenaged alcoholic girl (she describes herself that way after a certain episode that involved the police and the emergency room) and the ex-wife of another and the daughter of a deceased alcoholic, I've had to learn about all this because apparently I do not have an addictive personality, just the co-dependency required to live around all them, so my question to you is:

Who is enabling you to live this way?

[im10ashus]

182. Well then I am an alcoholic.

But I am Irish and Welsh so it's expected. Just kidding. I know alcoholism is serious, and there are a few in my family that have had their days, but sometimes labeling those of us who have a "few or more" a week is so ridiculous. It's arbitrary for certain. :-)

[jwirr]

247. From my experience they ask more than that. Do you

have health problems related to drinking? Do you have family/relationship problems related to drinking? Do you have financial problems related to drinking? and Have you lost or had problems at work due to absenteeism due to drinking? They also ask if those 5 drinks are a regular habit?

[MojoXN]

344. To answer your questions...

"have health problems related to drinking?"

No.

"Do you have family/relationship problems related to drinking?"

Problems? No.

"Do you have financial problems related to drinking?"

Verily, I say unto thee: No.

"Do you have financial problems related to drinking?"

Nope.

"They also ask if those 5 drinks are a regular habit?"

Yes, but in the absence of other negative consequences, is that necessarily indicative of a "problem" ?

MojoXN

[jwirr]

468. Then you are not an alcoholic no matter what the big boys/girls

say.

[PurpleChez]

320. Thanks for making that point, MojoXN!

AA and similar programs have turned things around for millions of people, and I salute them for that. But as an erstwhile mental health professional myself I dislike that their sweeping generalizations about what alcoholics do or don't do are so often accepted without question, even by other professionals, almost as elements of religious faith. These programs are not necessarily built on clinical evidence -- if they work for you, congratulations, and by all means, stay with it, but acknowledge that it may not be a universal truth.

[calimary]

420. Hey, PurpleChez - Welcome to DU!

I'm still just amazed by this article. Whoa.

And, judging from the long and involved conversations it's generated, just here, I bet it's going to have LOTS of people talking. What we need to watch for is when they go one step beyond talking - to putting two and two together. When it finally hits them that this is a dry drunk (or at the very least - the pResident is hitting the bottle) who has his finger on the proverbial button, and who never got the proper treatment for it so he hasn't ever dealt with it... and he has his finger on the proverbial button and gee, come to think of it, he's falling off that bike a lot, and why does he take all those long vacations, and look what a mess there is, nearly EVERYWHERE these days... and he's the one with the finger on the proverbial button, and he's the pResident and he's supposed to keep us safe and we're supposed to be able to trust him and he's drinking...

There will be lots of talk about this. Nobody on TV or radio will dare touch this, at least for awhile. They're still scared, I think, and some of them are only now getting their sea-legs back and starting to remember what it was like to work as a reporter, so their muscles have atrophied and it'll take them time to build back up to a good fighting weight. But there will be LOTS of talk about this, as people start bringing their own anecdotal stuff into the overall conversation - may even provoke a national dialogue about alcholism and what happens when it's untreated and unaddressed.

You can bet, if OUR newsroom got the "Enquirer," and still does, I'm sure, OTHER newsrooms do, too. And newspeople LOVE to gossip. If it's in the "Enquirer," EVERYBODY you see on TV and hear on radio will have seen it. They'll be in a quandary about it. Some of them will be in serious denial about it. But whether or not they do anything to source out the story for themselves, as was done at the AP, believe it: they will all have seen it. This is gonna get passed around a LOT. BTW, nobody at my old shop ever just lifted stuff from the "Enquirer." Not kosher. They'd always use it as tips to make calls about, and hopefully dig up their own details to flesh out the story or develop a new angle or second-day lead on it.

[PurpleChez]

437. Thanks! Glad to be here!

As a resident of a very red Red State it's great to have a virtual community that's more in line with my views.

[hardrainfallin]

116. well, as an actively drinking alcoholic, do YOU think he's drinking? nt

[MojoXN]

125. It's hard to say...

I would say not before his public appearances, but when evening rolls around, just possibly. I think that it would be damn near impossible to hide the fact that * had been getting smashed, but if he's doing the whole one-shot-at-a-time thing as the article states, it's possible. Personally, I think that he's not hitting the bottle just yet, that'd be a bit TOO obvious. I'd say that it's FAR more likely that he's found some other substance(s) to fill the gap left by ol' ethanol. For my money, I'd say Valium, maybe Xanax, with a dose or two of SSRI thrown in, just for fun. All legally prescribed, of course, but that makes little difference when you're half-zombified from eating three milligrams of Xanax.

MojoXN

[hardrainfallin]

148. doesn't look like benzos to me, but could be coke or codeine, note the

tooth grinding, maybe even cotton mouth.

Have you been watching his public speeches much these days, maybe even on the lookout for telltale "signs"?

I come from a looooooong line of alkies (so does bush), missed the bullet myself by a hair--in early 20s decided I liked to drink too much to become an alcoholic because one thing all children of alcoholics (and all alcoholics know) is that once you've gone over a certain point and reached the stage of physical addiction, you'll have to stop completely someday and will never be able to take another drink.

So I stopped altogether for a while (as I said, early 20s), then was able to become a "social drinker" after a couple of years.

But if I had KEPT drinking then--esp with the genetic history--I would have had to stop altogether and never would have been able to have another drink: and that is one thing all alcoholics know: once you are sober, you CANNOT take another drink--its such common knowledge they even trope it on ER for god's sake (see Abby!)--and we do KNOW that GWB HAS had that first fatal drink, after his supposed "sobriety" ....

That fucker is not sober; if he ever was, he has not stayed sober--whether he's doing a "rush limbaugh" --dunno, but it's irrelevant.

[MojoXN]

153. "could be coke or codeine, note the tooth grinding"

I was thinking Adderall or Ritalin, I oculd definitely see * having a touch of the ADD, but his behavior seems too, I don't know, detached, for him to be on one of these, IMO. Even if he IS sober, that might not be the best thing for him. I've know alkies who were happier when drinking than they were sober. Perhaps he's one of those...

MojoXN

[hardrainfallin]

163. well, my grandma was one of those, but she wasn't running uh i mean

RUINING the country--she was running a greasy spoon on the corner of some two-bit midwestern town--then she got hit by a bus, injured and couldn't keep it running.

Oh, and that reminds me: what's with the falling off the bike stuff? I know quite a few avid cyclists, and bike quite a bit myself: I know that most of these people would have to be so fucking out of their skulls drunk to FALL OFF A BIKE....cyclists are not inclined to fall off a bike as others, I'd say, unless of course, they're drunk

[MojoXN]

167. I ride a bike EVERYWHERE.

I ride drunk all the time, pretty much daily. Gotta stay on the sidewalk, or it's a DUI! ;) I can't remember the last time I wrecked, drunk or sober. I've always shaken my head and quietly wondered, "What the fuck is up with Shrub? Why is he ALWAYS wrecking vehicles, especially his bike?" Dubya reminds me of a friend I had in high school, Johnny Care. Johnny wrecked damn near every vehicle known to man, his car, his dad's truck, several dirt bikes and quads, a bicycle, skateboard, and a horse.

I think the Chimperor and Johnny might be long lost cousins.

MojoXN

[mermaid]

366. Damn!! Another One Like Me!!

I am the adult child of an alcoholic, too. I, too, had a drinking problem in my teens and twenties. Hell, I practically coasted thru high school drunk every day, because I had a genius-level IQ, school wasn't so challenging that my drinking affected my performance.

I used to drop little bottles of booze, or cans of beer into Big Gulp cups, surround them with ice, drop in a straw, and put the lid on, and drink right in class, for God's sake!

Never got caught, eiother, because, back then, school administrators didn't know about that little trick! Or the trick about putting scotch or beer in an apple juice bottle!

Anyway, I am a transgender person, and MY drinking was entirely done to bury my pain. It wasn't until I came to terms with the fact that I was a transsexual, that I was able to quit drinking.

My therapist would not prescribe hormones for me, until I went on a 90-day sobriety check. She said...and correctly so...that my liver could not handle the twin stress that alcholo and hormones would cause.

I got thru the 90-day sobriety check. And discovered I was not an alcoholic, though I had had a drinking problem, and that I had beaten it.

Nowadays, I can go a month and more without alcohol and not miss it...I can drink socially, and put it down when I have had enough, I never get anything beyond the mildest buzz...and usually not even that. A jug of White Zin will last me about a month and a half...a case of beer can easily last me two months or more.

Now, I drink maybe three days a week, tops, and only one drink at a sitting. I do enjoy a beer or a glass of wine with dinner, occasionally, but on those occasions, I limit myself to the one glass, and I am just fine.

I, too, now recognize I was an incipient alcoholic...much more prone to becoming an alkie, because my dad was one. But I know now I will never become an alkie. And for the same reason you stated...I enjoy alcohol (the taste) too much to ever want to have to give it up completely and forever.

I can never let alcohol take control, because then I would have to give it up. And I enjoy the taste of certain alcohol too much to want to do that. So I, too, am self-limiting. It can be done. But only if you want to do it.

[jeanarrett]

478. Yeah, it's called "you can't turn a pickle back into a cucumber."

Glad you made it.

[hardrainfallin]

499. That's funny! A keeper.

Too bad, tho, looks like we're stuck with the pickle in the WH, eh?

[jeanarrett]

526. Yes, we are. Don't give me credit though, that's an old

AA cliche. They love them, I hate them, but they work for a lot of people.

[RamboLiberal]

510. John Dean said he was rumored doing Prozac

and nipping on the bottle. That was in Worse than Watergate which was about 2 years ago? Who knows what he's been prescribed. But the guy is definitely doing something.

And don't forget both Newsweek and Time broke last week about his volatile temper that has grown aides quaking in their boots and dry heaving in the bathroom when they have to break bad news to him.

[BamaBecky]

239. at this rate.........your ok....but later......it will be beyond your

controll.......

[wicket]

55. amen to that

[im10ashus]

180. I know a woman who worked on is first campaign.

She said the same thing. Although I couldn't stand her for working for such a maniacal twit.

[delete_bush]

23. I was down with this until...

"The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.

[Usrename]

34. "He takes every soldier's life personally" BWAHAHAHAHA

That's right up there with "Nine Year Old Girl Gives Birth to Self"

:rofl:

[wallwriter]

122. Just what I was thinking. It *must* be all bull...

[BamaBecky]

241. me too......I was soaking it all up, till I read THAT! n/t

[kostya]

365. Yeah, that was exactly the quote that made me disbelieve the

entire story. Bush couldn't give a rat's ass about all those poor kids (U.S., Iraqi, etc.) that are giving their lives and limbs over there for his lies and greed. - K

[kath]

187. He's a sociopath, and doesn't give the tiniest little shit about the loss

of lives.

[Voltaire99]

234. Agreed: the drinking isn't over guilt.

It's about having to act like a grown up. Having to pretend to be apologetic in public.

It's about people seeing through him.

He'd sacrifice millions if he could only avoid that.

[calimary]

422. Yes, but he DOES care how he's seen, and how he's PACKAGED.

Remember, the people around him are the ones who crowed about how we were just the peons living in the "reality-based community," whereas THEY in their great and powerful omnipotence create their own reality and it will be left to us to just study what they do. Remember that?

Someone farther up the thread offered a VERY plausible note, and one of many reasons I don't disbelieve this. It seems to me that bush has been drinking for a long time now. Maybe he never really stopped. Maybe he's always off around the corner, sneaking a shot here and a shot there. If people found out, WELL!!!!

So, since Katrina, and as the war in Iraq goes more and more sour and things are growing rather difficult for junior out there, perhaps there's some media-savvy person (I can think of at least two - rove and bartlett) who may have realized the only thing to do is to get out in front of this story. So they couch it like crazy, let it leak that he's dipping into it again, but - oh, JUST SINCE THE HURRICANE!!! JUST SINCE THE HURRICANE!!! See, he's under SO MUCH stress, and the mounting war casualties are just REALLY taking their toll on him and the poor little thing may just be falling apart! See, it's hard work. And he's been working hard. And sometimes, especially lately, things have become just a little too hard, but oh, JUST SINCE THE HURRICANE, dontcha know? JUST SINCE THE HURRICANE. Just a LITTLE bit of a drinking problem. Nothing serious. It's a struggle for him, he's under so much stress dontcha know, but he's forgiven of course. Let's not forget that. Here's some Katrina money. 9/11.

I think they're trying to get on top of this, float it as a trial balloon to see the reaction among the base (lots of people in his base group lap up the "Enquirer"), and see if they can get out ahead of it, and sand down all the rough edges and MAYBE invite all of America to veer off into sympathy for him. Boom! The polls go up as people rally around pResident Drunk, all pulling for him get through this! God bless America! 9/11.

I think the DUer who originally suggested this is spot-on. And it could indeed be that somebody in there - maybe in the rove or bartlett pipeline, somebody perhaps lower down on the food chain - is perhaps starting to feel a bit guilty about this. Maybe his or her conscience is starting to bother him/her. Maybe THIS is the latter-day "Deep Throat" many of us have been wishing for. Maybe whoever it is has suddenly grown a conscience, seeing the misery and the calamity and the world-class mess this idiot and his policies have created and how many people have died, and suffered, and cried, and is sending up a very subtle trial balloon... Hell, there's already low mumblings of dissention in the ranks over on Capitol Hill. Why wouldn't there be someone at the White House who just can't sleep peacefully through the night anymore, who's seen enough, who's just had their Rubicon crossed, and this is his/her way of coming clean, or at least getting it off the damned nagging conscience that won't shut up!!!

Because if this gets all the way out and takes hold, there will be MANY cries for IMPEACHMENT, as more Americans wake up to the truly frightening idea that the "commander-in-chief" is a drunk and an incompetent (because he's boozing again) and out of control and unreliable, and we sure can't turn to him in any crisis, we know THAT now - and the situation slowly reveals itself to be untenable.

What a night...

[im10ashus]

517. "JUST SINCE THE HURRICANE!!! "

You are SPOT on.

I was the one who posted this and I was, in full disclosure, just sharing what seemed to be such an implausible news source jumping on the anti-* bandwagon. Much like Faux and MSNBC have been trying to do to cover their own lackadaisical news abilities.

Now, after having read a lot of other responses and thinking it through, it's absolutely "possible" if not "likely" that Rove would spin this to get their sympathy levels back to their liking.

They are ALL about media and propaganda. This reeks heavily of their modus operandi. Thanks for sharing in my suspicions.

:yourock:

[Laurab]

355. Yeah, but then again

that might be his "excuse" to other people. We know he doesn't give a shit, but hell, it sounds good, and, hey, wouldn't you drink too if you were under all that pressure and stuff? Alcoholics are the best bullshitters in the world, and they can justify just about ANYTHING. There are tons of enablers around most alcoholics who, not understanding alcoholism, sympathize with them, and enable them even more.

In reality, if he's drinking, it's because he's a drunk, but I know from experience that even your closest family and friends will continually believe your excuses, and even make them up for you. IF it's true, I would guess that someone else gave that as his reason, or he "confided" it to someone, just knowing that it sounded good. It makes him sound like a genuine, caring, human kinda guy who just couldn't take it anymore....the base would probably fall for that.

[ninkasi]

409. You're right....

Even though he doesn't give a rat's ass about soldiers dying, he knows that he SHOULD, so uses this as an excuse. He's a sociopath, and knows very well how to get his enablers to excuse his drinking on that basis. Whether he's drinking or not, he's an evil man, who cares about nobody and nothing but himself and his circle of friends.

The rest of us are disposable, to be used and discarded when we've served our purpose.

[Raster]

399. yeah, that made me roll my eyes. bush* exhibits to many traits of a

socialized sociopath to be deeply affected by each soldier's life. That's just pure hookum. He's a sociopath with messianic tendencies. They don't do emotional drainage.

[Chiyo-chichi]

476. Ditto. eom

[ronnykmarshall]

24. Stop, George!!

Don't hog it all, damn it! - Laura

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

26. The Enquirer better watch their back.

Remember the anthrax attack?

[gulfcoastliberal]

88. That was my 1st thought, too - another anthrax envelope.

Didn't they get anthraxed the 1st time for an article about the boozin Bush twins antics?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

236. Yes to the twins and I also read in a couple of places

that they had compromising photos of the shrub and victor ashe.

[gulfcoastliberal]

360. You're right! Knew I forgot something - Ashe got em Aimes spores

I knew there was something more damning they had than on * than his bing-drinking daughters everyone already knew about. They eventually had to ship his Ashe to Australia to get him away from any compromising "positions", right? ;)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

401. Actually he was made Ambassador to Poland, and there were also

rumors of the Secret Service complaining about his many visits to the WH. I wonder if Gannon appeared on the scene close to the time of Ashe's departure?

[cwydro]

27. Hell, look at the job he's been doing sober

maybe a drink or two can't hurt...:toast:

[Blue_In_AK]

29. How about the blow?

I'm still watching that jaw-twitching thing he does. Also, this line was interesting -- "The First Lady has been assigned the job of gatekeeper." Having been a gatekeeper myself for many years (thankfully, no longer), I wouldn't wish THAT job on my worst enemy, not even Laura Bush.

That being said, I'm not sure I believe the National Enquirer, but I wouldn't be surprised if ** isn't taking a nip or two now and then. Alcoholism is a tough disease to beat, even when things are going well, which can hardly be said about George's life lately.

[benburch]

58. Here is the scoop on his cocaine use.

The rumors I have heard is that he does not snort coke... Instead he injects it - he uses medical cocaine solution and disposable syringes.

[Blue_In_AK]

77. Yikes, even worse...

I don't doubt you, but where have you heard this ... and how long has it been going on? So we ever see him in short-sleeved shirts. I've seen those long-sleeved ones rolled up, but nothing past the elbow that I can recall recently.

[benburch]

86. I heard this from the same woman who told me he had been drinking.

And she was right about that, it seems.

[Blue_In_AK]

91. Thanks.

He definitely shows signs of both ... from my experience with such substance abusers in my life.

[starroute]

172. "Quick, Watson, the needle"?

After he fell off his bicycle and it was reported that his personal physician was riding along with him, people were speculating on what sort of health problems he might have to need a doctor in attendance at all times. But now I'm wondering if there might be another explanation.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

223. Theories abound

There's speculation that he's ADHD, among other things, and needs to be kept in motion much of the time, doing "Presidential" stuff in fifteen- and thirty-minute increments during the day, always under the watchful eye of staff.

There's a huge need for him to be kept physically active to keep his anxiety levels under control.

[Chiyo-chichi]

477. Ahhh...

So that was a morphine pump full of cocaine solution strapped to his back during the first debate.

[NancyG]

492. The Seven Percent Solution

That's how Sherlock Holmes dealt with boredom when he didn't have a case.

But, then SH is not a real person.

[TroglodyteScholar]

Toot toot

During his 2000 presidential campaign, there were also persistent questions about past cocaine use. Eventually Bush denied using cocaine after 1992, then quickly extended the cocaine-free period back to 1974, when he was 28.

[TroglodyteScholar]

80. Dupe delete

[goclark]

397. The Enquirer is telling the truth! To my knowledge

they have not said anything bad about him before.

They have been very quiet, compared to Clinton, but now it is Katy bar the door.

They also probably know that the MSM is going to start giving even bigger hints and they pride themselves on BEING FIRST with the gossip, their motto is " Remember, you read it here first.".

Two recent things that stick out in my mind -- having been a "GATE KEEPER." I spotted it immediately.

#1 --- The speech in NO in front of Disney At Night. Recall the shirt that was NOT buttoned correctly.

It is next to impossible to get a drunk to look totally together when the liquor is telling them that everything looks fine. I am sure they tried to fix him but he is one mean Bastard and they needed to go on with the Disney At Night show.

# 2 - When he left Disney World and returned to the plane with the shirt soiled with sweat. Clue two for me -- they probably told him that they would get him another shirt to wear and he said, "F---NO!and Leave Me Alone."

And they did, they left him to board the plane all alone, little kiss ass Hughes was probably crying all the way back to Washington.

Let the gossip floooooow!!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Men in Black

tne news is in the scream sheets...

Now seriously folks, they are floating first at the Enquirer, that is where much of his base gets the news.

[RamboLiberal]

36. John Dean in his book "Worse Than Watergate" Said rumors

were that Bush was doing Prozac and nipping a bit.

Use Amazon's search feature to look at page 26. Dean wrote:

"Has he truly replaced abusive substances with healthy running, making endorphins his new drug of choice. And what about the rumors that Prozac is for Bush what Dilantin was for Nixon? Or the rumors that he has been nipping a bit?"

I think this is being hidden from the American public. Now that his "bullhorn" image has been tarnished, maybe some brave souls in the WH and the press will leak this. I bet some press people know but won't leak it. It wouldn't surprise me the first places the rumors surface is National Enquirer and Capitol Hill Blues. I just hope if true the MSM has the guts to bring this up. But I doubt it. Frightening enough this Chimp is the President. More frightening is we may have a doped up drunken Chimp-in-Chief.

[lumpy]

50. Some people in the 'press'

are probably aware if Bush is tippling. I was astounded/unbelieving to learn from a news editor in the 1960s that JFK was a womanizer. It has been confirmed over and over again since. Also it wasn't common knowledge until the infamous tapes that Nixon was a crude rude terribly conniving man (rumored but not confirmed). The press has always been wary of getting slapped with a lawsuit and losing readership. If the shoe fits, most likely he's wearing it.

[AspenRose]

37. Most of the time the Enquirer is garbage....BUT....

every once in a RARE while, they print something right....so who knows? :shrug: :shrug:

Didn't he have to go to the hospital in San Diego while Katrina was raging? I thought I saw some thread here about him staggering to the hospital....

[CottonBear]

59. Yes, he was taken to hospital. He didn't speak with reporters

or greet the people on the tarmac. He staggered, with, I believe, the assistance of Laura, from the limo to the airplane steps. Reportedly, the hospital wing was shut off to the public while he was there.

[Mira]

166. San Diego paper- I saved this clip

"But when Bush and his entourage arrived at the medical facility, those plans changed. One local news station reported that the President never left his motorcade, departing for the airport 15 minutes after arriving. The station aired footage of Bush laboring to ascend steps up to Air Force One, aided by his wife, Laura. A newscaster commented on the President's wavering gait and noted that it was unusual for him not to pause to shake hands with well-wishers at the airport. The broadcast led to local speculation that the President may have encountered a medical problem.

KNSD Channel 10 later retracted the story, reporting that Bush in fact entered the medical center and visited briefly with injured patients, but would not allow camera crews to accompany him. A call to the medical center's public relations office was not returned.

"We were providing the pool photography," KNSD TV assignment editor Gonzalo Rojas told RAW STORY. "We were originally told that we were going to be allowed to go in with him, but we were not. No one was. He was only in there a short time."

The President cut short his announced hour-and-a-half visit, departing an estimated 15 minutes after arriving at the medical facility. No reason for the abrupt departure was provided to the media, leading to speculation that the President was returning to Texas or Washington D.C. to address with the hurricane crisis.
clp


Why no media was allowed inside the hospital to film the President--and why plans for the carefully orchestrated photo op were abandoned at the last moment--remain unknown.
==========================

[janetle]

254. Wow! Indeed! What is going on with him? Geez.

[im10ashus]

290. Interesting.

Do you have a link to that? I think that may be worth tracing.

[David Zephyr]

346. Is there any link to this?

Thanks.

[kath]

192. hmmmm. Veddy, veddy interrresting.

[skooooo]

38. hey maybe it's true..

...sometimes the NE gets it right.

[UTUSN]

39. 1)The NE Has Been Credible AND 2) Therefore Got Anthraxed n/t

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

301. The big difference between NE and other media outlets is that

the NE has no problem openly paying for the stories, whereas the MSM "acts" like it's above such pedestrian antics.

Sooo, folks who have a lot to lose by publicizing what they know will turn to the NE, knowing at least they get a financial reimbursement.

The NE approach brings out lots of low lifes, but they sometimes catch the big fish. MKJ

[LostinVA]

459. As Calder says in his book: the MSM do pay for stories

They just don't write out big checks like the NE does. They fly them to NY or someplace, put them in a nice hotel, feed them, maybe give them a car or a trip or an internship, something. But, since it isn't cash, they don't "pay" them. And, as Calder states, the MSM often don't vet what they say, either -- they just put 'em on "Dateline" or something and let them showcase their lies.

[CitrusLib]

40. "Bush on the Couch" describes him as an 'untreated' alcohol.

The book gives a pretty good explanation as to what that means and why it's not a good thing.

An untreated alcoholic or a boozer; either way he's a scary, scary President.

[AnneD]

134. Have the book, met the author

He's bonifided real deal. Very sharp (rate him with Howard Dean as far as grey matter). He gave the most fascinating psychological autopsy as it were.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

41. MEMO to Enquirer Staff: Get your Cipro shots!

Remember what happened when they published this:



Results: One dead photographer due to anthrax.

[populistdriven]

179. another nauseating shot

[kath]

195. I thought the rumor was that the NE got anthraxed because they had pics

of Chimpy dancing naked on a bar or something like that.

[MojoXN]

42. The NE has had scoops before...

Perhaps this is yet another one...

MojoXN

[mandyky]

43. If it's good enuff for Men In Black

It's gotta be on the lowdown on the shrub!

[confludemocrat]

44. BS ALERT! the levees breaking made him drink? This doesn't wash

on two levels. It's clear nothing of that nature causes him to drink, for example the deaths of others, even in the tens to hundreds of thousands caused by him and he hadn't up to then and I think the timeline is wrong. He was elsewhere when they broke, on his way to Arizona for some cake, right?

They are currying the Bush line that he GIVES A SHIT! Not buying he is indifferent to suffering from his own-caused disasters, much less one caused by "God".

[Lisa]

73. unless it was a celebratory toast! (n/t)

[confludemocrat]

78. Clarification

shoulda said, "Not buying." period, full stop," He is indifferent to suffering from his own-caused disasters, much less one caused by "God".

[triguy46]

45. Pickles caught him with her bottle of Jack Daniels... n/t

[hippiegranny]

46. here's how you should know this is false

..."president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster."

He was not at the ranch when he learned of the hurricane disaster. By the time it became a "disaster" he was in Arizona bullshitting old people about Medicare, then he was off to San Diego for more photo ops.

[Sanity Claws]

65. Subject to interpretation

* should have heard that Katrina hit when he was in AZ. However, he did not grasp what really happened until considerably later. His yes-men were reluctant to give him bad news so they did not say how bad it was. There are stories that he had to be shown a DVD of TV coverage for him to grasp how bad it was.

[RamboLiberal]

71. Remember he spent Tuesday night back at the ranch

before flying back to DC via NOLA overflight Wed. He could've well been feeling guilt or just realized how royally he screwed up with his photo-ops and hit the bottle.

A lot of us have speculated that his nearly every weekend to Camp David and his frequent trips to the pig farm were so he could indulge in his beverages and drugs of choice.

Can we get his Secret Service agents to testify? Sure would be interesting to find out what they have seen and heard.

[confludemocrat]

74. Nah, screwing up royally is just another day for him and levees?

He was uncaring up to then about the consequences of events on people, why would he suddenly starting hittin' the bottle over a levee break? Given that it is unlikely he thought it through as to the suffering it woud entail. He did nothing until the fourth of fifth day after in any case.

[demobabe]

48. Our poor, embattled so-called "leader"

Fallen off the wagon, we should have sympathy... he's just like one of us and we should forgive him for his faults.

At least, I bet you that's what will be said, and drinking or not, this is just one more way to take attention off of the real crises.

We know how much Katrina affected him. It was so bad, he had to eat cake and play guitar to cope. Then he had to suffer through endless photo ops where he posed and smiled, photo after photo. And then he had to hug some black women who didn't even live in the region.

And we also know how personally he takes every soldier's death. Extremely personal. So personal, that when he met with Cindy Sheehan after her son Casey's death, he joked around and asked, "so who are we honoring here today?"

See, when all else fails, if you can't be responsible and accountable, beg for sympathy. Ask people to feel sorry for you. Make something else the issue.

Forget those dead people still laying in the street of New Orleans.
Never mind about all those coffins coming back from Iraq that we won't let the press photograph.

It's time to feel sorry for our poor, dear George. He's so likeable, you know. And now he needs our help.

But true to Al Anon form, we need to give tough love and do our duty to keep on message and demand accountability. It's the least we can do for our loveable drunk in office.

[mermaid]

372. Hate To Say It, But You Are Right

alkies are very very good at the "poor me" routine.

My dad was an alkie. I lived around it for 23 years. No one...I say no one...was a better bullshitter...a better sympathy-monger...a better guilt-tripper, or a better "poor me" man than my old man was!

[ovidsen]

49. I hope it's not true, for 2 reasons.

1. I don't want a chronically drunk President. This country is in bad enough shape as it is. He could get really irrational, as in more than he is now.

2. I wouldn't wish a relapse on any recovering alcoholic.

Just my two cents worth.

[lumpy]

52. We have a chronically drunk

president whether he is sober or not.

[longship]

353. Nixon was drinking heavy during his last days.

So it was reported by staffers after the fact. At the time there were plenty of rumors floating around. Although worrying, nobody in the media paid much attention to it.

Nixon was a scotch drinker. Apparently, Dubya's choice is good ol' Kentucky sour mash.

[Bouncy Ball]

53. Started?

My ass. More like "been drinking."

If he EVER quit drinking at any time in his life (once he was an adult) and someone proves that to me, I'll eat my shoe.

The man slurs six ways to Sunday. He has gin blossoms on his nose and face. Unexplained "falls" and "accidents." Sometimes not seen for days at a time. A marked decline in cognitive and verbal skills over the last ten years.

Yeah. Just like every bad alcoholic I've ever known. Even tons of money and power can't magically fix a drinking problem. The man has wet brain.

[nadinbrzezinski]

57. and we have heard of these rumors for what years now

on CHB and other places...

My take they are floating it in the information source of the base before they go public with this.

[Tace]

152. I Agree -- And Their Intention Is To Ease Him Out

I'm willing to bet that Cheney will be president before the midterms.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

64. Also, I've been noticing and saying for the longest time

that Bush oftentimes looks hungover, especially on Mondays when he's shown coming back to the White House. I've seen so many photos where he looks red-faced, bleary-eyed, tired, down-looking and bloated-looking. I've seen enough hungover people in my life to recognize the look.

[domlaw]

190. It's the sweating.

I used to drink alot and by alot I mean enough to pass out for a couple of days at a stretch. , finally I got help and found out I had just plain old depression. A round of therapy and some medication and I now can have a few beers with little or no worries.

Well fast forward I can always recognize a drunk, it's the sweat. Take a look at alot of the photos of bush and you'll see him sweating when all around are dry.

[davidwparker]

242. Glad you were able to get it under control. I hope you drop the few

beers too since your phrasing was "little or no worries". You should have none.

[domlaw]

Well I'm more concerned if the depression starts, more so than the beer

That's what my doctor said anyways. But the wife is warned to look for the warning signs and I can honestly say it's been great for about 10 years.

[calimary]

424. Welcome to DU, domlaw -

One of the most intriguing threads I've ever savored.

Glad you're here. We need your help. At this point, the entire country does.

[goclark]

281. Remember when he left Disney Land At Night in NO?

I don't understand why they would let him be photographed with sweat all down the middle of his back!

IMO, someond did it on purpose. They are trying to let the world know what the score is, before they were holding the press real tight. Not anymore.

[Name removed]

72. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ninkasi]

411. Sorry to hear it...

It's the rest of us who pick up the pieces, while the damanged ones do even more damage, and get rescued. You tried to keep a fairly light tone to your post, but I think you're worried and huting. Good luck, and good thoughts, to you. Don't let yourself be burdened by other people's choices...it's not worth it. Do what you've got to do.

[Binka]

427. You Are A Sharp Cookie My Friend

I'm sad and worried and hurt because my son is in Ramadi and my family is bailing out my wretched sister for the 1,000,000th time yet only my baby sister Maureen has given me any support.

I brought her to Italy for two weeks and I miss her so much now. Here we are the black sheep of our clan! Peyton loved being with her Auntie Moe. It is the only family on my side that she knows.

[AnneD]

141. Right on...

and he has the behaviour issues. Wonder if he goes to Crawford to dry out (or drink). Alcholics can't safely stop cold turkey. Look also at the cartilige of his nose, it has deteriorated over time. He started out with a Bab's and now looks like Michael Jackson's plastics doc had a go at him.

[hvn_nbr_2]

63. Katrina drove him to drink. Or slow response because he was already drunk?

The deaths of people he doesn't know don't bother this psychopath. It seems more likely he was already on a bender on his "vacation" when Katrina hit and was incapable of responding for three days.

[latebloomer]

70. Bingo!!

He was boozin it up, as is his wont during his little retreats. He couldn't care less about anybody's death, be it from war, hurricane or slipping on dog doo.

[ninkasi]

412. It just made a convenient excuse

anything will do, for an alcoholic.

[Pacifist Patriot]

67. Ewww, I need a shower.

A smirking picture of Bush and a realistic scenario from the National Enquirer. Ouch!

Though I have to say, dumbass family quotes aside, I think he started hitting the bottle again before Katrina was a wee little tropical wave.

[Minnesota_Lib]

75. Another "reliable" tabloid source obtained this photo of Bush's new...

...drinking buddy.

[Dr Fate]

76. And we all know that "booze" was Bush's 1st "gateway drug."

Looks like the straw wont be far behind.

[jazzjunkysue]

265. W is the devil's gateway president.

[kskiska]

79. I wonder who supplies the liquor at Crawford?

It would be interesting if the local liquor store owner were to provide a copy of the deliveries to the ranch.

[im10ashus]

89. They probably bring it in from Houston or something.

They wouldn't trust ANYONE in that small community.

[DrZeeLit]

300. Aides are afraid NOT to provide booze..... shivering in their tidy whities

.... must be awful getting yelled at by a DRUNK PRESIDENT with the power to send your ass to Iraq, huh?

[RamboLiberal]

511. I seriously doubt the WH, Camp David and Pig Farm are dry

I'm sure there's plenty of stocked liquor, wine, beer for entertaining.

[lectrobyte]

82. Oh man, I'd sure hate to be working in the mailroom at the Enquirer

The anthrax last time was bad enough, who knows what they might do this time?

[Stinky The Clown]

83. Okay, I'd give this story some serious consideration

The Enquirer is a rag. But it has also done some actual reporting every now and again. To be sure, any actual news they report is the scandalous kind. I recall they were a prime source of some story a few years back. As I write this, I can't remember if it was a Big Dawg story or an idiot son story. Or maybe it was about the anthrax thing.

In any case, the story rings true. I don't think I'm alone in thinking he's never really stopped boozing. Does anyone think that pretzel bullshit was as reported? He was drunk and fell. Period. Those red blotches on his skin and that red nose? Booze. Even his demeanor, just generally. Booze.

He's a drunk and he's always been a drunk.

And we the people .... fucked because we elected a drunk as a president. A juvenile, sociopathic drunk.

Back to the story. The only line that's hard to swallow is him being affected by the death of 'every soldier'. Come on. This guy could carde less about that sort of thing. He has no conscience.

[Blue_In_AK]

92. They have to say that

to give some justification for his "slippage." It's an old enabler's trick.

[jjmalonejr]

232. They're just quoting a source.

The source might believe that Bush gives a fuck, even if we don't.

[jmowreader]

111. It was the OJ trial

Seeing as how the OJ trial came in scandalous, which is the kind of story they like best, the Enquirer had the best coverage of it.

[starroute]

181. Didn't they have the picture with the "butt-ugly" shoes?

That took real digging, too, to go through a thousand picture to find one that showed the shoes that OJ denied owning clearly enough to identify. If that was the Enquirer, I respect them for it.

[jmowreader]

441. That was them.

[nvliberal]

219. More often than not

the NE is factual. Remember, this is the publication which scooped the world on Limbaugh's drug addiction.

[wakemewhenitsover]

257. "Elected"? Selected.

[adigal]

93. Didn't the Enquirer break the Gennifer Flowers story??

And we know that was true (unfortunately.) I believe this story - it makes sense.

[Missy Vixen]

94. This is huge, and will get bigger

My prediction: Bush will be forced into rehab. Let's see if the Republicans allow the 25th Amendment to be invoked as a result.

If anyone remembers, one of the anthrax letters just happened to find its way into the AMI building, publishers of the Enquirer. The rumor was that the Enquirer had happened upon some photographs someone did not want printed.

The Enquirer has a gigantic readership, and their editorial board has historically been GOP friendly. They're trying to "spin" this as "poor George needs help" before a more mainstream press org goes with the story...

Julie

[im10ashus]

203. I forgot about the anthrax letter to the NE.

AND spinning it as a "poor George needs help" story would both garner him some sympathy while exposing him for the liar he is. I personally don't believe he ever quit. I, sadly, knew a woman who worked his 2000 campaign and she said he had a drink at one point during a campaign stop. Her words - not mine. :shrug:

[Seansky]

96. Didn't the Equirer paid someone to keep Arnold' story quite? There

may be something to this if they are running with this story...

[tinrobot]

99. Wow, I thought W was the guy you could "have a beer" with...

Apparently, he's not even allowed to drink beer.

Funny how that works.

[tgnyc]

100. Whether true or not, the point is that the cone of impenetrability

protecting him from the media has been pierced.

[Writer]

103. Is posting an Enquirer article on the front page of DU really a good idea?

Not that the content isn't interesting... but... isn't there a little concern about credibility here? :shrug:

[im10ashus]

200. I think I agree with you.

And I posted it just for the fun of it. Didn't think such a silly post would get so much attention. :shrug: Not that it isn't fun to read.

[rucky]

105. At least when Pickles said "We're having a hurricane"...

he did have New Orleans on his mind. Those "too good of times" at Pat O'Brien's

[ClusterFreak]

106. Oh come on......we're quoting the National Enquirer now????

I hate Dubbya's guts. I hate his administration. Wouldn't make me any more likely to believe ANYTHING printed in that rag! What's next, quoting the tabloids running headlines about Elvis sightings and "World's Fattest Baby"??

Gimme a break. I think the DU can do better than this. A LOT better.

[kstewart33]

145. Hey, don't dismiss the National Enquirer. Remember?

They broke some of the biggest and factual scoops on the Monica mess. The Bush story could be fantasy, but nowadays, the Enquirer is no longer a laughingstock.

[FrankBooth]

371. The MSM has sunk so low ...

... that the Enquirer didn't really have to improve their standards very much to get up to the level of the status quo investigative journalists.

Bush is a drunk and everybody knows it.

[bostonbabs]

464. why disregard it....look who reads it

the ignorant are the very people that we complain about here at the DU.....we all shop for groceries in this country and what will millions see?....the drunk in the white house....And those that do buy the Enquirer...believe what the read. The Enquirer broke Monica and the blue dress/ Bruno Magli O.J. shoes/ Jessie Jackson and his love baby?......they were all HUGE stories that turned out to be true.....American Media is run by Roger Altman who is a friend of Clintons......this is not an "elvis story"

[Quakerfriend]

108. I wonder if he's having a M'Rita tonight?

Sorry, not funny at all.

[Autumn Colors]

110. OK, I question the source....

but if there's any grain of truth to this, I have to wonder how long it'll be before he starts snorting lines of coke again.

[YDogg]

488. Come on now. The preznit doesn't like coke. Just the way it smells. n/t

[Politicub]

112. I know it's the naitional enquirer and all

But I'm doing my part to spread the news!

:rofl:

[cynatnite]

114. An alcoholic president while we're at war

nothing more can be said. Too bad corporate media won't run with this.

[despairing optimist]

227. Well, there are drunks, and there are drunks. General Grant, for instance,

was notorious for his benders, but he was Lincoln's best general. When told of Grant's drinking, Lincoln said if he could have a dozen generals like Grant he'd gladly supply the liquor.

I doubt that Bush is the first alcoholic president of the US, but I have no doubt that he is the WORST alcoholic president of the US, or more precisely, the WORST PRESIDENT in US history. Alcohol didn't make him so. It merely made him less of a man than he would have been anyway. And to recall his pledge to restore integrity and decency to the Oval Office makes me want to retch.

[eridani]

408. And Grant seriously sucked as a president in spite of his success at war

[npincus]

117. the Enquirer is not ALWAYS fiction... remember they busted OJ

wearing Bruno Magli shoes? This evidence in part led to the civil judgement against him on behalf of the Goldman family.

i don't think the Enquirer would go with this potentially troublesome story about the PRESIDENT if it were not backed up by reliable sources.

That's what I think. Can't wait to buy my copy!

[dchill]

118. Bush's non-drinking is a myth...

I've seen video of him at a wedding, drunk, in the 90's, I think. I've also seen references to "lost" news footage of him stumbling between Air Force One and Marine One, obviously drunk.

He may indeed have given it up on his 40th birthday, but nothing says he couldn't have taken it back up by his 41st... While his speech is always atrocious, at times he slurs his words a lot more than others.

While this subject may be very worrisome, it's not all that consequential, because this dumb jerk is not in charge, anyway. What IS worrisome is, of course, the American media that continues to advance the concept that Bush is somehow a competent leader.

[hardrainfallin]

123. the wedding footage was just re-posted SOMEWHERE on this

board, don't ask me where, but I just recently saw it: it was from 92.

[liveoaktx]

132. I've also got it here

Drunken Asshole

[OldLeftieLawyer]

228. Link doesn't work

Got an alternative?

[TheMadMonk]

235. This bloke is definitely off his tits:

The way he answered those questions resonated strongly with memories of myself and others in a drunken state. He is just so exactly like the bloke at parties that everyone wants to avoid. You know the one, who you know is going to latch onto you and tell you exactly the same story he's told you a dozen times before.

Plus, he's doing a far better job of dodging the questions than he does, when in the public eye (and hence probably close to sober).

[calimary]

429. Welcome to DU!

Everything george touches turns to shit. Including our country. I mean, just look what he did for New Orleans...

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

119. Weekly World News has Bush's next Supreme Court nominee...

Yeah. That guy.

[wakemewhenitsover]

124. Remember the pretzel? And no one could be that bad a bike-rider.

[npincus]

135. I like that line: "Remember The Pretzel"

Bush's Alamo?

[roguevalley]

144. I bet on it being true not because I hate bush that much. Alcoholism

is a bitch. I believe it because when they put a HUGE story out, they vet it. They are now fielding british jounos and they have libel laws in britain that can kick your ass. they know how to do this.

Bush also is a drunk who never got it clear in his head. He drinks, has drank and will probably die from it. As for the rationale for drinking, I would pose something like that if he were my boss/friend/family because I would be just as sick as him. Enablers find good reasons for bad behavior. Bush is drinking because he's in over his head, his lying machine is falling down on the job and the nets for jail for everyone is tightening.

He's lived as a fraud, he's lived a fraudulent life. What is the worst thing you can do to a fraud? Expose them. He's exposed. He's drinking. People are beginning to tell because they know what's coming, they're afraid and they don't want to hang with him. I believe them.

[wakemewhenitsover]

250. Maybe Katrina has shaken up his enablers.

[dchill]

383. Don't forget: Rove was out of commission...

for the first few days of Katrina with kidney stones.

[wakemewhenitsover]

256. Remember 2000, when election was contested, the band-aid on *'s face?

It appeared in a much-publicized photo, * sitting at a "cabinet" table with Condi et al.

* had a bruise on his face, but no bike accident excuse, no pretzel excuse, different lame excuse -- don't remember what it was that time.

How many photos of Bill Clinton do you recall seeing with a bruise on his face?

And if you did see one, wouldn't the Repub talking point be that Hillary hit him with a rolling pin?

[The_Casual_Observer]

127. Unless this is pure fiction, I don't think the Enquirer would

publish this without a firm basis in fact. They seem to be fairly careful not to publish stories like unless they can back it up.

[im10ashus]

208. Can you imagine a lawsuit from *.

With Gonzales as AG, it may just happen, and it will be interesting to see if they do.

[cassiepriam]

128. He has never stopped drinking......

ask recovering alcholics. They know the signs of active alcholism
when they see it.

[JPZenger]

136. Questionable

The tabloids get much of their news by buying tips from cleaning people, waiters, etc.

However, I seriously doubt if there was a tipster who would have heard a private discussion between Laura and George in their house other than the Secret Service.

Also, you would have to wonder how George would get alcohol into his house. He can't walk into a liquor store. I can't imagine the secret service or any of this staff would buy liquor for him.

[cassiepriam]

171. Rove gives it to him, silly

I am sure his handlers realize a medicated Bush is a more docile Bush...

[RamboLiberal]

183. And you don't think the Bush Family would have alchohol

in the house to entertain guests who can and do drink? I would think they'd have a well-stocked bar.

[RamboLiberal]

512. Why does everyone here assume the WH, Camp David, Pig Farm

are dry? I've never seen that anywhere. Standard practice would have at least the WH and Camp David well-stocked with liquor, wine, beer for entertaining purposes.

[wakemewhenitsover]

129. And how about when * said, "We have take a SOBER look at Katrina."

[brainshrub]

130. I'm happy to see DU using such fine source material.

Are we going to use TheOnion.com next week?

[benburch]

139. It confirms what I heard from a friend two years ago...

and so I tend to think this is more reliable than usual for the Enquirer.

[Generic Other]

142. LOL. I was going to ask if anyone had the pic from the UN last week?

He was drinking wine that day, wasn't he? And winking at the Chinese ambassador?

As much as I agree with your questioning of sources, the National Enquirer usually gets it right when investigating celeb dirt. I think they have a higher success rate than the fbi.

;)

[npincus]

147. THAT'S WHY HE HAD TO TAKE A PISS at the UN!

[Generic Other]

202. I Found the PIC

[im10ashus]

286. Thanks for that!!!

It doesn't prove anything, but thanks. It could very well be apple juice. :shrug:

[RamboLiberal]

184. I tend to believe it since John Dean mentioned it's a rumor in his

book. I'd bet Dean has some real good sources inside the Beltway in Republican circles.

[im10ashus]

361. Who's to say they aren't correct?

Granted, I think NE is a rag, but they have been known to print what MSM has not had the nerve to print and the NE was later vindicated by the truth. Limbaugh's drug addiction comes to mind. We weren't afraid to have a discussion over that.

:shrug:

After all, we have ALL suspected as much all along.

On the other hand, I feel like it's a bit of a "let's get him off the hook with the alcoholic thing" and then we can use alcohol as the reason for his "clouded" judgment.

[Callisto]

470. Drinkin and stinkin

Cannot have a lush for President. Impeach him now.He is dangerous and unreliable.As mean as it sounds, we have Cheney who is one palpitation away from heaven's gate, and now this. I believe the article. NE broke several stories on Clinton. DRUDGE doesn't have this on his website- I wonder why?

[McCamy Taylor]

146. National Enquirer publishes what America BELIEVES is True

So America believes that * is a drunken frat boy incapable of running the country without the constant supervisio of his school teacher wife.

[ourbluenation]

149. don't like this thread for what its worth...falling off the wagon is hell

eom

[hardrainfallin]

151. well, too fucking bad: he should do it on his own time, and his own

dime.

Shit happens.

But if you've fallen off the wagon and you're in his position--consider how many people just DIED as a result of his own personal crisis--then you'd best see to it that you don't take anyone down with you.

If you are pResident of the US, then you fucking step DOWN and fall of the wagon all by your lonesome somewhere!

Shit fucking happens, yeah shit happens.

[ourbluenation]

186. I wasn't clear and no, I have not fallen cuz I was never on it...

I totally agree with you, I just don't like the cheering for the guy to fall off the wagon. I wouldn't wish it on anyone...even *.

[hardrainfallin]

243. I wouldn't wish ANYTHING bad on him, if he weren't such a murderer

and had so much blood on his hands--I could care LESS about him, what happens or doesn't happen to him, could also care less if he spent 24 hrs a day on whatever, he would not INTEREST me if he weren't the biggest and worst criminal EVER to have managed to bully and bulldoze his way into office--and with that, into my life (and millions more), much to our detriment.

I don't wish it on him,but if it's happened, then it's time to get away from "behind the wheel" as it were.

If our dems were responsible partners, they'd take away the keys! immediately.

[TheMadMonk]

246. A president who has never been on it is hell too.

If he had indeed fallen off the wagon he might be deserving of some sympathy. The evidence however, sugests that he has never been on the Wagon. Which if true, is further evidence that "Scrubby" is a lying hypocrite.

[JAbuchan08]

150. While the national enquirer is not exactly the paradigm of a quality

news agency they've actually been known to scoop more "reputable" papers

[tgnyc]

154. Enquirer broke the Jesse Jackson love child story

[Helga Scow Stern]

155. NE outed a famous actor in my town who'd had a liver transplant,

downing a few at the Brew Pub.

There were pictures and everything.

Doesn't mean we can believe everything in the NE, but bet you anything it's true.

Creepy how when the press smells blood in the water, no holds are barred.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

156. Where would he go to an AA meeting?

Tough for a prez. Assuming of course
he could ever admit he needed help.

[RepublicanElephant]

211. remember that "west wing" episode when leo needed a support group in dc?

...thought he was alone, and it turned-out there was a small group of political bigwigs like him who met in secret.

i don't think this was too far from reality.

[russian33]

157. oh gag me with this quote....

"The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.

The result is he's taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope. "And now with the worst domestic crisis in his administration over Katrina, you pray his drinking doesn't go out of control."


pahleeze!

[Rex]

160. Oh please! Pickles has a whiskey chaser after each valium!

Boosh NEVER stopped drinking. Why anyone would believe he quit is a mystery to me.

[grasswire]

161. bogus

"A Washington source said: "The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have only just caught him — but the word is his drinking has been going on for a while in the capital. He's been in a pressure cooker for months.

"The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.

The result is he's taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope. "And now with the worst domestic crisis in his administration over Katrina, you pray his drinking doesn't go out of control."

[ptolle]

341. bogus fersure

Glad someone else caught that.I've got my doubts about this, although there are stories from other sources of his getting short with aides who bring him bad news.But this part about him caring for the grunts on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan is just pure organic material of a bovine origin.

[im10ashus]

384. Of a bovine origin?

Is that code for Karl Rove. :-)

Welcome to DU!

[npincus]

162. I just sent this story to Kos!

tee hee

[Meldread]

164. I hope it's true. Drink up, Georgie!!

The more he drinks the more he fucks up, the more he fucks up the worse it makes the Republicans look. Drink up, George. Have another. It's all on me.

I don't think he "just started". I think he's been drinking.

[plusfiftyfive]

238. I can't agree

Sure I would like the Repugs to look like idiots, but the American voting public seems to be of equal intelligence. Alcoholism, pathological and untreated, kills and injures more Americans every year than Iraq and Katrina ever thought of doing.

What are you saying? It's OKAY for the USA to have an untreated drinking alcoholic running the nation for the good it will do the Democratic party?

Think a little deeper please!

[calimary]

431. Welcome to DU

There are some here who would ordinarily try to find sympathy for this schmuck (which I think is the angle being test-flown here - get everybody's mind switched over to "aw, poor george..." and they'll forget all the lethal messes he's made). The only problem, and I must say I share it, is that by now it seems just a little too hard to feel ANY sympathy for this reckless asshole. Our Democrats will have to grow spines all over the place and deal with it if they want an overriding good result. But as for me, I want him OUT. And frankly, I DO want this to be a backhanded benefit for the Dems. If it really does force him out, plus what devastatingly negative ripple effect that sets off in his own party, then it will be good for more than just the Democratic party. It'll be good for the whole nation. And for the whole world.

[tularetom]

185. My take on this is that it's probably true but

I wouldn't give a shit if bush walked around all day in a drunken stupor and puked on every foreign leader who visited the white house. I wouldn't care if he got blow jobs from Condi Rice, Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton. I wouldn't even care if he got a blow job from Bill Clinton. IF HE DID HIS FUCKIN JOB!!! If the alcohol is what makes him such a shitty president then he either needs to stop drinking or stop being president. If it ain't the alcohol, well, you know the answer - he needs to get the fuck out now.

Remember Lincoln's response to the politicians who complained to him about Grant's drinking? "Find out what he drinks and send a case of it to all my other generals". Somebody needs to find out what bush drinks and get it off the market before it screws up anybody else.

[Tace]

296. Good Point About Getting The Job Done

I agree, he -- and anyone else -- can do whatever the hell they want, as long as they're not harming people.

[im10ashus]

299. That's funny.

"Find out what he drinks and send a case of it to all my other generals." I think * would do best to lay off the booze when this country is going down the toilet. I prefer my leader to be sober and coherent. Can't he just get a blow job?

[petgoat]

189. The Medium is the Message, and whether the story is true or not is

beside the point. The fact that the Enquirer (how much more Red State]
can you get?) is printing it with no fear of a reader backlash is the
point.

[CakeGrrl]

198. Preznit on the sauce

Personally, I don't think he ever quite got OFF the sauce - either that or the coke. He often swaggers up to and slouches over his podium.

I don't discount the National Enquirer. I've heard a rule of thumb that if you see something in 2 or 3 tabloids, they're onto it, but one's enough for me on this subject!

[im10ashus]

205. Welcome to DU!!!

:hi:

[CakeGrrl]

218. Thanks!

Long-time lurker, extremely disgruntled, pissed-off American. :mad:

[im10ashus]

224. Join the club.

There's lots of pissed-off Americans. :mad:

[mermaid]

379. As One Pissed-Off American To Another...

Welcome to DU!!!

[calimary]

432. Welcome to DU!

I don't think he ever got off the sauce either. Not that I am that savvy about drinking. We average about six glasses of wine a year around here. We've certainly known people who've struggled with alcohol. My husband has been saying for a long time that it looks like bush has been drinking again.

Think of the tell-all books that'll come out after THIS whole sordid bunch is "retired"...

[stanwyck]

201. My freeper co-worker always quotes The Enquirer

and says they're "more accurate than the liberal press". He'll now have to eat his words....OR admit his hero is drinking again.

[RamboLiberal]

222. Make sure you ask your Freeper Coworker if he saw this issue

And let us know his comment. I'm thinking of buying this issue for the lunch room where a lot of my freeper coworkers hang out.

[stanwyck]

206. I don't know how any rational DUer

could doubt that Bush doesn't have a drinking problem. To me, it's obvious. And, I imagine, to many others who have had the unfortunate experience of family alcoholics. Reagan's folks had to hide his encroaching Alzheimer's. (the "slow death"...the spin that Reagan didn't develop the disease until after leaving office is ludicrous. My mother had Alzheimer's....it doesn't appear suddenly. It's a gradual, and lengthy, process.)
Bush's people have had to shield us from his alcoholism. To me, this has been clear for years.

[im10ashus]

215. I never believed he stopped drinking.

It could also explain his extended "vacations" and his falling off bikes. :shrug:

[wakemewhenitsover]

260. ...and his difficulty eating snack foods.

[im10ashus]

263. That too.

And his inability to construct a proper sentence. Well, that's just because he's an idiot. But he does slur his words quite a bit. :shrug:

[frylock]

209. didn't the enquirer break the limbaugh/oxycontin story as well?

[RamboLiberal]

225. Bingo - yes they did expose the Limpballs Oxy use

and the story of how his maid was scoring for him.

[Carolab]

210. So we're supposed to believe he takes the deaths seriously?

Gimme a break. He's drinking to drown out his own failures.

[im10ashus]

255. Precisely.

If I had caused as much turmoil, and divisiveness among the American people, I too would be trashed.

[Donailin]

213. Booze? maybe. Cocaine? Most definitely

he has that tense jaw shifting going on big time. People who have tried coke know what I'm talking about (me? I lived in Miami in the 80's --it was inevitable). You get this "bite" and your jaw starts shifting without control. Go to WH dot gov and look at some of his impromptu press conferences like the one of his cabinet meeting two weeks ago yesterday. It was completely obvious.

My theory is that his handlers got him re-hooked when he decided to be presidential instead of compliant. Look at his speeches and PC's during his years as Governor; he's just a completely different man.

I believe that one day in about 50 years when all the FOIA's have been fulfilled, we are going to be shocked and horrified at the corruption and criminality of this administration. I think what we imagine is going on won't scratch the surface of what is really going on.

[im10ashus]

249. I've often wondered about the jaw-clenching moments he has.

I grew up in a neighborhood where cocaine was prevalent. I was not a partaker because I am too damned hyper anyway, and the few times I tried it, felt like I would have a heart attack. However, the people who were "regular" users always exhibited the same jaw-clenching, usually when they were coming down. Makes one wonder.

[kissmygrits]

481. "one day in about 50 years"

How about in 3 years when he is no longer the PREZ. There will be a mad scramble to the publishers to make a quick buck off this drunken BOZO. If he fires one of his butt kissers, it will be even sooner.

[Donailin]

513. THESE THINGS TAKE TIME.

and how many times must I tell my daughter to stop using the all caps???

As I was saying. . .you assume that the vote won't be rigged in 3 years. I give this country twenty to sort this mess out as in get the vote legitimate, and another twenty to get the aging-past-the-point-of-prosecution-enablers and crooks to fees up as well as the right wing whackos justices on the SC to be out of the majority before we have the total truth.

[chelsea0011]

214. He falls down alot like a drunk. Pass the pretzels, please.

[amandabeech]

221. He's been trashed since he put down that bull horn in New York

after 9/11.

That night, I was watching the tube with a friend. We were still in shock and just channel-surfing. At about 10:00 that night, we lit on coverage of * arriving at the Hagerstown, MD, airport in Marine One. It was either Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw.

* appeared at the top of the ramp, and attempted a salute. I say "attempted" because his hand totally missed his forehead, and took off into space above his head.

He gave the worst shit-eating grin I'd ever seen, and stumbled down the steps. He lurched forward to the cameras, but someone off-camera tol him to go to his right, which he did after a fashion. He stumbled off stage right with his head leading his body by a couple of feet and his feet just dragging behind.

Jennings/Brokaw said, "Well, the President is obviously very tired," and then hurried on to something else.

My friend and I just looked at each other and said, "He's trashed!"

None of the local news or network news at 11:00 or after showed any footage of *'s performance. This even though we were watching in nearby Harrisburg, PA.

I doubt if he's been sober since then.

[im10ashus]

237. That's funny.

In a sadly pathetic way. Getting trashed when he needed to be leading on that tragic day would about be the seventh layer of icing on the cake.

[despairing optimist]

231. Am I supposed to feel sorry? Talk about karma.

Just go away, guy. Create your hell somewhere else, and leave the world alone. And if you ever find an ounce of anything noncombustible inside you, give me a call.

[mermaid]

381. I Agree

If Boosh were on fire, I wouldn't PISS on him to put out the flames!

Thanks, Mr. Carville!!

[Voltaire99]

233. Drink up, buddy! Don't stop!

The next one tastes better than the last.

Atta boy.

You drink now, Idiot Prince.

[fearnobush]

244. Time for a Twelve Step call to the White House.

He must change people places and things - in order to get sober.

[hardrainfallin]

245. I wonder if there' s a MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Dictators) group

I could join?

[David Zephyr]

497. Funny!

:)

[Merrick]

248. "The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives...

has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained."

oh boy, now I feel like I'VE been drinking.

[im10ashus]

251. Or I feel I need a drink.

If he took every soldier's life personally he would have met with Sheehan and EVERY SINGLE OTHER PARENT OR SPOUSE/SiGNIFICANT OTHER who lost a child or loved one.

Sorry for the all caps, but the emphasis needed to be added.

[davidwparker]

253. I hope it's not true. I'm hoping his impeachment and trial at the Hague

is true.

[LiberalinNC]

259. True or not, It's still funny! (I wish it was true)

:evilgrin:

[Faygo Kid]

262. Roll another one. Just like the other one.

Why stop at booze? Let's Roll into the early '70s. I for one miss those times, and I'm there again, dude, if you will forgive my hip replacement, and tendency to fall asleep early. Black light posters, though, are sacrosanct. Tell all good people.

[libbygurl]

268. The USA and the world would have been better off...

...if * never did stop drinking and never found religion, in my humble opinion!

[Blue_Roses]

272. even though the national enquirer is a rag

I think this probably has been going on for a while...old news...

[Generator]

274. Oh my the MEMO must have come down

The Enquirer is right wing. YES, I read it occasionaly. NO you are not surprised at this.( but I have a subscribtion to the New Yorker-check out the cover this week whatever you do-it has our merry band of thieves drowning-literally in the oval office) If they are turning on the emperor I swear the memo has come out-fair game-take him down. Best news I've read in awhile.

Oh and last year they had stuff about Kerry's non-affair with that young college woman. They always have rah rah around the flag. They also try to play to the common man. Which means Bush is off the barbeque list.

[Garbo 2004]

430. Yeah, my thought too...the NE isn't a liberal rag. Why is someone

feeding them this stuff and they're comfortable enough printing it?

Note the Bush so concerned, stressed part...yeah, that's hooey, but it's PR hooey....a crafted story. Like a jewelry setting for the center stone...that Bush is not in the best of mental condition due to his "stress" and his little drinking problem.

[truth2power]

276. This is BS. Here's why...

""The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained."

"The result is he's taking drinks here and there, likely in private, to cope."

Nope...sorry!

This is nothing more than an attempt by the Enquirer to ratchet up the sympathy index for the Little Emperor.

I maintain that he really is a sociopath. As such, being deeply affected or emotionally drained by the loss of American lives is an emotional state that is simply not available to him. There's no there there, as the saying goes.

Maybe he is drinking and has been all along. But it's not because he's trying to cope with the loss of life in Iraq.

[im10ashus]

279. I will agree with you on his REASON for drinking.

He never quit drinking. It was part of their spin to get the religiously-conservative vote. But yes he isn't trying to cope with the loss of life in Iraq. If that were the case he would have met with Cindy Sheehan to ease his conscience. He is a sociopath AND a drunk.

:hi:

[truth2power]

292. You're right. I guess I wasn't clear.

Not much doubt in my mind that he continues to drink AND do drugs.

That Enquirer story is just ludicrous IMO. So Laura caught him with bottle in hand and she said, "Stop, George". Puhleez!..more likely she would say, "You stupid sob, what the hell are you doing?"

I don't know. I don't read the National Enquirer. Maybe that's their level of reportage. But it all sounds so contrived to me. :silly:

[im10ashus]

294. That's cool.

I don't read it either. I just was bored at work today and thought, "WOW, DU would get a kick from this." :silly:

Pickles most likely would have said, "You stupid SOB, that's MY bottle." :-)

[truth2power]

303. Ha haha

:rofl:

[anitar1]

396. When I heard him mimic Karla Faye Tucker asking

her sentence to be changed to life.< I knew he was a sociopath. Been tracking him since he was gov. of Texas.Wonder just how many in d.c. are narcissists or sociopaths?

[Catboater]

280. Oh, come on!!

The National Enquirer? Are you going to take this as some source of expositional journalism? Jeesh! There is so much solid evidence of malfeasance and derilection....National Enquirer? Are there really those among us that give credence to this rag? It might all be true (who believes the killer pretzel story) but to use this source as a source...Jeesh!

[im10ashus]

282. I believe I stated as much in my original post.

Welcome to DU by the way.

:hi:

As far as trusting NE, I don't put MUCH faith in their rag. I found it amusing and thought we could use a laugh. However, they HAVE broken some major stories that the MSM has refused to touch. Read some of the other posts that have stated as much.

Again, welcome to DU!!!

Cheers!

[calimary]

433. Welcome to DU

It'll be interesting to see if this gets out farther. But just because it's in the "Enquirer" doesn't mean it's not true. Sometimes they are spot-on. And way ahead of everybody else.

[Ilsa]

283. Doesn't he drink wine at these diplomatic events?

I keep thinking I see him in alot of pix with a glass of either white wine or pee.

[im10ashus]

288. There's a picture up thread a bit.

check it out. It doesn't mean it's wine. It COULD be apple juice or something. Just saying.

:hi:

[OregonBlue]

285. I've been saying this for a long time. Does anyone actually

believe he choked on a pretzel? How is it that every time he goes to the ranch he has an "accident". You'll also notice how often he has those red dots across his cheek bones the morning after!!

[Lucille]

289. He had a "waivering gait" and Laura helped him onto AF1

On August 30.

This was reported by a TV Station in San Diego, which speculated he was ill because he cut short a visit to a hospital.

Here's the reference from RAW STORY:

But when Bush and his entourage arrived at the medical facility, those plans changed. One local news station reported that the President never left his motorcade, departing for the airport 15 minutes after arriving. The station aired footage of Bush laboring to ascend steps up to Air Force One, aided by his wife, Laura. A newscaster commented on the President's wavering gait and noted that it was unusual for him not to pause to shake hands with well-wishers at the airport. The broadcast led to local speculation that the President may have encountered a medical problem.

KNSD Channel 10 later retracted the story, reporting that Bush in fact entered the medical center and visited briefly with injured patients, but would not allow camera crews to accompany him. A call to the medical center's public relations office was not returned.

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/San_Diego_hospital_closed_to_acommodate_Bush_visit_No_ch_0906.html

[im10ashus]

291. Thanks!!!

I was looking for a link to something regarding that story. Cheers!!!

[progressivebydesign]

313. Only Bush would leave a hospital because he was ill!

I don't buy that one at all.

[RBHam]

304. souse

can't trust a drunk...

[im10ashus]

305. Not entirely true.

You can't trust a DISHONEST drunk. :-)

[Virginian]

307. If he isn't drinking it, why do they have it in the house?

We are reading this in the Enquirer. But that one question has not been answered. Why is it in the house, who is buying it for him. You know he can't just run down to the ABC store and pick up a bottle.

[wallwriter]

308. It's probably false, BUT

if Bush were still an absolute teetotaler, wouldn't it be really easy for Snotty Scotty to rush right out and say so? And to threaten the Enquirer for printing lies?

[progressivebydesign]

315. Yeah, then why does Bush turn up with mysterious bruises?

I think he's a falling down drunk drunk. I think he's getting gin blossoms on his face because he is still a drinker. If he gave it up decades ago, then his face would not be so alcohol damaged now. And.. I think his parents are protective of him in particular because they know of his weakness.

[wallwriter]

318. Maybe Laura just kicks his ass on occasion...

[im10ashus]

345. As well she should.

Someone should - daily! :hi:

[cloud75]

309. i'm having a drink to this story!

[WinkyDink]

310. I believe it

Don't forget the anthrax mailings Bushco never "solved".

[progressivebydesign]

311. Enquirer rarely is sued, or if it is, rarely loses.

They are bottom feeders, for sure.. but they are usually right. Wonder if anthrax will turn up in their mailroom again... remember that wacky theory? I think it's obviously a flawed theory, as this story is pretty damaging.

Except of course, they make his binge drinking sound like a badge of honor.

[Politicub]

316. Thanks, Enquirer!

I "replied all" to all of the recipients on the email that comes every other day or so from a friend of my grandma's. I don't know how I got on her list, but for the past six months or so I get a forward of different variations on "Bush is full of christian luv and why do the liberals want to persecute him so?" or "War is Great!" Today it was poem by a girl about her poor daddy who was killed in Iraq and couldn't couldn't be with her on daddy day at school.

Of course, if Bush hadn't lied and taken us to war, then the nearly of 2,000 soldiers would still be here today.

[im10ashus]

342. One thing is for sure.

If he's an alcoholic? He's not a functioning one. Not nearly. No way. No how. Just an alcoholic.

[NNadir]

317. We know it's the Enquirer from this line:

"'The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.'"

However everything about Bush screams that he's a drunk. Whether he's a dry drunk or a wet drunk, it really doesn't matter. He's at the wheel of our country. This is an incredible horror.

[im10ashus]

321. Sir,

you have said exactly what we all have. They had me until that line. I never thought my posting this would get such a response. I guess we all know what DU thinks, or should I say what we KNOW, about the asshat that crept into the White House.

[VOX]

322. In "Men In Black," it's “the best investigative journalism on the planet”

Remember the scene in "Men In Black," when Tommy Lee Jones is scooping up all the tabloids with headlines such as “An alien stole my husband’s skin!”?????

His reasoning was that the tabloids represent "the best investigative journalism on the planet!” :bounce: :rofl:

[im10ashus]

334. AND...

...if the "rags" publish it. Who's going to believe it? You have to admit. They have balls the size of Texas.

[Kurovski]

325. And I "can reveal" that Bush has been on all kinda' hootch.

Since forever and without end. Prescription and otherwise.

If the Enquirer can do it, hey, so can I.

The worst thing about the article--besides that it's made up--is that they make it all seem so reasonable, understandable and ACCEPTABLE that he would turn to liqour to handle the crappy job he's doing. And that is perhaps the real reason behind the article. I dunno.

"...He's concerned about every soldier..." Oh, ok George, go get yer'self shit-faced. That'll be a BIG HELP to all of us!

[im10ashus]

332. A very good point.

"Let's make alcohol the scapegoat. It will garner sympathy AND an out. Booze is evil. See kids?"

[geckosfeet]

327. Does'nt matter if its true or not. He is getting Roved. Thats good. n/t

[David Zephyr]

328. Kick!

Tell a friend.

[edbermac]

336. I'd laugh too but remember: This guy has his finger on the button!

Be afraid..be VERY afraid...:nuke:

[im10ashus]

339. I was trying not to think of that.

But it kept creeping back in. Now that we have spoken this out loud? Hopefully there's at least ONE discerning mind left in this Administration. Whomever that may be is anyone's guess.

[BensMom]

338. wwjd

Prayer Chain!

[Holly_Hobby]

347. Am I going crazy?

Wasn't this thread locked earlier?

(I wouldn't have believed it coming from the NE if it wasn't for the anthrax attack)

[im10ashus]

349. You must be crazy, HH.

When was it locked and why? Just curious. :shrug:

By the way! Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Holly_Hobby]

352. Thanks for the welcome

See post #130, from the Mod. I attempted to reply, but got an error. I went back into the thread and post #130 said it was locked. I now notice that post is edited.

Not a biggie - I'm so happy you posted this and it was allowed to continue. :)

[im10ashus]

356. Thanks for the heads-up.

I honestly was posting this thinking it would at least be good for a laugh and at worst be relocated to the Lounge. I am glad it incited the conversation it has.

It goes to show how people can have a good laugh and still have a healthy conversation about something so seriously tragic as the lush at the wheel.

:hi:

[chookie]

358. An old joke about George

From way back in 2000.

Sure, Bush speaks Spanish. "Luis, un dry martini, por favor."

I give the revelation in the NE credibility, although it is my sense that he fell off the wagon earlier than a month ago. You can really see it in his face.

Laura has drastically cut down on booze though-- Xanax doesn't add anything to the waistline and you can't smell it on her breath.

I take no glee in this revelation -- it's a durned shame, but then again, it's one durned shame in a whole heap of durned shame.

[PegDAC]

507. Bush's Spanish

Mas tequila, por favor!
Mas cerveza!!

:hangover: :beer: :rofl:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

367. Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) can be caused by alcohol abuse

According to this article on emedicine.com, Hyperhidrosis can be caused by chronic alcoholism, among other things. Bush lately has seemed to turn into a bit of a sweathog.

http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic893.htm

"Causes: Hyperhidrosis may be idiopathic or secondary to other diseases, metabolic disorders, febrile illnesses, or medication use.

* Generalized hyperhidrosis may be secondary to numerous conditions including the following:

o Neurologic or neoplastic diseases

o Metabolic disorders or processes (eg, thyrotoxicosis, diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia, gout, pheochromocytoma, menopause)

o Febrile illnesses

o Use of medications (eg, propranolol, physostigmine, pilocarpine, tricyclic antidepressants, venlafaxine)

o Chronic alcoholism

o Hodgkin disease or tuberculosis (in nocturnal hyperhidrosis)

[im10ashus]

369. That's true.

All of them.

One could also add:

o Brought on by excessive lying and a subconscious awareness of one's own failures and shortcomings.

:-)

[tuvor]

370. NE brags that it's the most read newspaper in America.

A lot of gossip fodder being created in the grocery-store lineups across the USA....

[ocean girl]

373. I can tell you for sure that their lawyers do not allow them to

print anything that's not true. At least, not anymore.

[tuvor]

375. They've been accurate more than they're given credit for.

Well, as far as credit is due to sleazy gossip-mongers.

NE is NOT the Weekly World (Batboy!) News, people! These days, I'd put it up there with the NY Times, to be honest.

[bluestateguy]

374. The Enquirer?

Come on, now I hate the guy too, but we still have the responsibility to use legitimate news sources.

[im10ashus]

380. bluestateguy, I couldn't agree more.

And I POSTED this. However, given some of the responses, it's not such a far-fetched story.

The NE has been known to publish stories that have later turned out to be true.

I posted it because I thought, at least initially, it would be a good laugh and be moved to the Lounge (shudder).

Now I think otherwise. It's one thing to say Catherine Zeta What's-her-name is an alien love child. She would sue. It's another thing to say "our President is a complete and incomprehensible lush" (which many a DUer has suspected all along) and not fear a lawsuit.

My thought is that it's:

A: True
B: False (thereby pissing off enough people to warrant a lawsuit)
C: A Rovian spin to get sympathy, or
D: A combination of 2 of the three.

:shrug:

[vogonity]

524. Trial Balloon

Quote-----
My thought is that it's:

A: True
B: False (thereby pissing off enough people to warrant a lawsuit)
C: A Rovian spin to get sympathy, or
D: A combination of 2 of the three.
-----------

Plus, think about the usefulness of where the story was published. If the general reaction of the public is sympathetic, then... well the story is out there and maybe he'll get a similar reaction as Rush Limbaugh did. If the general reaction of the public is strongly negative, then the story can be trashed by all the usual suspects. "Oh here those wacky liberals go again, quoting the Weekly Worl... oh I mean that Paragon of honesty and accuracy the National Enquirer.

I am thinking its a trial balloon. And true.

[im10ashus]

525. Good name for it.

"Trial Balloon"

It will be interesting to see what their true intent is. I can't believe for one second that he quit drinking and they will use whatever sympathy they can to get their poll numbers back up.

[Mabus]

386. It'll get to his base

Think of the subliminal message that sinks into people's minds as they purchase gas or groceries and are exposed to that headline - sometimes several times a week. Although the majority of them will not buy the Enquirer the message that Bush isn't what they think he is what will cause the damage. It will compound the questions that his base is already starting to ask. If it is true (and we're lucky) people will start coming forward and talking.

Remember tabloid headlines did wonders for Gary Condit's political career. ;)

[im10ashus]

388. Mabus!

You are right on the money. :-)

[Mabus]

391. It's what you said!

Plus, I've been waiting for this. I have a confession, a couple of months ago I bought a "Weekly World News" and it had an article in there about the "ten lost commandments". Naturally the WWN was the only paper to report this remarkable discovery. Anyway, one of the new commandments said something like, "Thou shalt not elect an idiot. If he is elected twice the population should be taken out and stoned." Another said something about it being an abomination for a country to lie about reasons to go to war when they really wanted the war to get the oil. We passed the paper around and laughed about it. I told my friends then that when the tabloids turn on a politican the politican is screwed. I took it as a good sign that one of the lowest common denominators had already turned on him, now the Enquirer has followed suit.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who recognizes the power of subliminal messages.

Not to mention that the Enquirer has now "thrown out the bait" and they are sitting back wanting/waiting for confirmation of their premise.

[edbermac]

390. Bush busted by tabloid? Where the FUCK are Woodward & Bernstein??

Nowadays the mainstream media have whored themselves out so much to BushCo they make Heidi Fleiss look like a virgin...

:grr:

[jokerman93]

394. self deleted

[NNN0LHI]

398. Whole lot of people don't believe anything is true...

...until after they read it in the National Enquirer. Thats a fact. This is better than Time or Newsweek.

Come to think of it. The National Enquirer is the only thing a huge segment of our society reads.

Don

[ladylibertee]

403. I Think he has been on the bottle since 911...Maybe even sooner.

[Theduckno2]

406. Repeating what other DUers have said before: "Drip, drip, drip".

Just the fact that NE would run this story at this time says something to me. My hunch (just a hunch) still is that the Bush vacation was a way to strategize, away from prying eyes, for the possible Fitzgerald indictments. Bushco is starting to see the handwriting on the wall, in ever sinking polls and support from Congress may evaporate in the face of 2006 mid-term elections.

I'll be anxious to see if the story gets picked up somewhere else. :popcorn:

[Bleeding Blue]

410. What stress does Bush have?

He knocks off at 5:00pm sharp, goes to bed at 9:30 (unless there is a brain-dead person who needs breakfast squirted down her tube). He doesn't work weekends, and takes about 10 weeks a year off for vacation. He's got a little over 3 years left in the "salt mines", after which he can ride bikes, chop brush and fish EVERY DAY! And in addition, he doesn't have to worry about some asshole trying to "reform" his Social Security. Hell, even I'd stop drinking for that routine.

[FeloniousMonk]

415. The swimming room

Maybe that bulge under Bush's suit during the debates was a gyroscope.

[calimary]

434. Welcome, Felonious Monk and Bleeding Blue!

Glad you're here.

This is turning into one humdinger of a thread, isn't it?

[Drewskie]

417. As damning as anything was the newsweek article

where he bites the head off of people suggesting he cut his vacation short... Typical behavior for someone hung over,perhaps?


The media has turned tables wholesale on this regime... This will put watergate to shame. Stick a fork in 'em.

[Pachamama]

425. High Hitler - Boozin Bush

Many of us have long believed that aside from being a narcissistic sociopath, that Dubya is a "Dry-drunk"...His many "accidents" over the last few years have also made me wonder whether he was hitting the bottle again or something more potent.

But as I read this revelation of his "Booze Crisis", I immediately thought of a show I watched the other night on the History Channel titled "High Hitler". It was fascinating and spooky....they talked about how a Dr. Merkel, the personal physician for Hitler gave him "Vitamin" shots daily which were apparently loaded with Methamphetamines....The show talked about a lot of issues with Hitler and his health (including signs of Parkinson's and tremors etc.) but the most fascinating aspect was the diagnosis of some of the decisions
Hitler made while apparently high as kite on drugs. In fact, they believe that disastrous decisions he made related to the Eastern Front and push on Stalingrad and of course the Battle of the Bulge and Normandy (and failure to send additional troops)were all a result of his drug-induced state of mind.

Perhaps the comparisons of Herr Bush to Hitler are not so far off from the truth? Perhaps we also now have additional explanations for the incredible failures of this administration and a glimpse into the future if this man is allowed to continue to "make decisions" that affect us all...

[nigelthebrit]

428. I'll pray for him

Despite his being the lousiest President your country has had since Herbert Hoover, the revelation of his recurring drink problem still moves me to pray for him, nevertheless.

To see any man drink himself to death because he can't stand the pressures of his situation is a fate I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy - and not even President Bush.

[calimary]

435. Welcome to DU - sorry some of us unleashed this bastard on the world.

Those of us here, and more besides, sure tried hard to stop it, and him. Sigh...

[kid a]

436. i doubt he ever stopped

[obreaslan]

438. Holy Crap! 440 replies! I've never seen so many responses here at DU!

Oh yeah, the Bush Drinking thing, I'm not shocked. I assumed he was drinking since at least after 9/11. :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer: :toast: :beer:

[Ganja Ninja]

440. I look forward to the day when this guy is nothing but ..

tabloid fodder. One day he's going to be as good for tabloids and late night comedians as he is for oil and gas futures today.

[union_maid]

442. I think this one is true

The National Enquirer is not going to take on the Bush team if it doesn't have backing for this story.

[intheflow]

443. I'm mortified that this is on the DU Home Page.

It's one thing to suspect George is drinking and/or using drugs.

It's one thing to post a National Enquirer article in a forum for us to goof off with among ourselves.

But honestly, if I was visiting for the first time and saw the National Enquirer as the lead "news" story on the home page, I'd leave and never look back. Talk about Freeper Fodder! I'm cringing as I post.

[Ganja Ninja]

444. The sad fact is that a "real" news organization would never ...

honestly report anything that holds the boy king in a bad light. As far as I'm concerned the National Enquirer is no less believable than the NY Times.

[Vinca]

445. I'm not an Enquirer apologist, but didn't they report something

a couple of years back that was ignored or not believed by MSM and it turned out to be true? I wish I could remember what it was. This particular story could very well be true. Shrub looks like he's back on the sauce.

[Ganja Ninja]

448. Yes they did but I can't remember what it was either. n/t

[LostinVA]

460. Alot of stuff they print is true

Both hard news and entertainment news. They have excellent sources, top-level writers and editors (oh, yes, they do -- don't scoff), and a great legal team.

[liberal N proud]

446. When he stayed in Crawford, I knew it was because he was drunk

[genieroze]

449. Bullshit!

Not the drinking part, I don't think he ever stopped. The he feels pain about Katrina victims and dead soldiers bull. I think he does have stress because of the exploding bottle of resentment by the citizens of this country that has been building up for years being suppressed by his protectors like Turd Blossom(Rove). I think the polls are still way to high. I think he's drinking the hard stuff now because they can't contain the resentment the American people feel.

[jhain]

451. I think we should all buy buy a few copies!

"The war in Iraq, the loss of American lives, has deeply affected him. He takes every soldier's life personally. It has left him emotionally drained.

ya think?????????

[LynneSin]

457. Hell if I was responsible for 1000s of death, booze wouldn't be my choice

I'd be fricking shooting smack.

I'd want something to numb the voices inside of me that reminds me that there is blood on my hands.

[KTM]

471. Needs More Cowbell !!

Sorry, off topic on an overcrowded thread... but I love that pic !!!!

[bklyncowgirl]

458. Bush gets off the phone with Gov. Blanco and .....

Shrub knows the shit has hit the fan, so instead of calling Andy Card or whatever grownup was supposed to watch over him at Crawford, he decides to go into conference with his old buddy Jim Beam.

Probably pulled out a copy of "My Pet Goat" and read untill he passed out.

That would explain his going to bed right after talking to Blanco. It makes sense.

[DirtyDawg]

461. With these guys, nothing happens for nothing...

...This whole thing strikes me as an orchestrated effort to make the guy seem sympathetic...to, in fact, make the 'compassionate conservative' appear caring and, surprise, compassionate. And if they can get the bad old National Inquirer to stir the pot, so much the better...after all nobody really believes those guys anyway. So in the end his base will feel that he's been inappropriately slandered...the Christian right will be able to claim that while he may have back-slid, he is after all just a man who can be forgiven...and the rightwing scream machine can claim that the bushhaters have a new ally, that slime-bucket, The National Inquirer. Is that a plan or what?

I realize that this may seem a stretch but with the rovemeister nothing, even a 'hail mary' like this is not entirely out of the question.

[bostonbabs]

495. alcoholics are weak people

and he has lied and hidden it....it ain't gonna play well to good Christians, bad Christians or hard working Americans who go to work and bust their humps every day to have a silver spooned slacker alcoholic President at 1600 ......this is bad. We all think Rove is such a genius...so why is he crazed right now?....oophs....played his cards wrong this time.

[bajamary]

465. Yes, he's been drinking since 9/11 and the Freepers will love this DU post

I agree the Freepers will love this one for several reasons.

First, they'll love it that Du posts this "news story" on the front page.

Second, It will give them reason to show some of their compassion for the good old boy who's being maligned by the likes of us.

But....who cares about the Freepers!

I also concur with several other posts that say Bush has been drinking on and off since 9/11. I lived with an alcoholic for years and that pattern is soooo hard to brake especially if your surrounded by folks who don't believe in therapy on in group support sessions.

[Sparkman]

469. BORN AGAIN???!!! bullshit, * lives for fame and fortune! why turn 2 J.Dan

when you have Jesus!!! BACKSLIDERs get into huge problems because they were never spiritual for the right reasons...born again doesn't meat born over and over and over and over and over and....

[ralps]

472. Thom Hartmann is covering this story this morning. He's talking to

Robb Kall from opednews.com :hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[PegDAC]

508. Randi Rhodes

is all over this one. She even played the GWB version of "Because I Got High"! And now it's "Purple Haze"!

:hippie: :rofl:

[im10ashus]

515. Really????

I wish I could have heard that. I see it's starting to take effect. This is so "Rove in their face" if you know what I mean. He's their propaganda man. And even if they planted the "story" which I doubt, let the damage be done. A seed in the mind of the American conscience. The lush is driving us to the edge of the cliff.

:hi: :hug:

[Lost-in-FL]

473. QUITING ALCOHOL IS HARD WORK!!!!

:sarcasm:

[Herman47]

475. Another DUI

"We started singing, bye, bye, dear American lives"

"Bush drove his budget-cutting Chevy through the levee but the levee wasn't dry"

"Damn, he must have gone back to drinking whiskey and rye"

"And it's so sad this will be his second DUI"

"For these are the days that they died, these are the days New Orleans died"

[kissmygrits]

482. Damn, he must have gone back to drinking whiskey and rye

Great one Herman47. I heard Bush was all set to fire his Washington Think Tank and hire his wife and 2 daughters to give him advice. Now we would have the Washington Drink Tank.

[npincus]

483. CHEERS! I'll drink to that!

[demo dutch]

486. Be very afraid! The drunk is leading this nation deeper into disaster!

by the day. This idiot is president, can it get any worse???

[kissmygrits]

487. can it get any worse???

Yes. Bush could stroke out and Shameful Cheney could be our next pres.

[demo dutch]

489. He's running the show anyway. Notice how Brown got fired

after Cheney's visit to MS and LA. Even the MSM reported Cheney has something to do with it.

[mwb970]

490. We have GOT to get rid of this guy.

I think this story will take us a long way toward that goal.

[Herman47]

506. Yes, it will help, at least a little bit

As mentioned earlier, Bush's base is the National Enquirer crowd. Gullible enough to believe Bush's lies, they soak the National Enquirer right up.

[carpe diem]

493. i wonder if this will make nightline...

...the way the jennifer flowers story did when she sold it to the enquirer during the '92 presidential campaign...

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

496. If this story is true - why would close family members leak it to the NE?

Is Bush trying to prepare himself for a way out? If things in America descend into complete chaos with the money pit in Iraq and huge deficits at home, will Bush try to blame alcoholism, a disease, for his problems and faulty management? Is there something big coming up that Bush knows he can't handle, like indictments over Valerie Plame? Is he preparing for his resignation? If the story is true, I would be very suspicious about the fact that close family members are choosing to let this information out at this time.

[Barack_America]

518. Maybe some of the "help" had family in NO...n/t

[im10ashus]

523. Maybe the family members are tired of his crap?

I know if I were related I would make it my life mission to expose his fraudulent ways. I have a conscience and wouldn't let anyone in my family do what * has to the country.

[Drewskie]

502. National Enquirer executive says another

major national Newspaper is working on this same story... Expects it to come out in the next week or so. He said this on Ed Schultz radio show.

[Ksec]

503. I posted this on another forum and damn near got banned

by a freep moderator. He was incensed. LOL

I visit a MB that has a mix of right and left and the right wingers despise me. I have lots of fun with them by exposing them to truth and then watching their narrow little mids explode with anger.

[im10ashus]

516. It's kind of nice to beat them at their own game.

They ALWAYS publish lies based on outlandish fantasy. And the people eat it up as truth. Why not fight fire with fire? :-)

[shawn703]

520. I'm wondering - how many recovering alcholics keep booze around the ranch?

Sounds like he may have fallen off the wagon long before if he had some around.

[confludemocrat]

521. Whats's the most replies a thread has ever gotten within this timeframe?

Since the first response yesterday?

[im10ashus]

522. I do not know.

I wouldn't even venture to guess. Kind of nuts though, the response.