Stigma Weakens for Pols Who Smoked Pot
WASHINGTON - When it comes to marijuana, youthful indiscretion has come of age.
Eight candidates at a recent Democratic presidential debate were asked whether they ever had used marijuana. Three of them — Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John Edwards and Howard Dean — each answered with an unadorned "yes," drawing enthusiastic applause from the "Rock the Vote" event's youthful audience. It was candidates who said they hadn't smoked pot who felt the need to elaborate.
The candidates' admissions caused barely a ripple in the media, launched no significant Republican attacks and no signs of public outrage. But conservative moralist Bill Bennett, co-chairman of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, said he was disappointed by "this kind of tee-hee, ha ha, winking and nodding at marijuana."
"It's not a lighthearted issue. It's a serious issue," said Bennett, who served as director of drug control policy under the first President Bush. "They wouldn't joke like this about smoking cigarettes."
Character was a big issue in movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger's election to California governor, but film of him smoking pot back in his bodybuilder days was not. President Bush, who speaks in broad terms about overcoming a drinking problem,
refuses to answer specific questions about his past behavior.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=5&u=/ap/politics_of_potSo you mention that he refuses to answer specific questions, but forget to mention the questions? What might they refer to?Three independent sources close to the Bush family report that Governor Bush was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession, and taken to Harris County Jail, but avoided jail or formal charges through an informal diversion plan involving community service.
Bush has essentially admitted that he used cocaine in his Clintonesque, carefully worded partial denials. He won't deny using cocaine or marijuana, though under persistent questioning he said that he hadn't used cocaine in the last 7 years. Most newspapers report that he denies using cocaine since 1974, but that's not exactly true.
What Bush actually said was ""I could have passed the FBI background check on the standards applied on the most stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United States - a 15-year period," Mr. Bush said. This is ambiguous because background forms ask slightly different questions, depending on the position. Drug questions can go back one year, seven years or 10 years. Bush Jr. didn't have any formal position in his father's administration, so which one applies is unclear. And 15-years is not one of the choices.
Since Bush Sr.'s presidency began in January 1989, reporters assumed that Jr. was denying drug use for 15 years before that, to 1974. But that is not at all clear. His only direct statement was for seven years before today. He could easily have been denying drug use only for 15 years before today, based on 7 or 10 years dating back from the END of his dad's term. 10 years before 1993, the end of Bush Sr.'s term, is pretty close to 15 years before today.
The Clinton administration actually has a stricter standard than Bush did -- the FBI now asks about any drug use after age 18. But Governor Bush has refused to say whether he would pass that standard. Bush also has refused to answer whether he could have passed the FBI test when his father was vice president, during the 8 years from 1981-1989.
As for the arrest and diversion charge, Governor Bush admits working at the center in 1972. When asked for comment, Bush's campaign spokesman reportedly said "Oh shit... no comment." McLellan denies saying that.
http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#cocaine"When I was young and irresponsible, I was really young and irresponsible." - George W. Bush
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Kerry was asked by reporters to explain why he thought that questions surrounding George Bush regarding whether or not he had used cocaine were more substantively relevant than Gore's use of marijuana. Kerry, noting that Al Gore had already admitted his use of marijuana, said:
"(H)e (Gore) said 'I used it.' So that's not an issue... And I don't think Al Gore intends, you know, to make prior use an issue of other people, except to the degree that it affects public policy."
Pressed later on the question of the Bush cocaine rumors, Kerry laid out his thinking on why Bush's drug use, if substantiated, is indeed an important issue for voters to consider:
"The issue about George Bush is not the fact that he may have used it, said Kerry. "The issue about George Bush is, how can you, if you have (used cocaine), have a position that is so at odds in terms of being a governor where you send a lot of other people who may have done the same thing you do to jail. That's the issue. It's not a question of whether he used it or when he used it, it's a question of what his policy is today and whether that's hypocritical and dangerous."
The Week Online spoke with Kerry Spokesman David Wade, who reiterated the Senator's position.
"The Vice President has long admitted that he has used marijuana," said Wade. "Governor Bush, on the other hand, will say only that when he was young and irresponsible, he was young and irresponsible. But when Bush has had the opportunity to score political points in Texas by promulgating tough, extremely punitive new laws against drug users, he has been happy to do so."
http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/123/gorequestions.shtml