If Obama’s Past Drug Use Is Fair Game So Is Bush’s

The folks at Fox News were discussing Barack Obama’s admission in a book 11 years ago that he’d used drugs in his youth when the show’s hostess went off script and brought up Pres. Bush’s use of cocaine in his youth:

Their conversation took an unusual turn, however, when Fox reporter Kirian Chetry said President Bush had also admitted to using cocaine.

Obama “talks very candidly, as did our current president, who admitted to using cocaine, correct? [Others demur] Well, who wrote, somebody wrote in a book — well, he admitted that he had an alcoholic, he had a drinking problem. Who was it who said they witnessed him using cocaine? It was somebody who wrote a book…”

As her colleagues tried to talk her down from the line of discussion, Chetry responded, “Okay, okay, fine, but there were questions about the current president and whether he used cocaine or not as a young guy, but there’s something about turning your life around…that people can accept.”

John Seery, who wrote about Bush’s cocaine-abusing past back in the 2000 election, has this take on the Fox segment in the Huffington Post:

Whew, that was a close one! Fox News surely didn’t want to open that door into Bush’s creepy closet, and they tried to slam it shut. Maybe the stress of the Iraq War, compounded by the growing abundance of Afghani poppy plants, is triggering memory flashbacks. Whatever the reason, the “cocaine issue” is back in the news–it just won’t go away.

What amazes me is that here we are, six years into Bush’s presidency, and the press still refuses to treat the longstanding stories about Bush’s cocaine use with the severity and scrutiny that such charges surely deserve, given the high level stakes involved. The issue is no longer simply how and why Bush has successfully dodged the topic for his entire political career. The story now should be why the press has treated him with kid gloves for so long.

The cocaine story came up in August 1999. Here’s a CNN article from the time that sums up events around Bush’s non-admission:

Bush denies using any illegal drug during the past 25 years

Through direct remarks and statements from key aides, Texas Gov. George W. Bush on Thursday denied using any illegal drugs over the past 25 years, marking his broadest statement yet on an issue that threatens to obstruct his Republican presidential campaign.

Bush and his campaign aides made a series of statements Thursday both expanding and clarifying statements he made Wednesday in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. In that interview, Bush said he could answer ‘no’ to the current question about illegal drug use that is asked on FBI background checks of administration appointees. That question asks prospective appointees whether they have used illegal drugs in the past seven years.

Step by step Thursday, Bush and his aides expanded that definition — even while the Texas governor said he would not answer the question about whether he ever used illegal drugs.
Bush
Gov. Bush answered questions Thursday at a campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia.

First, at a morning campaign stop in Roanoke, Virginia, Bush said he could meet the standard on FBI background checks during his father’s presidential administration. During the administration of former President George Bush, prospective appointees were asked whether they had used illegal drugs in the past 15 years.

“I’ve told the people of this country that, over 20 years ago, I made some mistakes when I was younger. I’ve learned from those mistakes,” Bush said. Again, as has been the case throughout his campaign, Bush refused to be more specific.

“Should I become the president, my pledge to the American people is that I will uphold the honor and dignity of the office to which I have been elected,” the younger Bush said.

Next, a key campaign aide expanded that definition. Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker later said the Republican presidential front-runner was saying that he has not used illegal drugs at any time since 1974, when the 53-year-old Bush was 28.

She, too, said Bush would not go into any more detail about his earlier years.

Later in the day, after another campaign appearance, Bush turned aside further questions from reporters attempting to pin him down on the issue. After saying he had “made mistakes” as a younger adult and saying he would not go into additional details — his standing answer to such questions — Bush added, “What you’ve just heard from me is my answer through the course of the campaign.”

Bush has faced persistent questions from the news media about whether he had used illegal drugs — particularly cocaine — and the questioning has increased in the wake of Saturday’s Iowa Republican straw poll victory.

Bush has admitted to past problems with alcohol but has not directly answered the drug question. Even so, the issue would not go away.

In the Dallas Morning News interview, first published Wednesday in the online edition, Bush said he would insist that appointees answer drug-use questions that are part of FBI background checks, and said he could meet those standards as well.

“As I understand it, the current (FBI) form asks the question, ‘Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years?’ and I will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is ‘No,'” Bush said in the interview.

At a news conference Wednesday in Austin, Texas, Bush said the drug rumors had been “planted,” although he declined to name any person or campaign who planted the rumors.

In an interview Thursday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes said such a “plant” had “absolutely not” come from his campaign.

When asked whether he would ask Bush the drug question in a debate, Forbes responded, “That’s a question you guys have asked. I’m not going to ask it.”

The Texas governor is the only major presidential candidate who has not answered the question about whether he has ever used cocaine. Several other presidential candidates, including Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic front-runner, have admitted to past marijuana use.

“Every candidate has a responsibility to decide what questions are appropriate and how they are going to respond,” said Gore spokesman Roger Salazar. “The vice president thinks that this election will be decided by the voters on issues that affect their everyday lives and that is what he is focusing on.”

In Texas, former Gov. Ann Richards, whom Bush ousted in 1994, faced drug use questions from a Democratic primary election rival when she first sought the party’s nomination in 1990.

A recovering alcoholic, Richards openly discussed her drinking and her recovery, but she refused to answer the drug question. She won the primary, and GOP candidate Clayton Williams didn’t raise the drug issue. Neither did Bush four years later.

The drug questions came Thursday as the Texas governor visited the West End Center for Youth in Roanoke. Afterward, Bush toured the city market area downtown. A man, carrying a large green sign with the word “snort,” yelled, “Just answer the question. Did you do it? Don’t feed the frenzy, just answer the question. Al Gore answered the question.”

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