And a time came when a western president, named after a small shrub, who sought after heavy drink plunged the nation into many wars, at great cost, and much woe. -Nostrasdamus- http://www.politicalstrikes.com/images/ps0587.jpg http://www.politicalstrikes.com/images/ps0373.jpg http://www.politicalstrikes.com/images/ps0600.jpg
http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm Convicted of Drunk Driving, and Lied to Cover It Up George Bush now admits that he was convicted of drunk driving. On September 4, 1976, a state trooper saw Bush's car swerve onto the shoulder, then back onto the road. [The Bush camp spin that he was driving too slowly is simply a lie.] Bush failed a road sobriety test and blew a .10 blood alcohol, plead guilty, and was fined and had his driver's license suspended. His spokesman says that he had drunk "several beers" at a local bar before the arrest. Bush was 30 at the time. He now says that he stopped drinking when he turned 40 because it was a problem. More troubling, Bush lied in denying such an arrest, and still won't take responsibility for his actions. His first reaction was to blame Democrats and Fox News -- the only openly conservative TV network -- for reporting the story. "Why [was this reported] now, four days before the election? I've got my suspicions." He refused to say what his suspicions are, though. Bush admits covering up the story, but seems to think he has no responsibility for the failure of his cover up. In fact, just like Clinton with Monica Lewinsky, Bush has brazenly and repeatedly lied to cover up and minimize this arrest. 1. Bush Lied at his Press Conference, 11/3/2000 Bush said he paid a fine on the spot and never went to court. That is clearly a lie, as you can see on this court document showing his court hearing a month later. In fact, it was a man also in court for DUI the same day who revealed Bush' arrest. Here is exactly what Bush said in his press conference: Bush: "I told the guy I had been drinking and what do I need to do? And he said, "Here's the fine." I paid the fine and did my duty...." Reporter: "Governor, was there any legal proceeding of any kind? Or did you just -- " Bush: "No. I pled -- you know, I said I was wrong and I ..." Reporter: "In court? " Bush: No, there was no court. I went to the police station. I said, "I'm wrong." 2. Bush Lied in Court, 1978 Bush got a court hearing to get his driving suspension lifted early, even though he had not completed a required driver rehabilitation course. He told the hearings officer that he drank only once a month, and just had "an occasional beer." The officer granted his request. But Bush continued drinking for 8 years after that date and has said publicly that he drank too much and had a drinking problem during that time. Presumably Bush was under oath during the hearing, though we haven't been able to pin down that detail. The Bush campaign refuses to comment on this contradiction. 3. Bush Lied To "The Dallas Morning News", 1998 "Just after the governor's reelection in 1998, [Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne] Slater pressed Bush about whether he had ever been arrested. 'He said, 'After 1968? No.'" Dallas Morning News, 11/03/2000 [Before 1968, Bush was arrested for theft and vandalism in college.] 4. Bush Lied On 'Meet The Press', 11/21/99 Tim Russert: "If someone came to you and said, 'Governor, I'm sorry, I'm going to go public with some information.' What do you do?" Bush: "If someone was willing to go public with information that was damaging, you'd have heard about it by now. You've had heard about it now. My background has been scrutinized by all kinds of reporters. Tim, we can talk about this all morning." 5. Bush Lied to CBS, 1999. "Bush has often acknowledged past mistakes, but CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan reports that in a 1999 interview with CBS station WBZ in Boston, he denied there was any so-called smoking gun." CBS TV news Bush also evaded countless questions and gave Clintonesque half-truths. For example, while struggling with how to answer charges of drug abuse, he said that he would have been able to pass FBI background checks during his father's administration. But those checks include the question "Have you ever been arrested for any crime?" So either he was directly lying, or he has some Slick explanation like "I could have explained the circumstances of the arrest and still passed the FBI check." In another evasion, Bush decided to serve jury duty in 1996, during his first year as governor. On his questionairre, he simply left blank the questions about prior arrests and trials. Then he found himself on a trial for drunk driving, where every juror is eventually asked about prior convictions for drunk driving. The night before the trial, Bush's lawyer asked the defense attorney to dismiss him, because "it would be improper for a governor to sit on a criminal case in which he could later be asked to grant clemency." It's a silly argument, because that problem exists with any criminal trial and Bush had already decided to serve on a jury, but the defense attorney obliged and excused him before direct questioning of jurors began. Bush now justifies covering up his arrest "to be a good role model for his daughters." How does he figure that? Lying to cover up your crimes is not what I call being a good role model. Taking responsibility for your actions, admitting fault honestly and warning people of the consequences you suffered, THAT would be a good example. But Bush prefers the Clinton route of bald-faced lying, then blaming your enemies and the press when you get caught. Bush is now the first person to be elected president after being convicted of a crime. Bush had several other drunken incidents, as well. In December, 1972, Bush challenged his dad (the ex-president) to a fist fight, during an argument about Bush's drunk driving. He had taken his little brother out drinking, and ran over a neighbor's garbage cans on the way home. Bush's atypical public service job, working with inner city Houston kids, appears to have been an unofficial community service stint set up by Bush, Sr. Apparently the governor didn't learn his lesson, because his drunk driving conviction occured almost four years later. In another incident, he started screaming obscenities at a Wall Street Journal reporter, just because that reporter predicted that Bush's father would not be the 1988 Republican nominee. The reporter obviously was wrong, but a drunken Bush Jr. walked up to him at a restaurant and started yelling "You fucking son of a bitch. I won't forget what you said and you're going to pay a price for it." In fact, Bush' running mate Dick Cheney now admits he had two drunk driving offenses in 1962 and 1963, giving the Bush -- Cheney ticket a new world record of 3 DUI's on one ticket. No wonder they seem so relaxed. The conviction is bad enough, but the real question is, what other revelations are going to come later, about his drug use (which he won't deny), failing to show up for a year of his National Guard service, or sexual escapades in his swinging single days? There is evidence that Bush has more to hide involving his Texas driving record. Soon after he became governor, he had a new driver's license issued with the unusual ID number of "000000005", an action that destroyed the records of his previous license. His staff could only say, weakly, that this was done for "security reasons" but there is no record of any previous Texas governor having done so. Now we have at least of hint of why Bush wanted his records obscured, and a dark foreboding that more might be lurking, still covered up. http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm#DUIsources
Only about 4 days too come up with the above.. not a bad little hatchet job. President George W. Bush, like most who decide to quit drinking, did so on his own without help, press reports following the revelation of his 1976 DUI arrest reveal. An estimated 70 percent of people who decide to quit drinking do so without any outside help, professional counseling, or support group meetings, and Bush is apparently among that majority. "Well, I don't think I had an addiction," Bush told the Washington Post for a July 1999 profile. "You know it's hard for me to say. I've had friends who were, you know, very addicted. . .and they required hitting bottom [to start] going to AA. I don't think that was my case." Speculation in the national press, which went into a media frenzy over the report that Bush was arrested 24 years ago for drunk driving, ranged from the suggestion that if he never went to A.A. he is not really recovered, to the opinion that if he quit on his own, it was not a big problem in the first place. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Alcohol abuse can be a very serious problem in itself, but if it progresses into alcohol dependence, the solution can become much more complicated. Merely Decided to Quit The highly publicized case brings to the public's attention the difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, or alcoholism. Most people who abused alcohol, even to a dangerous extent at some point in their lives, never fit the criteria as alcoholics, or alcohol dependent. For those who abuse alcohol, but who are not chemically or psychologically dependent, quitting is usually a matter of merely deciding to quit -- many times prompted by a particularly painful or embarrassing incident. Those who have become alcohol dependent usually find they that cannot simply decide to quit and require medical treatment, counseling and/or peer group help and support. It appears from all reports, that candidate Bush did abuse alcohol for a long period of his life, but in 1986 decided to quit, because it began to "compete for his energy." "I am a person who enjoys life, and for years, I enjoyed having a few drinks. But gradually, drinking began to compete with my energy," Bush wrote in his autobiography. "I'd be a step slower getting up. My daily runs seemed harder after a few too many drinks the night before." There are many in the alcohol and drug treatment and rehabilitation profession, and within the Alcoholics Anonymous program, who would say that if Bush quit cold turkey "on his own" he probably was not an alcoholic or alcoholic dependent in the first place. Effect on the Election? The speculation in the press now is whether or not this last-minute fury over a 24-year-old incident will effect the results of the election. Never before has a presidential candidate had to face a more publicized "November Surprise" prior to a national election vote. Tom Connolly, a Portland trial lawyer and former Democratic candidate for governor, tipped a Maine television reporter about Bush's 1976 DUI arrest just days before the election, leaving voters to speculate on the "dirty tricks" timing of the last-minute revelation. Some observers called the "trust issue" into the debate, saying Bush had been less than honest with voters about his record, dodging questions as late as a month ago about his arrest record. "Throughout this campaign, he has been very forthcoming with the American people that he made mistakes as a youth, that he did things as a youth that he is not proud of, and he has been very open about that," said Karen Hughes, communications director Bush campaign. "The anger on the part of Republicans over the timing of revelation could further energize Bush’s base," wrote Newsweek Senior Editor Jonathan Alter. "If Bush gets the votes of all of the people who’ve hit the road after having a few too many, it’s a landslide." Take Bush DUI In Context, MADD Says Times and attitudes have changed greatly since George W. Bush was stopped for drinking and driving, a Texas Mothers Against Drunk Driving spokeperson says. The Bush DUI Tipster Man accused of smearing Bush backed legalizing pot, protecting gun rights, and freeing a convicted sex killer. http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/issues/l/aa001106a.htm At the same time, he shrugged off questions about his own past by acknowledging, albeit rather vaguely, that he did use to drink a lot and that he did things of which he's not proud. Revelations that he was actually convicted for drink driving, something Americans view with increasing disapproval these days, could therefore have repercussions. In this, the most intense part of the long campaign for the presidency, Governor Bush is bound to be thrown off message. The story is likely to dominate the news media for the next few days, and though he's moved quickly to address the issue, it's not going to go away. He's going to have to deal with the long buried subject of what he's called his wild past, something that's barely been mentioned since the early days of the campaign Friday, 3 November, 2000, 10:05 GMT Bush's drink-driving: Will it matter? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1004907.stm apparently not.
Saturday Night Live did a sketch about the pretzel thing. The secret service came running into Bush's room after hearing a noise. Bush was standing there with a bruise on his face. A few moments later, Cheney came out from the back room and holding his hand like it was hurting from punching someone in the face. (If you have ever noticed Cheney, he has this nervous habit of rubbing his hand with his fingers) The SS then asked Bush, are you sure you choked on a pretzel and hit your face on the coffee table? Bush looked at Cheney who was nodding in agreement with a stern look on his face. Bush then said, "Uh, yeah. That's right. I hit my face on the coffee table."
When I first heard of the pretzel incident, my first impression was that someone punched Bush in the face. We'll probably never know what happened. I just find the pretzel story hard to believe. It was also strange how Bush broke out with a big boil on his face right after Gore contested the 2000 election. That must have really shook Bush up.
lol i had heard the pretzel story from my mom and jsut laughed cuz i thought damn that man is dumb, but now that ive seen pictures and history(thank you threadstarter) that pretzel shit is total BS. ive never heard about or seen someone choking fall over(if they survived) i ahve even had a near death choking expirience myself and i just realized i was choking and tunred to my uncles and pointed at my throat and he applied the heimlich(sp?) manuever. wow ive been drinking alot lately so i guess i have a good shot at being president
Bush is above the law with his "Do as I say, not as I do" politics. He lied about weapons of mass destruction. He lied about his relations with Ken Lay and Enron. He lied about his drinking and his use of marijuana. What else has he lied about?! His business relations with Osama bin Laden, his AWOL war record, you name it. America is going bankrupt and people are dying because of his lies. The low life should have been thrown out of the Whitehouse. Apparently the "Rule of Law"' does not apply to him. ***************** NEW YORK (AP) -- Private conversations with George Bush secretly taped by an old friend before he was elected president foreshadow some of his political strategies and appear to reveal that he acknowledged trying marijuana, The New York Times has reported. The conversations were recorded by Doug Wead, a former aide to George W. Bush's father, beginning in 1998, when Bush was weighing a presidential bid, until just before the Republican National Convention in 2000, the Times reported Saturday. Bush also criticizes then-Vice President Al Gore for admitting marijuana use and explains why he would not do the same. "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions," he said, according to the Times. "You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried." http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/20/bush.tapes.ap/index.html http://www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm
If drunk driving laws do not apply to Bush, then why did he get convicted? Oh wait I forgot this is one of those pointless cyberfly topics.
You got me there PointBreak. He did get convicted under the good old three strikes law. Three strikes and you are elected PresiDunce.
