The Bush Tapes

An attempt by the NYT to dig up some dirt on W is backfiring:

Secret Recordings Foreshawdowed Bush Plans
NEW YORK - 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 using marijuana, The New York Times reported Saturday.

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 said in a story posted on its Web site.

And, they get to mention the name of the Boogeyman again:

He also praises John Ashcroft as a promising candidate for Supreme Court justice, attorney general or vice president.

Hmmm, "Justice Aschcroft". Interesting.

But the tapes also reveal Bush to be a far more thoughtful person than even I, a supporter, had believed him to be!

On one tape, Bush explains that he told one prominent evangelical that he would not "kick gays, because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?"

Bush also criticizes then-Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) 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."

If they think they're putting a wedge between Bush supporters with these revelations, I think the will be sorely disappointed:

The tapes show Bush crafting a strategy for navigating the tricky political waters between Christian conservative and secular voters, repeatedly worrying that evangelicals would be angered by a refusal to bash gays and that secular Americans would be turned off by meetings with evangelical leaders.

And here's a newsflash: nobody cares about the mary jane angle. Nobody.