| determine. And again, this is just an issue we're not going to comment on. I know you guys have to ask these questions, and I really do appreciate that. 27TH REPORTER Any—any suggestion, though, that the Gore campaign have anything to do with this close to the election? What's your reaction to that?
CHRIS LEHANE This is just not something the Gore campaign is involved with in any shape, way, or form.
28TH REPORTER You can say that authoritatively? How? Because you don't know much about the issue??
CHRIS LEHANE Because I just know that's not something that the Gore campaign would engage in.
TED KOPPEL When we come back, we will talk to one person who does know where the story originated. She's the reporter who broke it.
ANNOUNCER This is ABCNEWS: Nightline, brought to you by...
(Commercial break)
TED KOPPEL And joining us now from Kennebunkport, reporter Erin Fehlau from station WPXT. Obviously, what—what everybody wants to know is why now and who gave you the story? And—and maybe you can just begin by telling us how you even became aware of the story.
ERIN FEHLAU, WPXT-TV REPORTER Well, this morning I was down at the Cumberland County—Cumberland County Courthouse covering another trial. It was an arson trial. And while we were waiting for the verdict, a police officer, a female police officer that I see on a couple of different stories came up to me and said that she had overheard a lawyer and a judge in the courthouse talking about the fact that George W. had an OUI conviction here in Maine. She said that she really didn't know where it was, she said Bath—she—she didn't know where it was. She actually thought it was a line, she thought it was a joke. She didn't really believe it. But she said it to me, saying, 'Do you know about this? Is this—is this true?' And, of course, that raised, you know—I—I was, obviously, interested in the story.
TED KOPPEL So how did you follow it up?
ERIN FEHLAU So, I followed it up. She had meant—I asked her what lawyers or who was talking about it. She had told me who was talking about it. At that point, I couldn't get in touch with either one of these people. They were in court at the time. We were waiting for the verdict for the other story. And I was calling, trying to find out anything I could from the local courthouses. I wasn't getting very far. The verdict came in for that case. We were outside, waiting for reaction. The next thing I know, the lawyer who she had mentioned, was walking out of the courthouse. And I just ran over to him and said, 'What's going on? Do you know anything about this?' At which point he said, 'Yes. I have a copy of a docket. It's in my office. I'm going to walk—go get it and bring it back.'
TED KOPPEL Now, do you have any idea how and why he would have that docket 24 years later?
ERIN FEHLAU The way it was explained to me was that it was a rumor that he and a judge in the courthouse were made aware of—or actually, that this judge had been made aware of. And that he actually went forward and was able to obtain this document—this document from '76.
TED KOPPEL Now, is this—do you happen to know, are judges up there, are they appointed or are they elected? And if he's elected, do you know what his party is?
ERIN FEHLAU Sorry. Don't. But I will tell you, that the man—the lawyer that I did talk to, he was a delegate to the Democratic Convention. But I want to make it clear, that he did not hand this to me. It was something that this police officer overheard, talked to me about it, and I just ran and asked him about it.
TED KOPPEL You know, I mean, the way you tell the story, it certainly sounds as though you just stumbled into something and were smart enough to follow up on it. But you also heard Governor Bush say several times, you know, he's got his suspicions about why this just came out four or five days before the election. You're pretty confident that you weren't set up here, right?
ERIN FEHLAU That's the way it happened for me. I'm confident that I wasn't set up. I feel like if I was being set up, he would probably have just handed me the information right off the bat.
TED KOPPEL And you actually had to go to the courthouse and dig some of this stuff up yourself?
ERIN FEHLAU I was able to—through getting the copy of the docket, I was able to call the courthouse, give them the docket number, give them the name, give his birth date. They were able to verify that it did, indeed, happen. At that point, I was able to call the secretary of state's office, get a copy of his driving record faxed to our station. And after that, I was able to get in touch with the officer who actually made the arrest.
TED KOPPEL All right. Well, Erin, thank you very much. I really appreciate your driving over to Genne—Kennebunkport so that we could talk to you tonight.
ERIN FEHLAU No problem.
TED KOPPEL When we come back, we'll talk with ABC's Dean Reynolds who's covering the Bush campaign.
(Commercial break)
TED KOPPEL ABC's Dean Reynolds has been covering the Bush campaign for a very long time. He joins us now from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. How long has it been, now, Dean? Over a year, right?
DEAN REYNOLDS, ABCNEWS Eighteen months.
TED KOPPEL Eighteen months. And—and it seems as though about 16, 15 months ago, that that's all we were hearing about were these rumors of drinking, the possibility of drug use, and he couldn't seem to shake it. And then it was gone until tonight. How much of an impact is it having on the campaign?
DEAN REYNOLDS Well, the most immediate impact, Ted, is what you're seeing right now. You and I talking about his past drinking, whether he spent the night in jail, how many beers he drank, instead of discussing the things that he said today in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, or the speech that he made in Milwaukee. This kind of thing is political poison for the campaign. And I should point out that tonight, in the Milwaukee area, every single local TV newscast led with the story about the governor's past.
TED KOPPEL I don't know if you've had a chance to talk to anybody privately on the campaign, but is there a feeling that this is a 24-hour virus, that it'll go away quickly?
DEAN REYNOLDS Well, I don't know that they know, frankly. I mean, I'm—certainly, they hope that this thing will—will die down. But in as much as they are trying to deal with it right now, you heard the governor say five times in five minutes that he questioned the timing of this. That seems to be their most immediate response to all of this now, that this is somehow suspicious. They are not providing any particular proof behind that suspicion. But it's sort of a benign way of saying they think it stinks.
TED KOPPEL And they clearly think that someone associated with the Gore campaign has something to do with it. Is that—is that the implication?
DEAN REYNOLDS I think they're going to let that sit out there. I mean, they're using the word 'It's interesting.' And, of course, I think that that would be the next logical step for the viewer, after they hear that, to think, 'Well, who would have done such a thing?'
TED KOPPEL Hang in for a moment, Dean. We're—we're joined now by ABCNEWS political analyst George Stephanopoulos. He joins us from New York. And Bill Kristol, the editor and publisher of the Weekly Standard. Mr. Kristol served as the chief of staff for Vice President Dan Quayle many, many moons ago. And let me start with you, Bill. You know, four days to go and—and here we are spending a precious day talking about this. I'm—I'm talking about the precious day, in terms of what's left for campaigning. What kind of an impact does that have?
WILLIAM KRISTOL, THE WEEKLY STANDARD An awful lot. I don't know that we've ever had a story like this break this late in the campaign. And I think it probably determines the—the fate of Governor Bush's campaign. If he comes out of this convincing the American people that he has been honest, that this was a long ago mistake that he put way behind him, he stopped drinking, and perhaps that he's been unfairly smeared by—by—if not by the Gore campaign, at least by a Gore delegate to the Democratic Convention, then I think he gets elected president. If, on the other hand, this brings back the sense that—of—of a reckless individual who didn't come clean with the American people about something—that's not insignificant, you know, an actual misdemeanor for which he was arrested, then I think he—he may lose. So I—I think this is awfully important.
TED KOPPEL Well, let me ask—let me ask all three of you, actually—and George Stephanopoulos, I'll ask you first, you heard the—my short debriefing there of the young woman who broke the story, and the way she describes it. Well, let—let me—let me ask you what your reaction is to the way she described it.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABCNEWS POLITICAL ANALYST I had a very complicated reaction, you know? On the one hand, you listen to her and you say there's this very complicated chain of events that gets her the docket. On the other hand, there is a lawyer in the courtroom who's a delegate to the Democratic Convention who has a copy of this document. How did he get it? What is he doing with it? How did she find out about it? All of those are legitimate questions to be asked. At the same time, it is talking about an incident that did actually occur. And people will focus on that, as well. I—I tend to agree with Bill. I don't think we know yet what the impact will be. People tend to be forgiving about incidents in someone's private life a long time ago. But the question is, does—will this crystalize doubts about whether Bush is weighty enough to be president? Has he disclosed everything about his past? And has ever—has he fully told the truth about this incident in the past?
TED KOPPEL Dean, let me just get from you your reaction to the way the story was told and how it's going to come out. Do you think that's going to have—you think it'll convince anyone on the Bush campaign that—that this was not planted by the Gore campaign or someone who is at least a supporter of Vice President Gore?
DEAN REYNOLDS Well, I think we may see some spinning in that direction tomorrow. But I—I think, Ted, that in many ways, this is a bed that the—the Bush campaign made for themselves by these less-than-direct responses over the years to what the governor has repeatedly referred to as 'young and irresponsible behavior.' I mean, you heard it again tonight from Karen Hughes when she was asked, 'Is there something else?' And—and she said, 'Well, he's admitted to making mistakes in his past.' It's a problem. I don't know that it will wash now in light of what's just come out tonight.
TED KOPPEL George, I—I want to come back to you one more time. Because Lord knows in your—in your early, indiscreet, youthful days, when you served the then-governor of Arkansas, there were some pretty bad moments during the primaries when—when you guys had to go behind closed doors and say, 'Now what do we do?' How bad—how bad is this at this moment for a candidate?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS Well, this is real bad, because I've never been in a situation where it happened this close to an election. I think, as Bill stated, this is, I think, the first November surprise, or one of the first in—in American history. What surprised me tonight, the first question I asked the Bush campaign tonight when I talked to them was, 'Did you guys know about this? Did you on the staff know about this?' And the person I talked to said that several people on the staff did know about this incident in the past. And I think this goes to something Dean said. Why didn't they figure out a way to disclose it earlier if they believe the people don't care about an incident that happened a long time ago in the governor's past?
TED KOPPEL All right. We've got to take a short break. Back with Bill and George in just a moment.
(Commercial break)
TED KOPPEL And we're back once again with George Stephanopoulos and Bill Kristol. We'll find out in the next couple of days what kind of impact this has on the voting public. But let me put to both of you—you first, Bill—the kind of impact that it has on the campaign staff. They were exhausted, they hadn't slept in days, they—they—they were trying to focus on the last few days and what they're going to do to—to bring it home, and now this.
WILLIAM KRISTOL I talked to one very thoughtful person on the Bush staff who, a half an hour ago, had already been through three stages of reaction. First, intense anger, partisan anger at this dirty trick, rallying to Bush's defense. 'This was 24 years ago. Nothing—he didn't endanger anyone,' etc, etc. Second wave, 'Oh, maybe this is a little worse that we thought. He didn't—why didn't he come clean?' kind of sinking feeling in his stomach that—that everything could be going down the tubes. And now, with the revelation that this was a Democratic—Gore delegate to the Democratic Convention who seems to have had, somehow, a copy of this police record, I think a revival of the partisanship and the sense that 'My guy's being done here with a dirty—by a dirty trick.' They need to —they'll have to pull together. And they will—I really think this—this becomes the decisive moment in the campaign. I mean, really, what—what do the American people, 72 hours from now, what is their judgment of this? You know, was this—is Bush the—the—the victim or is he someone who didn't come clean with the American people?
TED KOPPEL Again, George, the impact on the campaign itself.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS You know, when I—the person I talked to tonight had kind of a scared tone of voice between a very sober recitation of the facts. But I tend to agree with Bill's last point. I think when you—what you're going to be hearing coming out of the campaign is focusing on this Democratic delegate who—who said—who had this docket. And I think that will rally the troops inside the campaign over the next couple days. In fact, one Bush campaign staffer tonight played me a voice mail message they got from a supporter in San Francisco saying, 'We're going to go to the streets and—and prove the press wrong on this. We're going to fight even harder.' I do think, however, though, Ted, that—that Governor Bush himself will have to come out tomorrow and address this in—in a—in a more forthright fashion, assure people...
TED KOPPEL George, I...
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS ...nothing else has happened.
TED KOPPEL I hate to cut you off. We're out of time. That is our report for tonight. I'm Ted Koppel in Washington. Good night.
BUSH GIRLS GONE WILD
Bush babies - Barbi & Jenna
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ONE OF THE toughest domestic issues George W. Bush faces in the next few years is how to control his hard-drinking daughter.
Jenna Bush, 19, has a reputation at the University of Texas at Austin as a wild party girl who flirts openly with fraternity hunks.
What's more, fellow students say, freshman Jenna is a chip off the old block. George W. was a two-fisted drinker in his youth and Jenna is picking up where he left off. She follows the policy: "I drink. I fall down. No problem."
"Jenna's a wild one, all right," said a pal. "She's partying up a storm."
"I've seen her three times in bars and she's never looked sober," agreed another student source.
Just a week before the presidential election, Jenna whooped it up at a fraternity bash at Austin's Buffalo Club, a student watering hole a few blocks from the governor's mansion where her mom and dad live.
The bar's featured drink is a potent brew called Long Island ice tea.
"Jenna was really out of hand, yelling at the top of her lungs," said the source. "At one point she was dancing with another girl at the back of the bar while guys drinking ice teas were ogling them. Then Jenna fell over on top of her friend and the two of them tumbled to the ground. All the guys let out a big cheer."
A few weeks later, Jenna was spotted out on the town once more, this time at a popular bar called Fat Tuesday. Again she was partying hearty.
"She looked drunk to me," said a fellow student. "She was getting really flirtatious with guys, sitting on their laps and rubbing her bottom on their knees."
Jenna has been known for her wild ways since she and her fraternal twin sister, Barbara, attended Stephen F. Austin High School together. As a senior she was at the center of an incident that had to be hushed up in the Texas state capital, The ENQUIRER has learned. Last spring, Jenna agreed to model dresses at a charity fashion show at Austin's Club De Ville. Unfortunately, she got a little smashed at the show, an insider says -- and tripped and fell off the runway.
"Then she failed to show up back at the governor's mansion," the insider revealed. "Gov. Bush was worried sick and sent out cops to look for her. They found her in the club after hours fooling around with some guy."
While sister Barbara, a serious student, went on to prestigious Yale University, Jenna chose UT - - a famous party school. And even though college was only a few blocks away from home, she left the governor's mansion and moved into a freshman dorm.
"Jenna didn't want to be under the thumb of her parents," said the source. "She wanted freedom."
Many UT students agree that the captions under Barbara and Jenna's names in their high school yearbook describe perfectly the difference between the twins.
Barbara is labeled the girl "most likely to appear on the cover of Vogue." Jenna is "most likely to trip on prom night."
Published on: December 21, 2000
THE SMOKING GUN
Just two weeks after copping to an underage drinking charge, the 19-year-old party girl has been rapped (along with twin sister Barbara) for another Texas booze incident. The Austin Police Department today (May 31) issued Jenna a misdemeanor citation for using someone else's driver's license in a failed bid to order a drink at a Mexican restaurant on May 29 (sister Barbara got nailed for successfully obtaining booze that same evening). The new citation is Jenna's second scrape with the law in recent weeks. On May 16, as these Municipal Court records show, Jenna pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of being a minor in possession of alcohol (the legal drinking age in Texas is 21).
Here's the 911 call placed to Texas cops by the Austin restaurant manager who blew the whistle on the margarita-lovin' Bush twins. Mia Lawrence, who runs Chuy's, told a police operator on May 29 that she was dropping the dime because, "I just don't want our restaurant to get in trouble." Lawrence, who misidentifed Jenna Bush as "Laura Bush," said that while the underage drinking was "not a major emergency, it would be police, though." Lawrence noted that she first tried to call the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), but that the liquor licensing agency was not open after hours (she dialed 911 around 10 pm). Lawrence added that Jenna's twin sister Barbara was also in the Mexican restaurant, "but because she wasn't in the paper recently, none of us recognized her..."
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Fourteen months before underage booze antics made headlines, Barbara Bush, then 18, was questioned by Massachusetts cops responding to a manager's complaint that a raucous February 2000 party at a hotel on Harvard Square involved "several minors in a room consuming alcohol," The Smoking Gun has learned.
According to a Harvard University Police Department log, the manager of the university-owned The Inn at Harvard called cops on February 19 at 11:18 PM complaining about the booze blast. The log notes that, "Officers sent to assist him in removing them." Cops prepared an incident report detailing what happened upon their arrival, but Harvard refused last week to release the document following a TSG request, contending that the Massachusetts Open Records Law does not apply to the school's police force.
But we've been able to piece together this account of the incident through interviews and information from the Harvard police log:
While her father was gearing up for a Super Tuesday (March 7) showdown with John McCain, Barbara Bush spent her President's Day weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts visiting Harvard University. Along with Yale and Stanford, the teenager had been accepted at Harvard.
We revisited the Harvard tip last week in light of Bush's no contest plea for the Chuy's bust and the disclosure that Barbara, a Yale freshman, had a phony ID confiscated in October when she tried to use it at a New Haven bar. This time, when we called the Harvard cops they turned over (on June 8) log pages recording the hotel party involving "several minors."
06/18/2001 - Updated 05:29 PM ET
USA TODAY - FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A college student claiming to be the boyfriend of President Bush's daughter Jenna was arrested at a fraternity party and released several hours later to a man whom deputies believed to be a Secret Service agent, a sheriff said Thursday.
Daddy cops a feel and scary-boyfriend mugshot - Is this the same scary boyfriend Alex Jones witnessed with a drunken Jenna in Austin, wearing Satanic apparel? Jones said he was too afraid to videotape the First Brat's public intoxication, despite in 2000 infiltrating past Secret Service inside Bohemian Grove presidential retreat with hidden video and witnessing Bush and Cheney performing ritual child sacrifice to Satan
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White House officials and Secret Service spokesman Tony Ball refused to comment. "We're not making any comments about this incident," said Noelia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush in Washington.
William Ashe Bridges, an 18-year-old Texas Christian University freshman, was jailed early Sunday after law officers arrested him at a house near the Fort Worth campus, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.
Held at the county jail, Bridges was intoxicated and loudly insisted that he was dating Bush's daughter, Anderson said his deputies told him. When Bridges was allowed to make a phone call, he talked a few minutes and then handed the phone to a jail sergeant, who said a young woman on the line identified herself as Jenna Bush, Anderson said.
"She just asked when he could be released," Anderson said. "No one asked for any special favors whatsoever."
Bridges, who was cited for public intoxication and underage possession of alcohol, was released after four hours' detention. A black Chrevolet Suburban with Virginia license plates arrived outside, and a man came inside to pick up Bridges, Anderson said.
"The deputies didn't really believe Bridges until the black Suburban pulled up and a man came inside," said Anderson.
Jail personnel believed the man was a Secret Service agent. A deputy saw a woman in the vehicle but was not sure if it was Ms. Bush, said Anderson.
Ms. Bush, 19, is a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin.
CNN NEWS, NEW YORK -- Oscar winner Julia Roberts says if she were a daughter of President Bush, she'd drink, too.
The comments stem from the late-May run-in with the law by Barbara and Jenna Bush, the president's 19-year-old twin daughters, whom police say were trying to buy alcohol with someone else's identification in Austin, Texas.
In an interview with Time magazine, Roberts says the pressures of being daughter to the president could lead anyone to drink.
"We all need to take a deep breath and think about being a Bush daughter and having that cross to bear. I'd go out and have a couple of drinks too," Roberts says.
Roberts will soon be seen on the big screen in "America's Sweethearts," which releases on July 20.
If we had all just voted for Josiah Bartlett last Tuesday (Martin Sheen's presidential character on NBC's "West Wing") we wouldn't be in this awful political mess.
But just because Sheen only plays a fictional politician doesn't mean he doesn't have a few things to say about the current state of the Union. More specifically, he thinks presidential hopeful George W. Bush is a "white-knuckle drunk."
Sheen said during a speech Saturday that Bush should have received counseling after his drunk-driving arrest in 1976.
"He's still in denial about it," said Sheen. "You have got to be in a program. I did not make up the rules about that."
Sheen, who has admitted to facing his own battles with substance abuse in the past, wants Bush to acknowledge the severity of drug and alcohol dependence.
Published on: November 11, 2000
PREZ' PARTY GIRL: Blonde-haired Jenna whoops it up with a 'gal-pal' at a drunken bash at the University of Texas last fall.
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The drinking problems of President Bush's teenage daughters Jenna and Barbara have triggered an all-out First Family feud!
An angry and tearful Laura Bush wants to come down hard on the 19-year-old twins after they were nabbed by Austin, Tex., cops on May 29 and charged with underage drinking violations. But George W. Bush doesn't want to discipline his girls, sources told The ENQUIRER.
"Laura Bush is fit to be tied about George's attitude," said a Bush family source. "But the girls have their father wrapped around their fingers. The President doesn't think the girls need reigning in. He and Laura are at loggerheads."
Sources told The ENQUIRER the First Lady wants her girls to get counseling for their drinking problems. And she wants Jenna -- a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin who had another alcohol citation a few weeks earlier -- to drop out of school, move into the White House and enroll in a college nearby. The Enquirer has uncovered more details of Jenna's shocking booze-fueled behavior.
On at least two occasions, she engaged in passionate "make-out sessions" with another girl as friends watched. And the Texas State Police caught a drunk and partially clothed Jenna in a psssionate embrace with a boyfrined, sources reveal.
Jenna's first make-out session with a girl came at a high-school senior party last year in Texas, a fellow student told the Enquirer.
"We were all pretty drunk and the guys kept egging Jenna on to make out with her 'good friend.' The two of them sat on a couch and started to kiss. The guys were cheering. But as I watched them, they really got into it. They were tongue-kissing and it went on for quite awhile."
"I chalked it up to the drinking, but a few months later, a bunch of us were at the beach together. Again, everybody was drinking and the guys urged Jenna and her 'friend' to get it on."
"They did, kissing and wrapping their arms around each other."
Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara, graduated from the public Stephen F. Austin High School last spring, where classmates voted Jenna "most likely to trip on prom night."
Published on: June 8, 2001
The Republican Convention
While gay America watches, the GOP's second family closets its lesbian daughter.
By Dave Cullen and Daryl Lindsey
Aug. 3, 2000 | PHILADELPHIA -- All across gay America Wednesday night, activists were playing an impromptu kind of parlor game, watching the Republican Convention to see if vice presidential nominee Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, would attend with her partner.
Television cameras captured Mary Cheney, her sister, Elizabeth, and brother-in-law, Phil Perry, laughing and applauding during Cheney's acceptance speech. But the tight camera angle shut out others in their box. For a while, an unidentified woman in a red dress playing with the Cheney grandchildren, sitting to the left of Perry, raised hopes that Cheney's girlfriend had attended the convention, as rumored.
"You see the woman holding the baby?" Human Rights Campaign spokesman David Smith asked. Phone calls were buzzing in from around the country wondering if that could possibly be her. Activists had one photo of the couple to work from, and the woman's hair seemed way too light, but it was hard to rule her out categorically.
So Smith borrowed a seating chart from a reporter, to make sure. And everyone in the box was accounted for; the woman was clearly identified as another member of the family delegation.
Smith was sorely disappointed at the absence of Cheney's life partner from the event.
"It's a shame that Mary's relationship is politically inconvenient, and obviously in the eyes of the Bush campaign, not ready for prime time," Smith said. "It completely unmasks the veil of inclusion put forth by the Bush campaign that everyone is included and welcome. Obviously Mary Cheney's family is not welcome in the box. Elizabeth's family is on display for everyone to see."
Smith noted that in years past, the vice presidential nominee's whole family joined him on stage at the end of the speech, but after Cheney's speech, only his wife, Lynne, came up.
"Every convention I can remember, Democrat or Republican, the vice presidential nominee has had their entire family on stage: You see cousins and aunts and uncles -- the only explanation is because of Mary.
"Isn't this an obvious exclusion? They're going through tremendous contortions to hide it. Because this family is not palatable to the conservative right. That's a huge departure."
Bush defenders denied the campaign had objections to Mary Cheney's sexual orientation. "Governor Bush wouldn't have selected Dick Cheney as his running mate if he had a problem with it," Pat Harrison, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, told Salon.
But even as Mary Cheney's life partner was being kept off stage at the Republican Convention, USA Today posted her name on its Web site Wednesday night. At least a few other news organizations, including Salon, have withheld the widely available name as well as a photo of the couple, because it could not be ascertained how open Cheney's girlfriend is about her sexual orientation and her relationship with the vice presidential nominee's daughter. Friends say the woman is out at work, but no one could confirm she is out to her family.
The Mary Cheney story may be the most overreported yet undercovered story in political history. Friends of Cheney say they've been contacted by numerous reporters, and some have even stopped giving interviews. Yet only a handful of publications have written about the issue of the former defense secretary's lesbian daughter.
Writing in the New Republic, Andrew Sullivan blasted the double standard that has kept the media, and the Republican Party, quiet on the story.
"How does Cheney square [his anti-gay voting record] with his belief that his gay daughter, Mary, is 'wonderful,' 'decent,' and 'hard-working'? I don't know, because the media, which evidently still doesn't regard gay rights as central to our politics, has barely asked ... The New York Times, for all its pretensions to have left homophobia behind, has barely touched the subject. The Washington Post buried it."
Smith also questioned the media's reluctance to delve into the Mary Cheney story. "They have to my knowledge been out and open and part of the Denver gay/lesbian community. This is not a family that has pulled back behind the veil of privacy until Secretary Cheney was nominated as vice president. This is privacy based on convenience. It's politically inconvenient for Mary Cheney to be in a relationship with a woman."
On the convention floor, every Republican interviewed in the delegations for Texas and Colorado -- where Cheney lives with her girlfriend, in Conifer, 25 miles from Denver -- tried to express their tolerance for Cheney's daughter's "lifestyle," even if they didn't approve.
Even delegates from Texas -- which drew attention Tuesday when delegation members bowed their heads in prayer as openly gay Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., gave a speech on trade -- were reluctant to criticize Mary Cheney or the selection of Dick Cheney as Bush's running mate.
Dianne Edmondson of Denton, Texas, says she, too, prayed during Kolbe's speech Tuesday, though she was "not necessarily protesting. I asked that God show him the straight and narrow way."
On the subject of Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Edmondson said: "There's a big difference between an elected official being gay and someone's child -- we don't even know if she wanted to go public with it. I believe you love the sinner and hate the sin.
"There are lots of people within the party who I don't agree with," Edmondson continued. "In the end, we all want the same thing -- the election of George W. Bush."
"If she were speaking about these matters on stage, I'd be highly offended," said Bobby Eberle of Houston. "The GOP doesn't support that kind of activity. But Bush picked Dick Cheney because of his long history of public service." Eberle said he sat "silently and respectfully" through Kolbe's speech.
Sharon Johnson, a Colorado delegate from Denver, said "I admire the Cheneys. I had no idea they had a lesbian daughter. I would hate to have homosexuals come into the schools and teach homosexuality, but if she chooses to be a lesbian, that's her business. If she would go into schools and try to tell my grandchildren or sanction it," that wouldn't be acceptable.
But Nancy Beddingfield of Jewett, Texas, who owns a 2,500 acre farm with over 600 cows and calves and describes herself as being "as Texan as anyone on this delegation," believes the revelation that Cheney's daughter is gay will "show the diversity of the party. If that had been a problem for Bush, he never would have considered it. They may have discussed it, they may not have. If they [gays] contribute to the country, then it's fine."
salon.com | Aug. 3, 2000
About the writer - Dave Cullen is a Denver writer working on a book on the Columbine killings.
Daryl Lindsey is associate editor of Salon News.
Related stories
All in the family - Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, is expected to stump for the GOP ticket. As the gay corporate relations manager forCoors, she knows all about the hard sell. By Dave Cullen - 07/29/00
Gays blast Lynne Cheney's denial about her daughter - Friends say Mary Cheney has publicly declared she's gay. Does mom's discomfort mean Mary will campaign from the GOP's closet? By Dave Cullen and Daryl Lindsey - 08/01/00
Mary Cheney to take a leading role in dad's campaign - But will her life partner join her on the podium Wednesday night? Stay tuned. By Dave Cullen - 08/02/00
PARTY GIRL Jenna Bush is ushered out of a Beverly Hills bash by a Secret Service agent after a fight broke out.
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THE PARTY NEVER ends for Jenna Bush! Unlike other teenagers, the President's daughter has no problems getting served alcohol illegally and recently went on another bender drinking wine and knocking back Bloody Marys during a wild party weekend with friends, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively.
And just days later the 19-year-old was seen drinking again at a Beverly Hills party — this time with her twin sister Barbara — when a fight broke out and the presidential pair had to flee in panic with Secret Service agents! It's the latest booze-fueled high jinks for the daughters of President Bush.
And even as the President and First Lady have tried to divert attention from their daughters' behavior, Jenna continues to break the law, drinking alcohol in public while surrounded by the Secret Service!
Jenna — who's doing a summer internship with an L.A. television production company — has been cited for underage drinking twice in the past three months and is on a form of probation. Barbara pleaded no contest to underage possession of alcohol stemming from the visit to a restaurant.
And only two weeks after exclusive ENQUIRER photos showed Jenna partying at an over-21 Los Angeles nightclub, she continued her wild behavior at The Grande Colonial hotel in La Jolla, Calif., where she shared a $429-a-night suite with six pals.
On Saturday, July 28, Jenna and her six friends were drinking poolside at the hotel, said a source.
"The barman was bringing them drink after drink.
"I saw Jenna knock back at least two Bloody Marys. As the sun was going down Jenna and her pals ordered a bottle of wine from the bar and took it to their room.
"And in the evening as they left for more partying, one of the girls in the group signed for another bottle of wine. They opened it, requested plastic glasses — and walked out into the street pouring as they strolled.
"Jenna was illegally drinking wine on Prospect Street, the town's main drag!"
New ENQUIRER photos show Jenna looking a bit worse for wear the next morning after checking out of the hotel. "It was noon and Jenna was just getting up," an eyewitness told The ENQUIRER. "She looked hungover."
A few days later on August 1, Jenna turned up at a swank Beverly Hills party, this time with twin Barbara.
"Jenna was drinking and so was Barbara," photographer Raul Roa told The ENQUIRER.
"Celebrities were there including Pete Sampras, The Rock, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Ashton Kutcher of 'That '70s Show.' I had been officially invited to take pictures.
"When Snoop Doggy Dogg came on and sang, Jenna and her pals were dancing. After that a fight broke out between a group of guys and quickly escalated to about 10 men.
"Security guys were jumping in. Punches and kicks were thrown, glasses and drinks went flying, tables and chairs were flung.
"Secret Service guys quickly ushered Jenna's party to a stairway to an upstairs room. The girls got out unhurt but shaken."
Lieutenant David Ferrero of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission told The ENQUIRER: "If Jenna's drinking under the age of 21 in California, that's an offense and she will be punished out there if she gets charged."
— ALAN SMITH and DAVID WRIGHT
Published on: August 14, 2001
Students at the University of Texas are claiming that they have a home video of a drunk Jenna Bush at a wild party -- and are threatening to release it to the public.
According to one source, "It was a wild night, and she was feeling no pain."
Another source, who chooses to remain anonymous, said, "If the tape finds its way into the wrong hands, the White House is going to turn every shade of red. Jenna should get the message, and get it fast, there are a few troublemakers on campus who are rooting for her to fall on her face. She is making it too easy for them."
Meanwhile, Jenna and her twin sister Barbara have been charged with misdemeanors for violating liquor laws in Texas. Jenna was charged with using a fake I.D. to try to buy alcohol, and Barbara, a student at Yale, was charged with underage possession of alcohol.
This is the second offense for Jenna and the first for Barbara.
Published on: June 1, 2001
PREZ's DAUGHTER IN SPRING BREAK BOOZE BINGE
Oh, those Bush girls!
President Bush's daughter Barbara flew to a Mexican resort for a spring break vacation -- that nearly turned into a tragedy.
Beer. Hunky guys. The hot Mexican sun. Tequila shots -- lots of them. It was a recipe for disaster for the 19-year-old Yale University freshman.
The ENQUIRER issue that hits stands on Friday reveals all the details of Barbara's Mexican misadventure -- which came just weeks after her twin sister Jenna narrowly escaped arrest for underage drinking at a wild fraternity party! PARTY-HEARTY: Barbara passed out on a Mexican beach filled with spring breakers. [photo]
Saturday, 28 April, 2001, 14:46 GMT 15:46 UK
BBC NEWS, LONDON - Jenna's father has put his drinking days behind him President George Bush's daughter, Jenna, has been caught engaged in illegal drinking by Texas police .
Nineteen-year-old Jenna Bush was drinking beer in a popular area of the Texas capital, Austin, when she was spotted by a police patrol.
Texas law forbids the drinking of alcohol for those under 21-years-old.
Jenna Bush, who was with a friend at the time, was issued with a citation, which means she will have to perform community service or pay a fine.
The offence happened in the early hours of Friday morning. Assistant Police Chief Mike McDonald of the Texas police said Jenna Bush did not appear to be drunk.
Two secret service agents protecting her were reported to be stationed outside the bar at the time.
Family matter
"Both girls were very cooperative, as were the Secret Service,", Officer McDonald said. "[The agents] didn't interfere in any way."
President Bush's staff refused to talk about the incident, with White House spokesman Scott McLellan commenting, "It's a family matter".
Ms Bush and her twin sister Barbara graduated from high school last May. Jenna is now a student at the University of Texas in Austin.
She is due to appear in court on 2 May. Under the terms of the citation, she will either pay a $200 fine or perform community service.
Jenna's father had a reputation as a hard drinking party-goer during his university days when he was a member of a fraternity known as the Skull and Bones.
But in 1986 Mr Bush appeared to go through a religious awakening at the time of his 40th birthday.
Waking with a hangover, he decided to quit drinking, found God and transformed himself into a man seeking high office.
Shortly before last November's presidential election it was revealed that Mr Bush was arrested for drink-driving 25 years ago after drinking several beers in a bar.
He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge, paid a $150 fine and had his driving licence suspended.
PARTY GAMES - Which Bush Twin was arrested for underage drinking this week? Chances are it was Jenna! Now, you, too, can join in on the fun by playing the always-surprising game of "WWJD?" No, it isn't "What Would Jesus Do?" - it's "What Would Jenna Drink?"
The media has been silent about the National Enquirer's recent allegation that the first daughter is a marijuana user. Is the press giving the drug war's commander in chief a break?
By James Pinkerton
March 23, 2001 | Should Jenna Bush, the 19-year-old daughter of the president, be in jail? Or at least be arrested? That's a conclusion to be drawn from a recent report in the National Enquirer that asserts she smokes marijuana. After all, some 600,000 Americans are arrested every year for marijuana possession -- including about 13,000 teenage girls. Some would say, of course, that Jenna Bush shouldn't be hassled for allegedly smoking pot, but then maybe nobody else should either.
The charge that Jenna smokes marijuana is found in the Enquirer's March 20 issue; the tabloid quotes two unidentified fellow students, one of whom says, "Jenna came over one night and we all did some doobies together. I wouldn't say she's a major pothead but she likes to toke up when it's around." Can unnamed sources be trusted? The answer to that question usually depends on the reputation of the publication.
Starting from a low base, the Enquirer's rep has been rising in recent years. It had so many scoops on the O.J. Simpson case that even the New York Times had to acknowledge its journalism; in the Ennis Cosby murder, the reward it offered broke the case. And just in the past few weeks, it scooped the establishment media on Jesse Jackson's "love child" and Hugh Rodham's receipt of $400,000 to influence his brother-in-law on presidential pardons.
One reason the Enquirer gets scoops like these is that it hunts for them, while other publications are leery of "scandal-mongering." But as media critic William Powers observed recently in the distinctly unsensationalistic National Journal, sometimes the real news is scandal: "Despite their well-known flaws, the tabs are now serious players because they know that great journalism isn't just about bloodless policy and issue debates. It's about ethical foibles and hypocrisies of the powerful."
Speaking of the powerful, George W. Bush, who refused to answer questions about his own drug use during the campaign, now finds himself as commander in chief of the worldwide drug war, being fought all over the Third World as well as on Mean Streets, USA. But if the Enquirer's pot-puffing allegation is to be believed, Bush's own daughter is nevertheless safe and sound, actively protected by the U.S. Secret Service -- this in the Lone Star State, where conviction on possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana leads to a jail sentence of up to 180 days.
The White House dismisses the Enquirer report as not being worthy of comment. Noelia Rodriguez, press secretary to the first lady, said only this much on the record: "Our position on the daughters is that they're private citizens."
Fair enough, although that position doesn't shield others from being hassled over their activities as private citizens. As the drug war escalates, Uncle Sam's reach extends further. In 1998, Congress amended the Higher Education Act in an effort to exclude students with past drug convictions from receiving financial aid. According to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, some 8,600 college kids have lost some or all of their benefits during the current school year after revealing a drug conviction on their application form. Another 278,000 refused to answer the question; Congress is poised to tighten restrictions further to de-fund those students, too.
In other words, between drug busts and aid cuts, young people and pot is a big story. So why has there been utter silence -- a database search finds not a single reference to the Enquirer story in the two weeks since its publication -- on the Jenna Bush allegation?
Three explanations present themselves. First, reporters have found no evidence to corroborate the Enquirer's allegation. Fred Zipp, managing editor of the Austin American-Statesman, said in an interview, "From time to time we have pursued tips about the behavior of the Bush daughters" -- that is, Jenna and her twin sister, Barbara -- "but we didn't find anything newsworthy."
A second possibility, of course, is that the major media aren't much interested in marijuana-crime stories. Why not? Maybe because reporters, who may have had countercultural-pharmaceutical-type experiences in their own pasts, tend to empathize with marijuana dabbling. And so journos might not think that dope smoking is a crime worth getting revved up about. According to a Pew Center poll released this week, 38 percent of Americans admit they've experimented with marijuana. Extrapolated to the entire U.S. population, that's over 100 million experimenters. So maybe the media deserve credit for realizing that marijuana use is no big deal -- even when, allegedly, the "criminal" in question is a president's daughter.
A third possibility is that the non-tabloid pressies are simply afraid to follow the truth if they think it will lead them into trouble. Jane Hall, professor of journalism at the American University in Washington, observed in an interview, "It's not going to win reporters any points with the public to go after this story." But what about the law, which goes after plenty of pot users? Hall answered by noting the current split between popular culture and the legal culture: "The American public is forgiving; the penal system is not forgiving."
Needless to say, President Bush and the entire White House apparat would probably not feel forgiving toward the media entity that pursued a story about drug use in his family. That means no state dinner invitations for Enquirer editor Steve Coz. But it also might leave people wondering what revelations are being squelched by the reporters and editors who do show up at presidential fetes.
Who could blame Bush for feeling unforgiving and unfriendly toward those who would violate his family's privacy? But who could blame any other father for feeling similarly -- but perhaps unavailingly -- protective toward his own children as they are drug-busted?
This much is certain: The law is not nearly as forgiving to the nonwhite and the non-protected. According to the Sentencing Project, African-Americans account for 13 percent of the drug-using population, but a disproportionate 55 percent of those convicted of drug offenses.
Jenna Bush, of course, has been convicted of nothing. But the legal system her father now oversees looks increasingly guilty of discrimination against the weak and hypocrisy in favor of the strong.
And that should be a big story.
salon.com
About the writer - James P. Pinkerton is a columnist for Newsday and a contributor to the Fox News Channel. He worked as a domestic policy aide in the White House for President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.
Jenna Bush may be facing not only her father's wrath, but a jail sentence under a zero-tolerance law he signed.
By Alicia Montgomery
June 2, 2001 | WASHINGTON -- Jenna Bush appears to be in bigger trouble than was originally thought, and could potentially even face a short jail term. Her botched Tuesday night attempt to buy booze at Chuy's, a Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin, earned her a charge from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for misrepresenting her age in order to get liquor.
Barbara, Jenna's twin sister, ordered and was served a drink during the incident. She was charged with alcohol possession by a minor, and would be sentenced as a first-time offender if convicted.
But this wasn't Jenna's first time. She pleaded no contest to a charge of alcohol possession by a minor on May 16, making the Chuy's charge her second in less than a month. Now one Texas newspaper is reporting that this is the third time Jenna has run afoul of the law over alcohol, and could potentially put her in line for the slammer, thanks to the tough-on-booze policies her dad signed as governor.
The Houston Chronicle reported that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has a record of another alcohol-related incident involving Bush, dated Dec. 31, 1997. Since the incident occurred when Jenna was 16, the TABC would not reveal a full report on it, and according to the Chronicle, "commission officials would not say whether Jenna Bush's name appears for a citation, a warning or an administrative action." However, says D'Ann Johnson, executive director of the Texas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, it could be factored into the sentencing procedure if Bush is convicted in this most recent incident.
As governor, Bush signed "zero tolerance" into law in June of 1997, six months before his daughter's alleged first brush with the TABC, and the law went into force in September of that year. Under the provision, a third underage alcohol offense carries a possible 180-day jail sentence and a fine of between $250 and $2,000. For a second offense, there's a fine of up to $500, 20 to 40 hours of community service and a 60-day driver's license suspension, while first-time offenders faced the same fine, with eight to 12 hours of community service, a 30-day driver's license suspension and an alcohol education course. Before "zero tolerance," an underage drinker faced a $25 to $200 fine for any and all offenses, and that was it.
The state had a financial incentive to adopt the newer, tougher laws in 1997. Federal authorities were threatening to withhold $77 million in highway funds for the state unless Texas developed a stricter code for underage drunken drivers. Before zero tolerance, an under-21 driver could have up to a .07 blood alcohol level before being cited for a violation of law. That was tougher than the .10 level required for an adult to be charged, but it still let younger drivers get away with ignoring the state's legal drinking age of 21.
So Texas reacted in a big way. The new legislation made it possible for teen drivers to be arrested if they were found behind the wheel with only a trace of alcohol in their systems. Police weren't even required to give a blood-alcohol test before issuing a citation; an officer's word that a minor's breath smelled of alcohol was enough for a charge.
Despite the severity of the penalties and the thin requirements for evidence, the law passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and little noticeable protest. Bush signed the law after Texas state Sen. Royce West, a Democrat, shepherded the bill through the Legislature where it was unanimously approved by both houses.
Johnson said that, at the time, there was no upside for legislators to question or resist Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the primary advocates of get-tough-on-alcohol policies. "The criminal defense lawyers always tried to speak out on [those] issues," Johnson said, though they usually met deaf ears among lawmakers. "Legislators don't say 'I really want to know what criminal defense lawyers think.'"
Especially not in 1997, when the Texas Legislature was getting tough with young lawbreakers of all kinds. Along with the new drinking laws, Texas imposed stiff fines for minors found in possession of tobacco and made teens caught putting graffiti on buildings subject to jail time. But Johnson claims that Bush's crime-and-punishment agenda made it difficult for the most dogged activist to spend much energy on standing up for the juveniles affected by such laws.
"The voice of reason was a quiet whine," Johnson said. Those who wanted to fight to make the Texas criminal justice system more fair under Bush, she said, were much more focused on monitoring the relaxation of rules covering bail bondsmen and correcting the inequities of the death penalty system.
Because the civil libertarians were frying bigger fish in 1997, the president's daughter could be headed to jail after her next trip to court, if, say, that first incident listed by the TABC was an actual conviction of illegal possession. But Lou Bright, general counsel of the TABC, points out the listing of the 1997 incident "could mean any of 10,000 different things."
Under any circumstances, Bright said, a judge would have wide latitude in considering the juvenile TABC record of an underage drinker. From the sentence Bush received after pleading no contest to an alcohol possession citation in May, it seems to indicate that the 1997 incident either was not on the Texas justice system's radar screen, or did not merit any mention from the judge. At that time, Bush was required to pay a $51.25 fine, attend an alcohol education course and serve eight hours of community service, a sentence consistent with a first offense.
And the police on Tuesday also appeared willing to go easy on the first daughters. "[The cop] suggested that I turn the other cheek," Chuy's manager Mia Lawrence told the Austin American-Statesman. "I said I felt the police should do what they normally do."
But the most severe penalty may come this weekend, when the twins face their father at Camp David. At least Jenna could offer him a suggestion that would keep her on the right side of Texas law while still getting the occasional margarita: In Texas, it's legal for minors to drink in restaurants, as long as their parents are present and buy their drinks. And in her case, drinking with Daddy would also come with an added safety feature: Since he swore off the stuff years ago, she'd always have a designated driver.
salon.com
About the writer - Alicia Montgomery is an associate editor in Salon's Washington bureau.
What justice does Jenna Bush face under her dad's tough-minded Texas laws?
By Salon staff
May 31, 2001 Twin watch
Jenna Bush is in trouble again. According to local police, she and her twin sister, Barbara, tried to order drinks from Chuy's, an Austin, Texas, restaurant on Tuesday night. Jenna allegedly used someone else's official identification to get the booze. If charges are filed and convictions won, Barbara will be a first-time offender. But Jenna, having allegedly crossed the line on Texas' alcohol laws for the second time in as many months, will be in for a tougher road.
Does that mean the president will be visiting her in one of the prisons he so lovingly maintained during his time as governor? Probably not.
If the current police investigation leads to charges being filed against Bush, then she could be in for a serious slap on the wrist, according to David Ball, a captain in the enforcement division of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. A second alcohol-related offense by a minor carries a possible punishment of a 60-day suspension of his or her driver's license, 20 to 40 hours of community service and a fine of up to $500. And if the incident results in a conviction, Bush should just forget about expunging her record after she turns 21; that option is available only to one-time offenders.
The president demands severe punishment for drug and alcohol offenders -- unless they're members of the Bush clan.
By Joe Conason
June 05, 2001 07:51:00 PM
Knocking the wind out of a self-righteous windbag is always healthy fun, especially when the windbag happens to be an authority figure like the president of the United States. Sometimes, however, the impulse to deflate also injures innocent bystanders such as Jenna and Barbara Bush -- whose moralizing pappy must be mortified by their recent booze busts.
Unfortunately for the Bushes, their fellow citizens have a right to know that the first family will be held to the same rules imposed on the rest of us. The necessity for a single standard is greater still when those rules were imposed by the president himself.
Yet conservative commentators, in a sudden display of tender concern for victims of tabloid journalism, are urging reporters to stop picking on the Bush twins. They point out that almost all American kids start drinking before they reach legal age, that underage guzzling is usually a private problem for families to resolve, and that neither of the girls has harmed anyone else.
The pleas for mercy sound perfectly reasonable, even though several of the same pundits couldn't resist attacking Chelsea Clinton in the most cruel and boorish way. But except for a few lonely civil libertarians, almost nobody made those permissive arguments when George W. Bush (and a bipartisan majority of the Texas Legislature) enacted the "three strikes" penalties that could lead to Jenna Bush's imprisonment if she is arrested with alcohol once more.
In the situational ethics that now define conservatism, cracking down on kids who drink was a great national imperative, until that policy meant political trouble for a Republican in the White House.
No doubt the public humiliation of Jenna and Barbara Bush has been inevitable since 1997, when their father approved a set of Draconian revisions to the Texas laws governing consumption of alcohol by minors. Like most teenagers, they eventually were bound to run afoul of those statutes, which he had trumpeted as symbols of his own rectitude and his determination to crush youthful vice and criminality. Due to their high visibility, they were likely to be caught, too.
In fact, as reported in the Houston Chronicle, Jenna Bush's first alcohol offense occurred within six months after the then-governor signed the harsh new standards into law. (Were it not for a loophole that excludes her first offense because she was only 16 at the time, she would now be facing up to six months in jail as well as a $2,000 fine.) By the time he approved that bill, Bush had already fashioned a political career out of his propensity for cracking down, for "tough love" and for treating juvenile offenders with "zero tolerance." Those were the principal themes of his first campaign for governor, when much more was said about his opponent's history of substance abuse than about his own excessive drunkenness. During that 1994 race, he went so far as to cite his daughters as evidence of his fitness to punish other kids. "I've raised two children that respect discipline," he said proudly (and somewhat optimistically).
Within weeks after he signed the laws that now haunt his family, Bush triumphantly addressed a Midwestern GOP conference. "One of my main responsibilities as governor -- and I believe one of the responsibilities as Republicans -- is to set the tone for change," he remarked. "Whether that change involves schools, or the juvenile justice system, or whether that change involves solving the No. 1 problem facing America -- the culture of our time -- a culture that says if it feels good, do it, and if you have a problem, blame somebody else."
When he embarked on his campaign for the presidency, Bush continued to emphasize the nation's supposed moral decline while proclaiming a "new era of personal responsibility." As the long-concealed facts about his own past finally emerged, however, it became difficult not to wonder whether he assumed that his preachments are for ordinary citizens only, not members of the Bush clan. With his insistent avoidance of honest discussion about his own indulgences and indiscretions, including his drunk-driving arrest, he made that contradiction all too obvious.
Lying behind Bush's personal double standard are issues not only of abusive authority but of class and race. The imagery he exploited in his crusade against juvenile offenders always focused on black, Latino and white working-class youth, not the sons and daughters of the fancy Dallas and Houston suburbs. That nasty habit hasn't changed with his elevation to the White House. The latest penalty to be imposed on young people arrested for possession of marijuana -- permanent ineligibility for federal student loans -- is heavily class-biased. Young scholars with backgrounds similar to that of Bush girls, each of whom is the beneficiary of a half-million-dollar trust fund, don't need federal loans.
So for many Americans, the Bush booze bust represents a question of elementary fairness as well as an opportunity for a few laughs. It isn't that the president's daughters deserve to be mocked or humiliated. They don't. It is simply that they must be accorded the same tough treatment mandated by him toward other young people, whose chances and privileges are otherwise far smaller than theirs. The only insurance of such equal justice (or injustice) is appropriate media coverage of their illegal conduct and its consequences.
In short, on Father's Day they will have only one man to blame for their present predicament.
And speaking of Daddy Dubya, perhaps his daughters' distress will encourage him to reconsider his punitive attitude toward those who make the same mistakes he once did. Had he been subjected to such a strict and unforgiving code, after all, this paragon of sobriety would be in no position to inflict his hypocrisies on the rest of us today.
Joe Conason writes about political issues for Salon News and other publications. For more columns by Conason, visit his column archive.
Martin Sheen gets to play an idealized Clinton on NBC's "The West Wing." Now Timothy Bottoms will play current POTUS George W. Bush for Comedy Central. "That's My Bush!" the upcoming live action comedy created by "South Park" auteurs Trey Parker and Matt Stone, debuts on April 4 with Bottoms in the lead role.
"Bottoms is a great get," says Tony Fox, spokesman for Comedy Central. The actor costarred in director Peter Bogdanovich's classic film "The Last Picture Show" and the legal drama "The Paper Chase." He hasn't been on Hollywood's hot list much since the '70s, and his most recent credits include the 1999 release "The Prince and the Surfer." He also has a recurring role on ABC's medical drama "Gideon's Crossing."
The show has already had its share of controversy. When reports surfaced in January that Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, would be depicted as lesbian lovers in the program, Comedy Central was reportedly warned by corporate parent Viacom to back off. Though the Bush twins won't be part of the show after all, Fox said that the decision to drop them was a creative choice -- not a political one -- that Parker and Stone had made before any pressure was applied. "They had sort of moved off the girls in any event," Fox says.
-- Alicia Montgomery [12:15 p.m. PST, Feb. 13, 2001]
http://www.comedycentral.com
President Bush downplayed his own drinking problem and hid a DUI. Now his daughters are making news for underage drinking. Is there a connection?
By Joan Walsh
May 31, 2001 | I don't envy Jenna and Barbara Bush, going off to college under the watchful eye of the Secret Service and the international media. But the sudden flurry of headlines about the first twins' alcohol-related mishaps raises new questions about the way their father handled his own "young and irresponsible" past.
I always thought it was a bad decision for Bush, as a politician, to refuse to acknowledge his wild youth -- which, by his own account, lasted until he was 40. But now it seems it was a bad choice for Bush as a father. After his 1976 drunken-driving arrest was revealed last year, Bush said he didn't admit it when he decided to run for president because he didn't want his daughters to know about it. That was a mistake, and the twins' recent run of bad behavior seems designed to let him know that.
There's no evidence either twin has a drinking problem, but the string of news items involving their partying and scrapes with the law in the last few months can't be ignored. First came the tale of Secret Service agents ferrying home Jenna's boyfriend after he was arrested for public drunkenness. Then there were randy National Enquirer photos of Jenna, a University of Texas freshman, and a beer-drinking pal, and a story about her alleged marijuana use. Yale freshman Barbara, supposedly the studious twin, had a false I.D. confiscated at a New Haven, Conn., bar. In April, the Enquirer featured a lurid tale of Barbara's drunken spring-break binge in Mexico, and by the end of the month all major newspapers were carrying a story about Jenna being cited by police at an Austin bar for underage drinking, while Secret Service agents waited outside.
Now, barely a week after a court appearance to deal with that alcohol citation, Jenna has been caught again using a false I.D. to buy alcohol at an Austin restaurant, with sister Barbara at her side.
Of course, many of us would have provided lively tabloid fodder in college if we'd been subjected to the scrutiny Barbara and Jenna Bush must endure. And their college drinking doesn't mean they'll turn into alcoholics as adults. Most teenage party girls become responsible citizens, eventually. Still, their recklessness in the first months of their father's presidency suggests their parents screwed up by downplaying and even denying President Bush's own drinking problem.
Bush's he-man decision to quit drinking cold turkey is the stuff of legend. The morning after a boozy 40th birthday party in 1986, he woke up at Colorado's tony Broadmoor Resort and decided, on his own, to get sober. Alcohol had begun to "compete for my affections," Bush said later. Certainly he didn't need Alcoholics Anonymous, he told the Washington Post: "I don't think I was clinically an alcoholic; I didn't have the genuine addiction. I don't know why I drank. I liked to drink, I guess."
But his close friends tell a slightly different story: "Once he got started, he couldn't, didn't shut it off," Bush's buddy Don Evans, now commerce secretary, told the Washington Post last year. "He didn't have the discipline." That sounds a lot like an addiction, though only Bush himself knows for sure.
He refused to discuss details of his drinking or rumored drug use throughout his political campaigns, relying on the stock excuse, "When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible." His parents have also repeatedly denied he had a drinking problem, even after several family crises involving his drinking came to light: an ugly Christmas confrontation with his father in 1972, after Bush drove drunk with his brother Marvin, crashed into a neighbor's garbage cans and offered to fight "mano a mano" with his father; and the 1976 DUI incident near the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, with his then-teenage sister Dorothy in the car.
We know Bush's problem drinking, including the DUI, was a family secret. The night a reporter broke the DUI story, Laura Bush called both daughters, in Austin and New Haven, to break the news to them. "I made the decision that as a dad I didn't want my girls doing the kinds of things I did, and I told them not to drink and drive," Bush told reporters. But he didn't tell them about his own arrest.
The secrecy, of course, was a mistake. Anyone who works with alcoholics and their families knows honesty is crucial: The drinking parent needs to come clean about his or her problems, and kids need to understand the family dynamics that were established around the drinking. And as teenagers, they need to know that alcoholism is a disease -- whether because of psychology or physiology or some combination of the two -- that is remarkably hereditary, and think about their own drinking in that context.
"We know for a fact that [Jenna's] father had a long history of alcohol use and abuse," Lynn Ponton, a psychiatrist who studies teenage risk-taking, told Salon. "And this is an opportunity for the Bushes ... to talk honestly with their children about risk-taking and really provide guidance and increase communication. And I would wonder what type of communication is actually taking place."
I wonder, too. I'd bet there hasn't been enough communication in the WASP-y Texas Bush family, and it looks as if the first twins are acting out as a result. Even with a Secret Service detail, there are ways for young women to party, if they're discreet. Clearly, the first twins aren't. Their blatant risk-taking and public partying (the Secret Service waits outside the bars where they drink illegally?) seem designed to force a family reckoning that their father's drinking never triggered.
I'm reluctant to play family therapist for a family I've never met, but I'd say that Bush may have gotten past voters with evasiveness about his drinking problem, but he hasn't satisfied his daughters. And if he sticks to the sanitized, up-from-Broadmoor version of the story, he may someday find he won the White House at the cost of an honest relationship with his daughters.
An earlier version of this story appeared in Bushed! last month.
salon.com
About the writer - Joan Walsh is the editor of Salon News.
GOV JEB
Florida Governor Jeb Bush's son Jebbie arrested for "sexual misconduct", ie, nekkid and fucking in public--get a room!
[photo of police report]
Florida gov's other brat, George P. reported by police for violent home invasion of ex-girlfriend.
[photo of police report]
By Toby Harnden in Washington
(Filed: 30/01/2002)
PRESIDENT BUSH'S niece was arrested yesterday and charged with prescription fraud after she allegedly tried to obtain pharmaceutical drugs to feed her addiction.
Mug shot of Governor's daughter Noelle Bush arrested for forgery and narcotics
 |
Noelle Bush, 24, the only daughter of Jeb Bush, the Florida governor, is accused of trying to use a forged prescription for Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, at a drive-through chemist in Tallahassee.
Governor Bush said in a statement with his wife: "Columba and I are deeply saddened over an incident that occurred last night involving our daughter Noelle.
"This is a very serious problem. Unfortunately, substance abuse is an issue confronting many families across our nation."
He asked the media to "respect our family's privacy during this difficult time".
Miss Bush, the second of three children, graduated from Tallahassee Community College in 2000 and briefly attended Florida State University.
Her mother has worked on behalf of Informed Families of Florida, a non-profit group involved in educating families about drug abuse.
President Bush's 20-year-old twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, have both previously performed community service and been fined for underage drinking.
7 July 2001: Probation and fine for Bush daughter
31 May 2001: Bush twins accused of breaking drink law
29 April 2001: Bush's daughter in under-age drinks bust
Previous story: Lord Wakeham urged to resign
Next story: Tabloids buy up sex case pupils
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/stories/news.cfm?instanceid=8563
BUSH'S WIN: IT'S ALL IN HIS ROYAL BLOOD!
GEORGE W. BUSH reigns at the White House -- because he has more royal blood than Al Gore.
And because of his noble heritage, Burke's Peerage, the bible of British aristocracy, correctly predicted Bush's victory before Election Day.
"Governor Bush is related to more imperial royal and noble houses than any previous President," said Burke's Peerage publishing director Harold Brooks-Baker.
FAST FACT! - George W. Bush, his mother and father, and Al Gore are distant royal cousins.
"He's closely related to every European monarch on and off the throne, including a close kinship with all members of the British House of Windsor, making him a distant cousin of the Queen and Prince Charles."
Published on: December 28, 2000
Adultery: Like father - like son! (It's better than incest!)
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/stories/news.cfm?instanceid=5978
GEORGE W. BUSH SMEARED IN ADULTERY SCANDAL
A STUNNING PLAYBOY MODEL has unleashed the opening salvo in a vicious smear campaign against George W. Bush -- claiming she had a torrid 18-month affair with the presidential candidate that ended last June.
Political experts say her sordid tale is just the beginning of a dirty tricks campaign that will be aimed at the front-runner during his quest for the White House. And it raises the question of who put her up to trying to destroy Bush's campaign.
"He's going to be vulnerable all the way up to the election," Dr. Larry Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia, told The ENQUIRER.
"Dirty tricks will be a staple of the campaign."
Former Watergate conspirator and radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy agreed. "You look for a candidate's vulnerabilities -- and Gov. Bush has made statements like, 'I was young and foolish' that give credibility to a story of sexual promiscuity."
Already the Internet is awash with rumors about Bush's personal life, including allegations of womanizing.
However, the Republican contender is a genuine family man, say insiders. He married his wife Laura in November 1977, and in November 1981, she gave birth to twin girls, who were named for their grandmothers, Jenna and Barbara.
But with less than a year to go to the 2000 election, the first big sexual broadside has been fired at the Bush bandwagon by 35-year-old Tammy Phillips, a partner in a gym in Carrollton, Tex.
As an ENQUIRER team looked into her bombshell claims, we learned that Tammy is a former stripper, who began dancing in clubs when she was only 14. She claims she was introduced to Gov. Bush by her uncle, a prominent Republican, in early December 1997 during a political function at a hotel in Midland, Tex.
"I was wearing a tiny miniskirt -- and it was instant combustion," she told The ENQUIRER.
Tammy alleges that she and Gov. Bush made passionate love that very day before leaving the hotel.
FAST FACT! - George W. Bush and his wife Laura tied the knot after knowing each other only three months.
And her story becomes even more lurid.
The next day, she says, the Texas Governor called her on her cell phone and made a date for a few days later -- asking her to wear the same red panties she'd worn when they first met.
This time their rendezvous took place in the unlikely setting of the men's room at a Best Western motel in Houston, claims the torrid temptress. After it was over, she says, they went their separate ways -- with Gov. Bush allegedly taking her red panties with him.
Six other similarly clandestine liaisons took place before their final one in San Diego last June, asserts Tammy.
She stops short of claiming a great romance with the governor. "It was simply sex," she says. "It was the cheapest relationship you can imagine."
Tammy -- who posed for Playboy lingerie and swimsuit issues between 1989 and 1992 -- told The ENQUIRER she was holding the "smoking gun" proof of the relationship: a handwritten note from Gov. Bush in which he mentions the red panties.
The ENQUIRER repeatedly asked to see the so-called note -- but she couldn't produce it [she probably wanted to be paid a large amount of money to reveal it].
Tammy is armed with days, dates and locations where George W. in fact appeared | 
