Book excerpt on *'s cocaine use and hypocrisy: Kitty Kelley via 'Hardball'

[AirAmFan]

From http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5989684/

"'If you're asking me if I've done drugs in the last seven years ... the answer is no.' The next day's headline: 'Governor Says He Hasn't Done Drugs in Seven Years-- This prompted David Bloom of NBC to ask Bush if he had ever used drugs as a pilot in the National Guard. 'Were you ever high when you were flying the fighter jet?'-- The Bush team expected Bloom's question to explode the never confirmed rumors that George had been grounded by the Guard in 1972 because he had cocaine in his system and knew he would be unable to pass his required physical. Bloom did not get a satisfactory answer to his question and was not permitted to follow up. ...

The rumor float he referred to concerned an alleged narcotics arrest in 1972, which supposedly prompted his father to persuade a Texas judge to accept a deal whereby George would perform a certain amount of community service in exchange for getting his record expunged. Although this rumor has never been confirmed, George W. Bush did, in fact, participate in a community-service program right around that time, just before he entered Harvard Business School. The official story is that it was W's drinking and driving incident involving his underage brother Marvin that led to their stint of community service. They maintain that this community service "at PULL" was strictly voluntary (or at least dictated by nothing more than parental discipline).

As governor and presidential candidate, George denied he had ever been arrested for dealing drugs; no one ever produced proof of such an arrest, and his father vehemently denied ever trying to obstruct justice on his son's behalf. ... As governor of Texas, George took a hard line on drugs. He supported and signed legislation increasing penalties for drug possession in the state. He also signed legislation mandating jail time for people caught with less than a single gram of cocaine. Yet as Sharon Bushâ s claims show, he could have been subject to jail time himself had he been caught doing coke -- with his brother Marvin and a friend at Camp David during his father's presidency."