You think Barbara Bush laughed about her son's reported cocaine conviction back
in the 70s?
Perhaps she showed up on Texas TV and tried to make a joke about it even though
Jr. refuses to answer questions about his use of cocaine.
Here's an excerpt from SALON
"As has been well documented, Gov. Bush refuses to discuss his
possible past drug use, but he is not shy in championing some of
the harshest drug laws in the country against kids who come from
neighborhoods like the Bottoms.
Under the previous Texas governor, Ann Richards, first-time offenders received
automatic probation with drug counseling; when he ran against her,
candidate Bush ridiculed this approach, calling it 'Penal Code Lite.'
Once he was in office, Bush signed a law ending such foolishness.
Now, recreational users, first time offenders and even those
caught with less than a gram face jail time: six months to two
years.
Cynthia Cline, a Houston criminal defense attorney who is often
appointed by the court to defend such cases, says most of her
clients are poor, minority, and will lose. At $130 a day, Cline
says, "you're not paid to prepare. The police will stop people of
color in certain neighborhoods for any reason you can think of,
like not wearing seat belts, routine traffic stops, not coming to a
complete stop at a stop sign. Then they search everyone and
everything."
"……Cline is angered by what she sees as Bush's hypocrisy on the drug issue.
"Ann Richards talked about overcoming her alcoholism. Why
can't he?
He could tell people about why they should get off drugs, not just throw away the key, but it looks like he's forgotten about rehabilitation."
(Actually, Bush does talk about rehab. "Incarceration is
rehabilitation," he has stated.)
Excerpt from. : The real Bush drug scandal
"Texas Gov. George W. Bush has presided over a crackdown on
first-time drug offenders from poor neighborhoods like Houston's
Third Ward Bottoms."
salon.com |
