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More ugly rumors...........
February 17, 2004
Helen Thomas: "I think they are getting pretty nervous about this."
This from the Washingtonian via Talking points Memo. White House doyenne Helen Thomas could be on to something. In the early "gaggle session" (the more contentious White House press briefing which is not televised like the session later in the day, and where things can get rough), Thomas "had gotten a tip that Bush might have been absent from duty in Alabama because he was performing "Court-Ordered" community service in Texas in 1972. She asked McClellan if that was accurate."
At which point, McClellan got his shorts all up in a bunch and denounced Thomas' question as "trash." This did not sit well with many of the reporters present. One "veteran" journalist remarked, "Scott is trashing reporters for asking questions. He’s dissipating the goodwill he had for not being Ari Fleischer. He’s proving to be as testy and disdainful as Ari."
Thomas herself saw red flags in McClellan's response. "I think they are getting pretty nervous about this. I’ve learned over the years that when you put out records, it often leads to more questions."
The matter Thomas asked about is, in fact, not new. People have known about it for many years. In 1972, Bush did community service for Project P.U.L.L., an inner city Houston program for troubled minority youths. It has always aroused suspicion, because it is so out of character for Bush at the time--an alcoholic, possibly substance-abusing young man, a party-goer, frat boy, draft-dodger--and suddenly, out of nowhere, he starts doing community service? For no reason? The same kind of service many people are told they must do to avoid a harsher sentence from a court? Hardly proof of anything, but it does make one a bit suspicious.
In the book "Fortunate Son," J. H. Hatfield recounts that Bush was arrested for cocaine use, and in a backroom deal engineered by his father, then Congressman Bush, George Jr. got community service and his record was expunged. Hatfield claims he has three very reliable sources, including "a high-ranking advisor," for this story, but there is no hard evidence and, as far as I know, the sources are not identified (though I have not read the book). Hatfield also claimed he spoke to McClellan on the phone, and asked Project P.U.L.L. was "court-ordered community service." McClellan's reportedly spoke a "sudden, almost inaudible 'Oh shit.' followed by a, 'No comment.'" Take that for what you will--again, undocumented.
But there are conflicting stories about this. Another version of events is told by Bill Minutaglio, Dallas Morning News reporter and author of "First Son: George W. Bush and the Family Dynasty." Minutaglio claims that Bush's father made him go into the P.U.L.L. program after he caught George Jr. driving drunk with his younger brother Marvin in the car. From a Salon web page:
Bush apparently reached his nadir around Christmas 1972. Home for the holidays, worrying his parents by working too little and partying too much, he got carried away at a party with his 15-year-old brother Marvin, and drove the boy home drunk, smashing into a neighbor's garbage cans and infuriating his parents. His father asked to see him in the den, and a drunk George W. burst in: "I hear you're looking for me. You wanna go mano a mano right here?"
Then there is the mysterious business with the driver's license. When Bush became Governor of Texas in 1994, he had his old driver's license changed into a new one, with the ID #000000005. His license was not near expiration, and the stated reason for the change--"security"--made no sense. The change, however, would have destroyed the records of his previous license, which would include any court decisions that may have gotten him placed in the community service program.
So when Helen Thomas, about as far as you can get from a trash journalist, starts asking the question due to tips from her own sources, and the White House press secretary starts biting her head off.... Well, maybe there's nothing there. But it is something to look out for. |
