Really?
LOLOL
WASHINGTON - August 11 - Today, Democracy Now! played an interview that had never before been broadcast. It involves allegations of President Bush, drugs, obstruction of justice and corporate scandal. It raises questions about why Bush's driver license number was changed. And it involves a man who died of an alleged suicide.
This is how the story goes: Four years ago St. Martins Press published a book by author James H. Hatfield called' Fortunate Son'. It is about the life of George W. Bush.
The book examines Bush's past from his engineering the seizure of other people's property for use by his Texas Rangers baseball team, to the millions he made in dubious insider stock swaps, to his connections to the BCCI scandal.
Hatfield also makes another charge. He says Bush was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession. Why wasn't the future President charged? Hatfield writes that Bush's father used his political connections to have his son¹s record expunged.
Soon after publication of Fortunate Son, Hatfield's credibility came under fierce attack. The Dallas Morning News happened to suddenly receive information about Hatfield¹s criminal past. He had been convicted in 1988 for hiring a hit-man in a failed attempt to kill his boss and had served five years in prison.
The media jumped all over it and Hatfield's reputation and credibility were ruined.
St. Martins Press promised to turn Fortunate Son into 'furnace fodder.' It withdrew 70,000 copies from bookshelves and destroyed them. But a small publisher Soft Skull Press reprinted the book with the banner 'The Book They Burned is Back.'
Hatfield had previously refused to reveal the source of his information about Bush's alleged cocaine arrest. He now to decided to name him. He claimed it was none other than Karl Rove, Bush's closest political adviser.
If Karl Rove did indeed leak the information, he couldn¹t have leaked it to a better subject. Soon after publication of the book, Hatfield¹s credibility came under fierce attack.
The media followed the trail laid out for them. They diverted inquiries about Bush's drug history to stories about Hatfield¹s checkered past. He lost two other book contracts and faced financial ruin and obscurity.
The character assassination finally took its toll. In July 2001, Hatfield was found dead of an apparent suicide in a hotel room in Springdale, Arkansas. He was 43 years old. Police said he left notes for his family and friends that listed alcohol, financial problems and Fortunate Son as reasons for killing himself. He is survived by a wife and daughter.
Special thanks to Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky who made the documentary film "Horns and Halos" about J.H. Hatfield and Soft Skull Press publisher Sander Hicks. They filmed the Democracy Now! interview we premiered today.
* J.H. Hatfield, interview conducted in late 2000. He is the author of 'Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and The Making of An American President'. In his book he charges that Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972.
The interview was conducted in the winter of 2000 before George W. Bush was elected President and before the Sept. 11 attacks. The writer spent a year investigating Bush. His credibility was challenged because he had been convicted in 1988 for hiring a hit-man in a failed attempt to kill his boss and had served five years in prison. Hatfield died of an alleged suicide July 2001.
* Toby Rodgers, wrote the introduction to the Soft Skull edition of 'Fortunate Son: George W. Bush and The Making of An American President'.
To listen to or watch the interview visit the Democracy Now! Website
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