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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: truedog who wrote (3403)	8/19/1999 1:50:00 PM
From: mark silvers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

TD, No one cares if Mark Silvers get red in the face when hounded by the press. I am not running for office. I am not running for the highest and most powerful office on the planet. GWB is, and he is held to a different standard for that reason. I think certain things should be private. I don't think drug use is one of them, and I never thought that sleeping with your assistants was one either. I am a liberal, but I was of the opinion that BC should have resigned. If GWB used drugs, he should admit it and move on. I would forgive him, but many others wouldn't(as Michelle pointed out) either way, he should come clean. I still think the much bigger problem will be funeralgate, if it turns out the allegations are true. Mark

To: truedog who wrote (3403)	8/19/1999 2:23:00 PM
From: Jon Stept	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Truedog, re:double standard... Hi Truedog, I think George Bush has all the right in the world to get angry, as you said anyone would. However, politicians are by nature trained to handle these situations "professionally" and his recent display of irritation might be an indicator of his professional maturity more than anything else. And again you are correct in saying that a public person's private life is their business only... not the publics. In principle it is nice, however in fact it will never happen as an always hungry media will always look for a story... and the private life stories will usually be the ones that point out hypocrisy and double-standards around issues that we as a country cannot agree on. That is why the stories are hot. For Clinton's private life, the issue at first was abusing the power of his office, as Governor and President. We as a country can not decide on how to interpret this power in a sexual dialogue. This issue exploded into a bunch of others like the limits of privacy, and honesty. For Bush's private life, the issue at first is going to be if he used drugs. We as a country cannot come to terms about drugs. Lots of people are in prison who have used drugs, and a lot of people use them... a lot of drugs are legal. This issue will again catch other issues, and the big one for George is going to be hypocrisy as he has promoted an anti-drug campaign in Texas (I think...) and sent many, many people to prison for using drugs (I think...). Do you believe he did not use drugs when he was younger? I don't. I think if he did not use drugs when he was younger he would have said as much. So now he is immersed in the issue of honesty as well. It is like a game that the press and the politicians use to scurry around issues, election after election, because the country is too divided to have a cohesive national debate about things like sexism, racism, classism and power. It is really a shame because I sense something much more dramatic is going to have to shake us up before the dialogue can get beyond this "media bait politician then discuss the issue" stuff. It also makes me think of that phrase, "divide and conquer". We are here arguing with each other while they take the money... all of it engineered by them... pretty clever... It works, and they know it. Just my opinion. Jon :)