From Sea Otter's URL:
Convicted of Drunk Driving, and Lied to Cover It Up
George Bush now admits that he was convicted of drunk driving. On September 4, 1976, a state trooper saw Bush's car
swerve onto the shoulder, then back onto the road. [The Bush camp spin that he was driving too slowly is simply a lie.] Bush
failed a road sobriety test and blew a .10 blood alcohol, plead guilty, and was fined and had his driver's license suspended. His
spokesman says that he had drunk "several beers" at a local bar before the arrest. Bush was 30 at the time. He now says that
he stopped drinking when he turned 40 because it was a problem.
More troubling, Bush lied in denying such an arrest, and still won't take responsibility for his actions. His first reaction was to
blame Democrats and Fox News -- the only openly conservative TV network -- for reporting the story. "Why [was this
reported] now, four days before the election? I've got my suspicions." He refused to say what his suspicions are, though. Bush
admits covering up the story, but seems to think he has no responsibility for the failure of his cover up.
In fact, just like Clinton with Monica Lewinsky, Bush has brazenly and repeatedly lied to cover up and minimize this arrest.
1. Bush Lied at his Press Conference, 11/3/2000
Bush said he paid a fine on the spot and never went to court. That is clearly a lie, as you can see on this court document
showing his court hearing a month later. In fact, it was a man also in court for DUI the same day who revealed Bush' arrest.
Here is exactly what Bush said in his press conference:
Bush: "I told the guy I had been drinking and what do I need to do? And he said, "Here's the fine." I paid the fine and did my
duty...."
Reporter: "Governor, was there any legal proceeding of any kind? Or did you just -- "
Bush: "No. I pled -- you know, I said I was wrong and I ..." Reporter: "In court? "
Bush: No, there was no court. I went to the police station. I said, "I'm wrong."
2. Bush Lied in Court, 1978
Bush got a court hearing to get his driving suspension lifted early, even though he had not completed a required driver
rehabilitation course. He told the hearings officer that he drank only once a month, and just had "an occasional beer." The
officer granted his request. But Bush continued drinking for 8 years after that date and has said publicly that he drank too much
and had a drinking problem during that time. Presumably Bush was under oath during the hearing, though we haven't been able
to pin down that detail. The Bush campaign refuses to comment on this contradiction.
3. Bush Lied To "The Dallas Morning News", 1998
"Just after the governor's reelection in 1998, [Dallas Morning News reporter Wayne] Slater pressed Bush about whether he
had ever been arrested. 'He said, 'After 1968? No.'" Dallas Morning News, 11/03/2000 [Before 1968, Bush was arrested for
theft and vandalism in college.]
4. Bush Lied On 'Meet The Press', 11/21/99
Tim Russert: "If someone came to you and said, 'Governor, I'm sorry, I'm going to go public with some information.' What
do you do?"
Bush: "If someone was willing to go public with information that was damaging, you'd have heard about it by now. You've had
heard about it now. My background has been scrutinized by all kinds of reporters. Tim, we can talk about this all morning."
5. Bush Lied to CBS, 1999.
"Bush has often acknowledged past mistakes, but CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan reports that in a 1999 interview with
CBS station WBZ in Boston, he denied there was any so-called smoking gun." CBS TV news
Bush also evaded countless questions and gave Clintonesque half-truths. For example, while struggling with how to answer
charges of drug abuse, he said that he would have been able to pass FBI background checks during his father's administration.
But those checks include the question "Have you ever been arrested for any crime?" So either he was directly lying, or he has
some Slick explanation like "I could have explained the circumstances of the arrest and still passed the FBI check."
In another evasion, Bush decided to serve jury duty in 1996, during his first year as governor. On his questionairre, he simply
left blank the questions about prior arrests and trials. Then he found himself on a trial for drunk driving, where every juror is
eventually asked about prior convictions for drunk driving. The night before the trial, Bush's lawyer asked the defense attorney
to dismiss him, because "it would be improper for a governor to sit on a criminal case in which he could later be asked to grant
clemency." It's a silly argument, because that problem exists with any criminal trial and Bush had already decided to serve on a
jury, but the defense attorney obliged and excused him before direct questioning of jurors began.
Bush now justifies covering up his arrest "to be a good role model for his daughters." How does he figure that? Lying to cover
up your crimes is not what I call being a good role model. Taking responsibility for your actions, admitting fault honestly and
warning people of the consequences you suffered, THAT would be a good example. But Bush prefers the Clinton route of
bald-faced lying, then blaming your enemies and the press when you get caught.
Bush is now the first person to be elected president after being convicted of a crime.
Bush had several other drunken incidents, as well. In December, 1972, Bush challenged his dad (the ex-president) to a fist
fight, during an argument about Bush's drunk driving. He had taken his little brother out drinking, and ran over a neighbor's
garbage cans on the way home. Bush's atypical public service job, working with inner city Houston kids, appears to have been
an unofficial community service stint set up by Bush, Sr. Apparently the governor didn't learn his lesson, because his drunk
driving conviction occured almost four years later.
In another incident, he started screaming obscenities at a Wall Street Journal reporter, just because that reporter predicted that
Bush's father would not be the 1988 Republican nominee. The reporter obviously was wrong, but a drunken Bush Jr. walked
up to him at a restaurant and started yelling "You fucking son of a bitch. I won't forget what you said and you're going to pay a
price for it."
In fact, Bush' running mate Dick Cheney now admits he had two drunk driving offenses in 1962 and 1963, giving the Bush --
Cheney ticket a new world record of 3 DUI's on one ticket. No wonder they seem so relaxed.
The conviction is bad enough, but the real question is, what other revelations are going to come later, about his drug use (which
he won't deny), failing to show up for a year of his National Guard service, or sexual escapades in his swinging single days?
There is evidence that Bush has more to hide involving his Texas driving record. Soon after he became governor, he had a new
driver's license issued with the unusual ID number of "000000005", an action that destroyed the records of his previous license.
His staff could only say, weakly, that this was done for "security reasons" but there is no record of any previous Texas governor
having done so. Now we have at least of hint of why Bush wanted his records obscured, and a dark foreboding that more
might be lurking, still covered up.
Drunk Driving Sources
His Character: The Prodigal Son
George W. Bush, Jr. is touted as the savior of the Republican Party by the national press, because he pulls votes from minority
voters and has his dad's name and fundraising connections to run on. But before we anoint him as the next president, let's look
at what he's done with his life. In a nutshell, Junior
1) grew up as a very rich child of powerful parents,
2) partied from high school until he was 40,
3) made millions off of sweet insider business deals from political allies of his dad, who happened to be the President,
and 4) got elected governor of Texas mostly because of his name.
Bush Junior has done some good work as governor of Texas. He has crossed the partisan divide, reached out to minorities,
and tackled at least one tough, thankless issue (school financing; his plan was voted down in the legislature.)
But 4 years -- even 4 good ones -- is a pretty short resume for the leader of the free world. No one doubts Bill Clinton's ability
to handle punishment and come back for more. But Bush Junior's stamina and attention span are very real concerns.
Furthermore, Bush's term as governor has also been markedly corrupt, although possibly in legal ways. What we mean is, he
has taken millions in campaign contributions from certain big businessmen -- many of whom were in on the insider business
deals that made him rich -- and those same businessman have received billions in sweet deals from the Texas state government
during Bush's term.
Specifics: Like Al Gore, Bush Jr. attended Eastern elitist schools, in this case Andover Prep, and Yale. According to a
Newsweek profile, he "went to Yale but seems to have majored in drinking at the Deke House." He joined the secretive "Skull
and Bones" club in 1968, as any good conspiracy buff can tell you.
His business career was marked by mediocrity or failure which nonetheless resulted in him getting lots of money from his
father's political allies. And his political career has been handed to him on a platter by his famous name, and by his dad's
cronies.
Bill Kristol, conservative pundit and Dan Quayle's former chief of staff, says "The Bush network is the only genuine network in
the Republican Party. It is the establishment." Junior and Jeb Bush (elected in Florida in 1998) are the first brothers to be
simultaneous governors since the Rockefellers.
To give you an idea of how rarefied his upbringing was, George Junior had an argument with his mom at one point about
whether non-Christians could go to Heaven. (Barbara Bush felt they could; George didn't.) To settle the dispute, they phoned
up Billy Graham on the spot. (He sided with Junior, but warned him not to play God.).)
More recently, Bush's performance during the 2000 South Carolina primary shows that he received the worst trait common to
the famous Bush family -- a vicious competitiveness that shows no compunction about dirty tricks (such as the phone calls by
his surrogates calling McCain, of all people, "the fag candidate") and utterly shameless flipflops (like Bush Sr.'s "read my lips,
no new taxes", and Junior's very public refusal to meet with the gay Log Cabin Republicans group until right before the
California primary, when he claimed he was fine with them all along. Not to mention him suddenly becoming "a reformer" after
he got shellacked in the New Hampshire primary.)
Not only does this trait demonstrate a lack of integrity -- which I define as having standards and things you believe in that you
won't violate, even to win the presidency -- but there is an incredible arrogance in thinking that voters will accept and believe a
candidate who blatantly changes his positions from week to week, saying whatever the local primary voters want to hear.
Unfortunately, Bush Jr. has inherited this negative family trait without receiving any of the graciousness, diligence, and bravery of
his father and grandfather (a Senator who lost his seat over a principled vote in favor of birth control, back in the 1940s.)
Thin skinned: Bush tries to stifle his critics
One of the most disturbing things about Bush is that he consistently works to silence his critics using his money and power,
including state police and expensive lawyers. Not since Richard Nixon has a major presidential candidate been so quick to
prevent his opponents from free speech. At the very least, this shows he doesn't understand big-league politics and may not be
tough enough to handle more serious opponents, such as hostile foreign countries and terrorists. At worst, it may be a sign of
Nixon-like paranoia; that president's thin-skin started out with similar small potatos and grew to bring down his presidency
amid enemies' lists, illegal break-ins of his opponent's offices, and forcing the IRS to audit his enemies.
Bush can't blame this on his staff, either; it comes from the top. When asked about one critical web site, he told the press
"There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of this site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that's all he is."
As governor of Texas, for example, Bush Junior has sent the state police to arrest peaceful demonstrators outside the
governors mansion. While previous governors allowed peaceful pickets on the public sidewalk outside the mansion, Bush has
claimed that they are blocking public access, and had them arrested. Not all protestors, either -- just the ones he doesn't want
the press to see.
In the 2000 primaries, Bush supporters including NY Governor Pataki sued to keep John McCain and Steve Forbes off the
New York primary ballot in several congressional districts. Bush denied any involvement, fooling no one, but after McCain's
decisive New Hampshire victory made the move look ridiculous, Bush and his top strategist Karl Rove called up his
establishment minions, after which they instantly announced that they were stopping their efforts to keep McCain off the ballot.
Ironically, all of the attention to ballot rules revealed that a number of Bush delegates and alternates used fraudulent signatures
to qualify for the ballot. As a result, it appears that McCain and Forbes will be on the ballot statewise, but George Bush Jr.
won't be in one Bronx congressional district.
Bush also can't stand criticism on the Internet. His campaign quietly -- and probably illegally -- bought up over 200 anti-Bush
domain names including "bushsucks.com", "bushbites.com", and "bushblows.com" over a year ago. (Illegally because he had
refused to register as a candidate, as part of his effort to make it look like people were begging him to run, so spending money
for his campaign was not allowed.) If you type in any of these URLs, you end up at Bush's official web site. His campaign
refuses to say whether this means that they admit that he bites, blows and sucks. (Maybe he used to be a White House intern?)
If you wanted to set up one of those sites, breathe easy because many good names are still available. The Bush camp somehow
neglected to purchase "bushisaprick.com", "bushisweak.com", or "bushsucksdonkeydicks.com", so $70 makes them yours.
Even worse, Bush and his high-priced lawyers have tried twice to shut down a web site -- www.gwbush.com -- that parodies
the Bush campaign, in particular his "no comment" answers on drug use in his past. You will recall that Bush has said it doesn't
matter what he did "in his youth," because the question is "have you grown up" and "have you learned from your mistakes." The
parody site presents a new program called "Amnesty 2000", in which Bush "proposes" pardoning all drug convicts who have
"grown up."
The Bush campaign filed one complaint about the site in April 1999, after which the parody site's owners changed it to look
less like the real Bush site. That wasn't good enough though, and Bush lawyers filed against the site again in May 1999. So far,
it remains in business. Sources
Lying Under Oath. Bush & Co. Squelch Investigation of Contributor's Funeral Homes
In a (so far successful) attempt to stop a scandal, Bush perjured himself under oath, according to the sworn testimony of two of
his political allies. The situation is amazingly similar to Clinton's Lewinsky problem: a potentially damaging lawuit arose (see
below) that threatened to involve him. Just like Clinton, Bush swore an affidavit that he had no involvement in the case, which
got him excused from testifying. And just like Clinton, the affidavit was proven false months later by new evidence. In this case,
it's the recent sworn testimony of Robert MacNeil, a Bush appointee, that he had discussed the case with Bush at a fundraiser.
This scandal isn't as sexy as Monica's, but perjury is perjury, and this scandal actually involves the governor's job, not his sex
life. Texas' state commission on funeral homes (the TFSC) started an investigation of SCI, the world's largest funeral home
company (with 3,442 homes, plus 433 cemeteries) after complaints that unlicensed apprenctices were embalming corpses at 2
SCI embalming centers. The commission visited a couple of these, and ended up fining SCI $450,000.
But SCI pulled strings with the commission and with Bush himself. Shortly thereafter, the investigation was shut down and the
agency's investigator was fired. She sought to question Bush for her lawsuit, and that's when he swore his admittedly false
affidavit. In fact, that affidavit has been proven false twice now.
DETAILS: SCI has long cultivated Bush and his allies. They gave governor Bush $35,000 in the last election and $10K in
1994, gave $100,000 to the George Bush, Sr. library, and hired the ex-president to give a speech last year for $70,000. They
also spread money around the Texas legislature and the Texas Attorney General's office.
After the investigation got serious, SCI's boss, Robert Waltrip, called the funeral commission's chairman and told him to "back
off." If not, Waltrip said, "I'm going to take this to the governor."
Still, the investigation continued. So Waltrip and his lawyer/lobbyist, Johnnie B. Rogers, went to the governor's office and
dropped off a letter demanding a halt to the investigation. Rogers told Newsweek that he and Waltrip were ushered in to see
Joe Allbaugh, Bush's chief of staff (who is now Bush's campaign manager.) Rogers goes on to say that Bush Jr. popped his
head in and said to Waltrip, "Hey, Bobby, are those people still messing with you?" Waltrip said yeah. Then the governor
turned to Rogers and said, "Hey, Johnnie B. Are you taking care of him?" Rogers said "I'm doing my best, Governor."
The problem for Bush is that he swore under oath, in a July 20th 1999 affidavit, that he "had no conversations with [SCI]
officials, agents, or represenatives concerning the investigation or any dispute arising from it." If Rogers is telling the truth, than
Bush Jr. lied directly under oath. He filed the affidavit in an attempt to avoid testifying in a whistleblower lawsuit concerning this
investigation and it's alleged squashing by Bush's administration.
Back in August of 1999, Bush himself admitted that he spoke with Waltrip and Rogers -- in other words, that he lied under
oath -- but used Clintonesque denials to claim that it was nothing substantial. Bush told the Associated Press that "It's a
20-second conversation. I had no substantive conversation with the guy. Twenty seconds. That's hardly enough time to even
say hello, much less sit down and have a substantive discussion. All I know is it lasted no time. And that hardly constitutes a
serious discussion. I did not have any knowledge at all of Waltrip's problem with this case."
Of course, nothing Bush says here contradicts what Rogers said. In fact, his careful explanation of why this is not perjury is
incredibly similar to Bill Clinton's weaseling about what the meaning of "is" is. And now MacNeil's sworn statement further
confirms Bush's lie.
Whatever Bush said out loud, Waltrip's complaints to the governor got quick results. Eliza May -- the investigator for the
funeral services commission -- says that after Waltrip visited the governor, she received phone calls from three senior Bush
aides asking if she could wrap up her proble quickly. She says she was also summoned to another meeting in Allbaugh's office,
one month after the first one, and found Waltrip already there. The governor's top aide, she says, demanded that she turn over
a list of all of the documents that she needed "to close the SCI investigation."
Since then, investigator Eliza May has been fired, 6 or 10 staff members on the commission have been fired or resigned and not
been replaced, and the Texas legislature -- led by members receiving substantial contributions from SCI -- passed a bill to
reorganize the agency and remove it's head. On August 16, 199, Bush ordered his Comptroller to take over the agency and run
it. May -- who, it should be noted, is a Democrat and was even state Democratic Treasurer at one point -- has filed a
whistleblower lawsuit alleging she was fired because she persisted with the investigation.
Bush simply didn't show up for his scheduled deposition on July 1st, 1999 in the case. (He isn't a defendant in the case,
because Governors are immune from lawsuits in Texas, but is being called as a material witness.) He filed his affidavit on July
20th to indicate that he had nothing to add.
Now Robert MacNeil -- who was the chairman of the Texas funeral commission at the time, a Bush appointee -- confirms that
he also discussed the case with Bush, at a 1998 Texas fundraiser. In a sworn deposition, MacNeil says that Bush asked him:
"Have you and Mr. Waltrip got your problems worked out?" Replied McNeil: "We’re still trying to work on that, governor."
Bush then said, "Do your job." Bush's campaign says that MacNeil's statement is false. But the language MacNeil says Bush
used is almost identical to what he admits saying to Johnnie Rodgers in the governor's office. Sources
Corruption in Texas Government; State $ to Big Contributors
Bush's administration has consistenly shoveled large amounts of state controlled money to men who have either contributed
large amounts to Bush's campaign, or who have made Junior personally rich through sweet insider business deals, or both.
For example, the University of Texas' Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) invests $1.7 billion of state money. Most
of this comes from profits from oil discovered on Texas state land. Bush's cronies dominate this board, and in return investment
funds controlled by these very cronies or their friends have received nearly a third -- $457 million -- of that massive investment
pool. There may even be more, but this obscure group -- created under Bush -- cloaks its operations in a thick veil of secrecy.
UTIMCO's chairman, Tom Hicks, now owns the Texas Rangers; his purchase of the team made Governor Bush a very rich
man. Furthermore, Hicks and his brother gave $146,000 to the Bush campaign. In return, $252 million of the invested money
went to funds run by Hicks' business associates or friends, according to the Houston Chronicle. Hicks even insisted that
UTIMCO increase by $10 million an investment with a fund that he had an indirect financial interest in, but UTIMCO staff
halted funding after they discovered the conflict.
Then there's Sam and Charles Wyly, the billionaire brothers who secretly bought $2.5 million of "independent" TV ads
slamming McCain just before the critical Super Tuesday primaries. (They have also given hundreds of thousands of dollars to
Bush Jr.'s governor and presidential campaigns.) They control Maverick Capital, an investment fund that received $90 million
of UTIMCO money. The brothers earn nearly $1 million in fees alone from that money, along with a share of any profits.
Henry Kravis of Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts -- a longtime Bush contributor -- received a $50 million investment deal in 1996.
And there are many more Bush supporters who have received millions from UTIMCO, including the Bass family and Adele
Hall of the Hallmark Cards family.
Another key player in the Bush world is Richard Rainwater, the billionaire Texas investor who made Bush Jr.'s original
involvement in the Texas Rangers deal possible. That's the deal that made Jr. rich, of course. Bush had several other personal
investments in Rainwater controlled companies. But Rainwater has received much from Bush and the state of Texas' treasury,
too. UTIMCO invested at least $20 million in Rainwater companies.
And UTIMCO is not the only Bush administration agency funneling money and favors to his supporters and cronies. T he state
teacher retirement fund sold three office buildings to Rainwater's real estate company at bargain prices, and without bids in 2 of
the cases. The fund invested $90 million in the Frost Bank Plaza in Austin, and sold it to Rainwater's Crescent Real Estate for
$35 million. Bush signed a law that will give his former baseball team co-owners -- including Rainwater -- a $10 million bonus
payment when a new Dallas arena is built. Bush also proposed a cap on business real estate taxes that would have saved
Rainwater millions on his various properties (but it lost in the legislature).
In another example, Bush's state Housing department has been investigated for kickbacks, and Florita Bell Griffin, who Bush
appointed to the state Housing Board, was just convicted of bribery, theft, money-laundering and mail fraud for trading her
influence for cash. She faces 55 years in prison. And Larry Paul Manley, Bush's director of the Department of Housing until he
resigned in January 1999, is under police investigation for steering federal tax credits to cronies. Texas' top auditor discovered
in 1997 that 60% of department contracts went to Manley's former colleagues at local savings and loans, but refused to make
the findings public until long after the criminal probes began.
Bush may or may not have violated state ethics laws with all of this big money backscratching, but there is no doubt that he and
these businessman are operating corruptly -- funneling large amounts of state money to the businessmen's companies, and large
amounts of their personal and business money into George Bush Jr.'s pocket and political campaigns.
Sources
Avoided the Vietnam War
Most people have heard something about George W. Bush pulling strings to get into the Texas Air Guard. But the press, while
reporting lots of details, has done a poor job of communicating how consistently and shamelessly Bush Jr. sought and received
favorable treatment while he avoided Vietnam.
Furthermore, his story has repeatedly changed -- he has weaseled like Clinton at his worst and even flat-out lied when
explaining what happened.
To put it in perspective, here are 9 ways Bush got favored treatment in the service due to his political connections (he was then
son of a Congressman and grandson of a former Senator):
1) He got into the Guard by pulling strings, avoiding the year and a half waiting list;
2) He took a 2-month vacation in Florida after just 8 weeks, (1 of 3 leaves), to work on a political campaign;
3) Bush skipped Officer Candidate School and got a special commission as a 2nd Lieutenant, without qualifications;
4) He was assigned to a safe plane (being phased out of active service), the F-102 ;
5) During flight school, he was flown on a government jet to Washington for a date with President Nixon's daughter Tricia ;
6) Bush got an illegal transfer (later overruled) to a base with no work;
7) He simply didn't show up for a YEAR, with no penalty;
8) George W. skipped all his medical exams after they started drug tests, and was removed from flight status;
9) He ended his service 10 months early to go to Harvard Business School;
Here are the details:
1. Pulled Strings to Get In.
On May 27, 1968, George Bush Jr. was 12 days away from losing his student draft deferment, at a time when 350 Americans
a week were dying in combat. The National Guard, seen by many as the most respectable way to avoid Vietnam, had a huge
waiting list -- a year and a half in Texas, over 100,000 men nationwide. Yet Bush and his family friends pulled strings, and the
young man was admitted the same day he applied, regardless of any waiting list.
Bush's unit commander, Col. "Buck" Staudt, was so excited about his VIP recruit that he staged a special ceremony for the
press so he could have his picture taken administering the oath (even though the official oath had been given by a captain
earlier.)
Bush and his allies have tried to deny this with several changing stories, but Bush himself admits lobbying commander Staudt,
who approved him, and court documents confirm that close family friend and oil magnate Sid Adger called Texas Speaker of
the House Ben Barnes, who called General James Rose, the head of the Texas Air National Guard, to get Bush in. Rose, who
is now dead, told his friend and former legislator Jake Johnson that "I got that Republican congressman's son from Houston into
the Guard."
Staudt's unit, the 147th, was infamous as a nesting place for politically connected and celebrity draft avoiders. Democratic
Senator Lloyd Bentsen's son was in the unit, as was Republican Senator John Tower's, both of Sid Adger's sons and at least 7
members of the Dallas Cowboys.
2. Took a 2 month vacation in Florida after 8 weeks in the Guard.
Just 8 weeks after joining, Bush was granted 2 months leave to go to Florida and work on a political campaign, the Senate race
of Republican Edward Gurney. Bush took a leave every election season, in 1970 to work on his dad's campaign, and in 1972
to work in Alabama.
3. Skipped Officer Candidate School and got a special commission as 2nd Lt.
As soon as Bush completed basic training, his commander approved him for a "direct appointment", which made him an officer
without having to go through the usual (and difficult) Officer Candidate School. This special procedure also got Bush into flight
school, despite his very low scores on aptitude tests -- he scored 25% on a pilot aptitude test, the absolute lowest acceptable
grade, and 50% for navigator ap |
