CHAPTER 13

Dub-ya's Heterosexual Love Affair With Jim Beam

President Bush's confessed, 20-year romance with booze should be a major concern

to all Americans, including Republicans, because a recent study published by the

American Medical Association found that just two glasses of wine per week can

cause brain damage in teenagers.

     The AMA report pointed out that while moderate consumption can produce

positive effects such reduced heart attacks, alcohol is still a poison that kills brain

cells. After years of guzzling hard liquor like Jim Beam bourbon, Bush's gray matter

may indeed have been damaged -- a possible explanation for his aggressive and often

belligerent style of leadership that surfaced after the national 9/11 catastrophe. 

     I have seen this happen to alcoholic airline captains who went through 12-step recovery programs, returned to flying and were still dangerous in stressful situations.  However, to use an appropriate cliche, I'm no brain surgeon.  I don't have an iota of expertise when it comes to determining diminished mental capacity on the

president's part.  But I am familiar with aspects of boozing that he either doesn't know

about or chooses to ignore.

     Another reason for Bush's occasional erratic angry behavior could be the "Dry

Drunk Syndrome" (DDS).  The term applies to alcoholics who quit by going cold

turkey and never address underlying psychological problems that may have caused the alcoholism, such as guilt from going AWOL while other far more courageous men his age served honorably.  .

     Genetically based in many cases, alcoholism is a terrible affliction that destroys

millions of American lives annually.  In my family, a close member constantly battles

alcoholism by attending AA meetings and going through repeated, 12-step recovery

programs.  The intimate experience made me reluctant to discuss Bush's boozing

history and I would've ignored the addiction, too -- except for his cavalier attitude

toward alcoholism, which does a terrible disservice to people struggling to stay

sober.  So with Dub-ya's indifference in mind, to illustrate how aloof he and the

Bush clan have been about drinking, I decided to address the subject head-on in

this chapter. 

     Such an examination also serves another purpose.  It allows Americans to

judge George's fitness as a military leader and ask themselves the crucial question:

should he continue serving as our commander-in-chief?  I think the answer is

obvious.

     My opinion comes largely from reading Bush-friendly books.  In the 2003

biography, Laura, by Antonia Felix, the First Lady described hubby's past drunken

behavior just once.  On page 119, she said, "He (George) was wild when he drank

too much."

     In his autobiography, Charge to Keep, Dub-ya was a little more forthright.  

He discussed his alcoholism in Chapter 10, titled "The Big 4-0."   Here are some

relevant quotes from the eight-page section.

      "There are turning points in life, and one of mine was quitting drinking,

      which I did shortly after my fortieth birthday.  My wife and friends later

      joked that, notoriously frugal, I quit after seeing the bar bill."

     "People wondered later whether something special happened... but no, I

     just drank too much and woke up with a hangover."

     In the same paragraph, Dub-ya wrote, "Even when I was drinking, I drank

     only after work, at night, never during the day...My friends laugh about the

     image of me as a party animal, an image they think is vastly over blown."

     Referring to his earlier boozing, George stated, "Perhaps a better way to

     explain it (drinking) is to say I engaged in some of the excesses of youth

     of my time..."

     Later in Chapter 10, he said, "I am a person who enjoys life, and for years

     I enjoyed having a few drinks."   Bush continued in the next paragraph,

     "Drinking also magnified aspects of my personality.  It made me more funny,

     more charming, more impressionable."

Based on what I've written so far in this chapter, readers unfamiliar with the

president's drinking history might assume it was rather bland -- some "youthful

excesses," a few drinks after work that made him more charming, and so on. 

Not exactly.  The rest of the 90-proof story can be found in George & Laura.

     Here are three examples on page 76 of the paperback edition about Bush's

Yale college days:

1.  He knew how to "smuggle booze" into his DKE fraternity house

      where there was "a lot of alcohol."

2.   Before football games, he would "mix up screwdrivers (vodka

      and orange juice) in a garbage can" and compete in "beer-guzzling

      contests."

3.   George "drank heavily," according to frat brother, Gregory Gaglico,

      who also said it was "appalling."

     On page 118, Christopher Andersen wrote in regards to Bush's Air National

Guard service as a sworn officer and gentleman, he "often organized (at his

Houston apartment complex) the nosiest, most bacchanalian events -- beer busts

and drunken antics with bikini-clad stewardesses."

     Page 125 said that Lt. Bush, who had no other job, would spend Monday

through Thursday after three days of weekend warrior duty downing "iced cans of

Budweiser."

     On page 126, still in the National Guard and speaking through Andersen,

Bush emoted about his "nomadic period" -- a time of  "wretched overindulgence

devoted almost exclusively to drinking too much," as reflected by his Houston

apartment, 29-A, which had "empty bottles and beer cans everywhere."

     On page 127, Andersen reported Dub-ya's fondness for "impromptu drinking

contests" and the "Four B's -- beer, bourbon and B&B."

     Page 129 said the mood-altering properties of alcohol, according to Bush

friends, were enough to change him from "Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde," and the

drunken demeanor that "might have dismissed only moments earlier as simply

as playful could suddenly turn boorish and surly."

     During drinking sprees, there was a point that he "crossed the line into

nastiness" and the comments Dub-ya made which seemed hilarious to him were

"asinine and sometimes malicious."  

     His friends said, "You just sort of held your breath whenever he (Bush)

walked toward a stranger in a restaurant.  You never knew what he was going to

do or say."   

     Also described on page 129, an intoxicated George W. could be quite

witty.  Or so he thought.

     "At a cocktail party in Kennebunkport (Maine), W. (Bush) searched the

room before spotting an elegant gray-haired woman he recognized as one of his

parent's good friends.  Bourbon in hand, he wobbled up to the lady and bellowed,

'So, what's sex like after fifty, anyway?'"

     Page 130 stated the following: "With his 15-year-old brother, Marvin, in

tow, W. took off in one of Dad's cars to visit a friend.  By the time they left the

friend's house, both brothers were drunk."

     The next page told of a confrontation with an angry George Senior that

same night.  Enraged by the fatherly rebuke for being intoxicated, Junior

threatened to punch out his old man.  Later, he would claim the shouting match

in Dad's den was not so much an act of youthful rebellion as "the result of two

stiff bourbons."

     Page 138 said that at a Willie Nelson concert in Odessa, Dub-ya jumped

onto the stage, beer in hand, and sang along with the star.

     On page 139, Andersen wrote about Bush during his oil man days in

Midland.  "Alarmingly, a week did not go by without an inebriated Dub-ya

getting behind the wheel of his car and trying to find his way home."

     Later on page 139, "The elder Bush, who had left his post in China to

take the reins of the Central Intelligence Agency, had heard stories about

Dub-ya's antics back home in Midland.  Now that his son was 30, Big

George and Barbara grew increasingly concerned that Dub-ya might be

developing a serious, long-term alcohol problem."  

     Page 140 described when George Junior was stopped by police for

suspicion of drunk driving near the Kennebunkport family compound. 

Given a sobriety test on the spot, he flunked.  Arrested and taken to the

police station, a second test was given but his blood alcohol level still

registered "a substantial .12" above Maine's .10 legal limit. 

     Released on bail, Dub-ya later pled guilty to a misdemeanor DUI.

After that, Andersen wrote about other Bush problems, then returned

to the alcoholism, which became worse because of his irritation over being

stuck in Midland, Texas, and "going nowhere fast."  

     Page 167 stated: "Clearly, it was Dub-ya who felt frustrated, overcome

by the need for action...and he would unburden himself to Laura with a stiff

drink.  And then another.  As those evenings wore on, he became louder and

more agitated....with each passing month, George was drinking more and

more."

     Page 168 described his antics during three-day Wildcatter golf

tournaments at the Midland Country Club.  Wrote Andersen, "At a Wildcatter

costume party, he arrived as a diaper-clad Mahatma Gandhi.  He kept doing

this pretty terrible Indian accent, said one partygoer, but I got the

impression he really didn't know who Gandhi was, and why his being drunk

and practically naked might seem offensive to some people." 

     Page 173 of George & Laura told of more antics at Midland Country

Club, when Dub-ya drank too much.  "He would get a little too loud, and the

jokes would get more off-color... He thought he was a riot, and you were

inclined to overlook it."

     Also on page 173, Dub-ya's close friend and current Secretary of

Commerce, Don Evans, said of his White House boss, "Once he got started

(drinking), he couldn't quit, didn't shut it off."

     Page 174 described Bush driving while intoxicated on numerous

occasions despite his earlier DUI in Maine.  "There were many close calls

in those days," confided Dub-ya later to a friend. 

     After boozing for two decades, most of it in Midland, Texas, George

asked himself rhetorically in A Charge to Keep, "How in the hell did I keep

from killing someone else?" 

     Here's a question that's not rhetorical.  Dub-ya went to Maine, got a

DUI and tried to hide it during the 2000 election.  So why didn't the

Midland Police Department ever charge him with the same offense?  They

had at least 15 years to catch him driving under the influence, nearly a daily

occurrence, according to his friends.  Could it be Dub-ya was in a special

class like his wife, Laura?   Did the cops ignore him like they did her?

     In 1963, Laura, a Midland teenager busy chatting with her girlfriend

passenger, drove through a stop sign, T-boned a car that had the right-away

and killed its driver.  Guess what kind of traffic citation she got?  She didn't. 

Incredibly, the future First Lady committed negligent homicide, an offense

ordinary people in Midland would've gone to jail for, and she didn't even

have to pay a fine. 

     So what kind of legal system was that, anyway? 

     Back then, it was called "Justice for the Lone State Elite" in a state

that tried ordinary teenagers Laura's age as adults and put them in prison for

years simply because they inhaled fumes from a burning marijuana leaf.

     Lower status kids were punished for smoking pot that only harmed themselves

(maybe), but it was perfectly okay to commit negligent manslaughter with an

automobile if you were like Laura, part of the Lone Star Elite.

     Committing vehicular homicide with impunity wasn't the only skeleton

in her closet that became known to the media.  Perhaps with vengeance in

mind for the 1986 Dallas Mexican restaurant incident, Judy Woodruff exposed

the First Lady's nasty little secret at the end of a White House interview, as follows:

WOODRUFF:  Just a couple of other questions, Mrs. Bush, about you.  It's been reported that you smoke.  Now, is this correct?

LAURA:  That is not correct.  I did smoke, though.  I used to.

WOODRUFF:  When do you give it up?

LAURA:  A long time ago.

     In Bush-speak, a "long time" can mean anything -- like last month.

According to Lloyd Grove, author of the "Reliable Sources" column for the

Washington Post, Laura has been spotted sneaking nicotine puffs in the White House. 

     So much for the Perfect First Lady's credibility.

     Shortly after George W. took office, Bush hypocrisy about smoking spilled

over into his administration policies regarding the American tobacco industry's

major thrust to expand its international markets.

     Clinton had impeded their efforts to export death by inhaling with trade

restrictions.  However, when South Korea imposed tariffs on cigarettes to reduce

their importation because of the health hazard, President Bush complained about

the added cost imposed on U.S. cigarette makers and ordered the fees rescinded. 

His trade representative, Robert Zoellick, insisted that Dub-ya just wanted to

make sure U.S. products were treated fairly. 

     Zoellick also contended that it was a policy "most citizens agree with." 

     Oh, really? Mr. Zoellick.  Where's the proof?

     There is no proof.  Statistically in our country, nonsmokers far exceed those

who engage in the self-destructive habit.  Thus, once more, we have an example

of the Bush administration deceiving us by stretching nonexistent facts into what

appears to the truth.

     During the 2000 campaign, George explained away his admitted addiction to

beer and bourbon by saying, "To beat alcoholism, you need to change behavior,

which means changing your heart.  Like I did."

     Since his election three years ago, President Bush has offered no tangible

proof that his heart has changed. 

     Quite the contrary, during the first few critical days following 9/11, as

described in Bob Woodward's 2002 bestseller, Bush at War, I found no

anecdotal evidence indicating George W. had sought help from any deity.  He

did take time, however, to discuss with senior White House advisor Karl Rove

a "10-month window of opportunity" for making Republican political capital

from the catastrophe. 

     Shortly after September 11, according to page 54 of Bush at War (hardback

edition), a White House reporter asked President Bush to, "Give us a sense of

what kind of prayers you are thinking and where your heart is."

     Offered a chance to make a Christian testimony, Dub-ya, struggling with

his emotions (or appearing to do so), declined the opportunity and said simply,

"I don't think about myself right now."

     How Bush thought about himself, of course, was not the question's point. 

The reporter had obviously been interested in religious inspiration, not selfishness. 

     When Dub-ya "regained" his composure, he told the reporter, again in a

self-serving way, "I am a loving guy.  I am also someone who has a job to do,

and I intend to do it."

     With that said, Bush left the White House pressroom without mentioning

a single thing about the importance of faith and prayers in a crisis.  However, he

did manage to say "I" three times in his short answer.

     The next mention of religion in Bush at War appears on page 65, when, at

the start of an emergency cabinet meeting several days after 9/11, Dub-ya asked

Donald Rumsfeld to offer a prayer.  Pleaded the Secretary of Defense solemnly

to God, "Give us patience to measure our lust for action."  

     Bush did exactly as Rummy had prayed.  He demonstrated patience long

enough to satisfy his advisors, then launched a barrage of cruise missiles against

Afghanistan that killed dozens of innocent women and children but not Osama

bin Laden.

     I wonder what Jesus thought about that kind of response to 9/11?  Or any

type of lustful action, for that matter.

     The importance of religion in Bush's role as Commander-in-Chief became

an issue again in a more recent book by Bob Woodward, his 2004 bestseller,

Plan of Attack.  Woodward said George W. told him he's on a mission from God

to spread democracy throughout the Muslim world.

     The first time I read about the religious quest, it raised three questions in my mind:

1.  Where does the Constitution say a president has the right or responsibility to spread democracy?

2.  What kind of democracy was Bush talking about?

3.  How does he know Muslims want a democratic form of government?

     Recalling Dub-ya's drunken confrontation in the Dallas restaurant with Al

Hunt a year after getting the "word" from Billy Graham, I told myself, So much for

a mission from God. 

     If Bush pursues his quest, how about, "The Devil made me do it!"

WEBSITE NOTE:  In the previous chapter, Scott described Dub-ya's "drunken confrontation" in Dallas this way:

       Buy or borrow George & Laura and read page 172 (paperback edition) of Chapter 4.  There, Andersen tells of an episode in Dallas at a Mexican restaurant involving Al Hunt, well-known commentator on CNN's "Capital Gang" and his wife, Judy Woodfuff, popular Ted Turner moderator: 

          Hunt and Judy Woodruff were dining with their four-year-old son

     when a man started making his way toward them.  He was clearly

     intoxicated, red-faced and colliding with tables and other diners as he

     approached.

          As the man came closer, Hunt finally recognized the Vice President's

     son, someone he barely knew and could not recall even seeing on the

     campaign trail.

          The little boy's eyes widened (Hunt's child) as the man pointed a

     finger at his father and began shouting, "You no good fucking son of a

     bitch!"

          While other diners looked on in shock, George W. screamed, "I will

     never fucking forget what you wrote!"

          For the next minute or so, Dub-ya stayed at the table, continuing his

     diatribe against a story in the Washington Post.   But Hunt could not

     imagine what could have provoked such rage. He had not even mentioned

     the elder Bush in the Post article, much less criticized him.

          With that, Dub-ya weaved his way through the restaurant and out to the

     parking lot. 

     In Charge to Keep, George W. claimed a Maine meeting with the evangelist, Billy Graham, turned his life around and made him a true believer in the ways of God and Jesus Christ.  It's interesting to note that drunken confrontation with Al Hunt and Judy Woodruff took place in 1986, more than a year after Dub-ya's religious "conversion."