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Bush Campaign Lied About Cocaine Use
Bush press secretary Karen Hughes rocked official
Washington in late October with allegations that George W. Bush's
2000 campaign staff were themselves responsible for rumors that
the governor had, at some time in his past, used cocaine. Hughes
dropped this revelation while appearing on Fox News Sunday with
anchor Tony Snow. According to Hughes, Bush campaign strategists
recognized early in the campaign that in the post-Clinton years,
successful politicians would need to demonstrate some major weakness
or flaw which would allow the electorate to feel superior to the
individual for whom they were voting.
"Clinton has for eight years built his political
power by demonstrating behavior which the average voter could look
at and say, 'Hey, at least I'm not that creepy,'" Hughes told
Snow, "and we determined that if we were going to succeed,
we would have to do the same." Hughes says the campaign's early
attempts to attract empathy for Bush by floating rumors of a past
drinking problem and possible womanizing fell flat.
Explained Hughes, "We were desperate when
the 'booze and women' thing didn't gain traction. After eight years
of Clinton, it was apparent a little drinking problem and some skirting
around wasn't going to cut it. Originally, we had thrown in the
drinking problem to explain the womanizing, following what we called
the 'Hillary Gambit,' - you know, blame a vast-right wing conspiracy,
blame the media for anti-Arkansas bias, blame a dead mother and
grandmother - but in our case we would blame booze. We quickly realized
that in the post-Clinton years, the Democrats had the sex angle
cornered. So, instead, we decided to play up the substance abuse
angle. So far, it's worked like a charm."
Asked by Snow if she hadn't worried the public
might react negatively to a candidate who had used hard drugs, Hughes
laughed that, "Tony, I just love you to death but you truly
don't 'get it.' For the strategy to work, the sin in question must
be worse than, but close to, the sins committed by the average American.
Not that many people have done cocaine. But a lot of those Soccer
Moms smoked pot in college. By floating the cocaine rumor we allowed
all those voters to say, 'Hey, at least I didn't do that.' And then,
when the press and Democrats jumped us, the average voter undoubtedly
felt the press and Democrats were harshly judging him. At the same
time, we were able to whine about the 'politics of personal destruction'
being practiced by the media and the Democrats. Not to be immodest,
but it was brilliant, if I do say so myself."
"So you have no worries the strategy might
harm the campaign?" Snow then asked. "No, no that's not
true at all," Hughes responded seriously, "basically our
concerns were twofold. First, that the Democrats might not rise
to the bait. But that concern was quickly laid to rest when, just
a few days after we floated the rumor, Senator Tom Daschle began
whining to the media that they were giving Bush's personal life
a free pass. Let me tell you, the champagne flowed in the War Room
that night.
"Our second concern, though, is more serious. In fact, it haunts
our campaign to this day."
"What is that?" Snow asked. "That the Gore campaign
might go us one better and float the rumor the vice president regularly
drops acid," Hughes revealed. "Not only would Bush's alleged
cocaine use appear tame by comparison, but it would also allow the
Gore campaign to explain away the vice president's book, Earth
in the Balance."
"What will you do if the Gore campaign does that?" Snow
queried.
"We are prepared to let it slip that Governor Bush regularly
mainlines heroin," Hughes replied.
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