BUSH SR SCOFFS AT DRUG GOSSIP

The former President George Bush has scoffed at rumours that his son, George
W. Bush, is, or has been, a drug abuser.

Mr Bush said that he had not specifically asked his son about drug use, but
he and his wife, Barbara, had no reason to suspect that their son was mixed
up in anything illegal. George was a "rambunctious" youngster, nothing more.

"All this stuff about George's totally irresponsible past," Mr Bush said.
"Barbara and I never saw this. We knew he had some problems that he faced up
to, but no different than most kids."

The younger Bush, 53, now Governor of Texas and the front-runner for the
Republican presidential nomination in 2000, has admitted that he had a
problem with drink and has been dogged by repeated questions about whether
he used cocaine. Mr Bush, who came up with the word "irresponsible" to
describe his youth, has said he has not used illegal drugs in the past 25
years and refused to make any further response.

In an interview with Fox News, the former President said that he and his
wife had not asked their son about the rumours. "I wouldn't even consider
that. I think what he's doing is correct and he has my full support. Barbara
and I know that these allegations - most of these allegations - have no
basis in fact."

The man defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton, who smoked marijuana but "didn't
inhale", denounced what he called "gotcha politics". The only waywardness he
would admit he had seen in his son was when he came home from school one day
with his brothers "using the two dirtiest words in the English language" and
an incident when his son, aged 9, tried to hit him. "I just held him at
arm's length flailing away at me."