REV. JESSE JACKSON SAYS BUSH DRUG DILEMMA SHOWS NEED TO CHANGE LAW!

NEW YORK -- Texas Gov. George W. Bush is "a rich man's son caught in a poor
man's trap" on the subject of answering questions about whether he used
illegal drugs in his younger days, Rev. Jesse Jackson said Sunday.

Speaking with reporters after giving a sermon at a Manhattan church,
Jackson said the Republican presidential candidate and Texas governor had
failed to show leadership on the drug issue in a state whose "No. 1 growth
economy ... is jails, based upon drugs." Jackson claimed that 80 percent of
a Texas prison population of 140,000 are under drug sentences, while Bush
himself refuses to say whether he did or did not use narcotics in his youth.

"I say, free George Bush. And also a generation of youth trapped in that
same trap, because above all we must not sacrifice equal protection under
the law. And there is no category called 'youthful indiscretion' on
cocaine," Jackson said.

"The fact is that drug policy is a President's business," Jackson said,
adding that being "a rich man's son ... caught in a poor man's trap," had
forced Bush to modify his own strict position on the drug issue.

During his sermon at Manhattan's interdenominational Riverside Church,
Jackson also mentioned in passing that Bush had not attended or sent a
representative to the funeral of James Byrd, the black man who was dragged
to his death behind a truck by two avowed white supremacists in Jasper,
Texas, last year.

Jackson criticized Bush for ignoring the Byrd funeral and not supporting
hate crime legislation.

But Karen Hughes, Gov. Bush's spokeswoman in Austin, said Bush called
Byrd's family to express his deepest sympathy "at what he called a barbaric
act that would not be tolerated in Texas."

"Perhaps Rev. Jackson is unaware that Gov. Bush was respecting the wishes
of the Byrd family and local officials in the community who had asked
people not to attend (the funeral)," Hughes said.

"Texas has a hate crimes law which Gov. Bush signed tougher penalties for
two years ago," she added.