LET'S FIND OUT IF BUSH KEPT HIS NOSE CLEAN

George W. Bush. I wish the media would stop badgering Bush about
whether, in the dark recesses of his youth, he ever used cocaine.
It's boring and not very productive. Not that the question is irrelevant.

The president, as Republicans are relenttless in pointing out, is the
nation's chief law enforcement officer. It is entirely relevant for
voters to know if the man they choose to enforce their drug laws was
ever a user.

More important, Bush has a record on drug law enforcement. He has
supported the toughening of drug laws in Texas to make it possible for
a judge to send a first-time offender to jail, even if the amount used
is very small. [One would imagine that the odds of a young, black
first-time going to jail in Texas would be considerably better than
those of the son of a congressperson, but that's just a wild guess.]

Bush, while he has never admitted using cocaine, has said that, in his
youth, he "made mistakes" and has learned from them.

So what we have a right to know is what mistakes he made and how they
led him to the conclusion that jail for first-time, small-time drug
offenders is redemptive. That seems to me a legitimate area of concern.

But I don't see where just asking and asking the man about rumors gets
the ball very far down the field. The media should go and find out
whether Bush used cocaine - if, when where and how much.

People do not typically purchase cocaine from the holier orders of
nuns, after all. Neither do they use it in the company of people who
have taken vows of silence.

A media with the man-[and woman-] power to send 400 people to cover
the Iowa Republican straw poll surely could find out about Bush's past
if they wanted to. You know, talk to former playmates, cops; I think
it's called "reporting."

Having done that, if the media find no evidence of drug use by young
Bush, no reliable witness willing to rat him out, I say forget it.