GEORGE W. STUMBLES ON THE DRUG ISSUE

Did He Or Didn't He?

This time, it was Texas Gov. George W. Bush's turn to squint uncomfortably
into the cameras, force a smile, and try to quell a growing media feeding
frenzy.

The subject: the long-standing rumor that he had used cocaine, a charge he
repeatedly insisted he would never discuss because it would only encourage
the "politics of personal destruction." Yet this time, Bush gave a
strangely illuminating reply. He indicated that if he ever used illegal
substances, it was more than a quarter century ago, when he was a
heavy-drinking, 20-something party animal enjoying la vida loca in Texas.

"I made some mistakes years ago, but I learned from my mistakes," he told a
news conference in Baton Rouge, La. In Akron, Ohio, he added: "I have
learned from the mistakes I may or may not have made, and I'd like to share
some wisdom with you, and that is: 'Don't do drugs.' "

The source. It all started with Bush's response to a reporter's question
about security procedures at the White House. The Republican candidate said
he would insist on drug-related background checks for all White House
staffers, and he declared that he could pass such a test himself.

This, he and his staff confirmed, meant that he was denying drug use since
1974, when he was 28. (Technically, he was making the point that he had
always complied with the standard his father imposed at the White House
starting in 1989: being drug free for 15 years; Bush served his dad as an
informal adviser until President Bush lost in 1992.)

Friends say that, in private, the governor never admits to having used
cocaine or other controlled substances like marijuana. But some confidants
infer that he did so because he never actually denies it. And he gives the
impression of being ashamed of whatever it was he did.

Early last week, just before the storm hit, Bush told longtime friend Doug
Wead, a former adviser to his father, that a new round of cocaine
accusations were being circulated by his political foes, who claimed that
he had used the drug very recently.

It clearly bothered him, but he still didn't want to dignify the whispers
with a response. "Do you think presidential candidates should offer a
litany of everything they ever did wrong in their lives?" Bush asked Wead.
"Even years ago? Do you want your kids coming up to you and saying, 'Daddy,
the president did it. Why can't I?' "

Aides say that as the media scrutiny intensified, Bush saw an opportunity
to reveal that unspecified bad conduct happened many years ago, when he was
"young and irresponsible," and to, in effect, appeal for a quarter-century
statute of limitations.

Some of his allies say addressing the drug question was a mistake because
it gave the rumors new life. His critics say he comes off as a hypocrite,
akin to President Clinton when he claimed he smoked marijuana but didn't
inhale.

But his closest advisers say that while he may have been briefly thrown off
balance, Bush succeeded in arguing his case: that whatever skeletons remain
in his closet were put there a generation ago96and the public will forgive
and forget.