News (Media Awareness Project) - US: A Simple Question. Answer It. |
| Title: | US: A Simple Question. Answer It. |
| Published On: | 1999-08-20 |
| Source: | Des Moines Register (IA) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-05 22:52:48 |
A SIMPLE QUESTION. ANSWER IT.
Bush has willingly talked about marital fidelity and alcohol. Why not
about drugs?
It's a simple enough question, Governor Bush. And your stubborn refusal to
answer it is raising major questions.
Reporters covering your presidential campaign ask about your possible past
use of illegal drugs and are stonewalled. Parts of your past, you say, are
off limits. Your spokesman Scott McClellan said, Important facts that
people deserve to know about are how he's fulfilled his duties as governor,
father, husband. . . .
How about as citizen?
When I was young and irresponsible, you have said, I behaved young and
irresponsibly. Is that a sufficient answer to a society that has demanded
that thousands of Americans - some of them barely teen-agers - who behaved
young and irresponsibly spend the best years of their lives in prison?
On Wednesday, governor, you were asked whether you would demand that
federal appointees answer questions about drug use.
As I understand it, you said, the current [FBI background check] asks
the question, Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years? and I
will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is No.
On Thursday, you elaborated by saying you could answer no when your
father was in the White House and the standard was 15 years. A campaign
spokesman said that meant the question is answered back to 1974, when you
were 28.
Next question: What about when you were younger than 28?
Rumor thrives in the absence of truth, and in politics its apparent
significance grows the longer it remains alive. This one won't go away
until the truth is discovered, and the longer it goes unanswered, the
greater the impact it will have on your campaign.
If Alger Hiss had promptly acknowledged past Communist ties, he would never
have gone to jail. If Richard Nixon had promptly owned up to his
re-election committee's complicity in Watergate, the story would have been
back?page news in days. If Bill Clinton had promptly admitted to and
apologized for an extramarital sexual liaison, he would never have faced
impeachment.
If you succeed indefinitely in stiff-arming the drug question, governor, it
will forever cloud your career. The public may or may not forgive a past
indiscretion as immature behavior. The public will never forgive a refusal
to be open and candid.
Bush has willingly talked about marital fidelity and alcohol. Why not
about drugs?
It's a simple enough question, Governor Bush. And your stubborn refusal to
answer it is raising major questions.
Reporters covering your presidential campaign ask about your possible past
use of illegal drugs and are stonewalled. Parts of your past, you say, are
off limits. Your spokesman Scott McClellan said, Important facts that
people deserve to know about are how he's fulfilled his duties as governor,
father, husband. . . .
How about as citizen?
When I was young and irresponsible, you have said, I behaved young and
irresponsibly. Is that a sufficient answer to a society that has demanded
that thousands of Americans - some of them barely teen-agers - who behaved
young and irresponsibly spend the best years of their lives in prison?
On Wednesday, governor, you were asked whether you would demand that
federal appointees answer questions about drug use.
As I understand it, you said, the current [FBI background check] asks
the question, Did somebody use drugs within the last seven years? and I
will be glad to answer that question, and the answer is No.
On Thursday, you elaborated by saying you could answer no when your
father was in the White House and the standard was 15 years. A campaign
spokesman said that meant the question is answered back to 1974, when you
were 28.
Next question: What about when you were younger than 28?
Rumor thrives in the absence of truth, and in politics its apparent
significance grows the longer it remains alive. This one won't go away
until the truth is discovered, and the longer it goes unanswered, the
greater the impact it will have on your campaign.
If Alger Hiss had promptly acknowledged past Communist ties, he would never
have gone to jail. If Richard Nixon had promptly owned up to his
re-election committee's complicity in Watergate, the story would have been
back?page news in days. If Bill Clinton had promptly admitted to and
apologized for an extramarital sexual liaison, he would never have faced
impeachment.
If you succeed indefinitely in stiff-arming the drug question, governor, it
will forever cloud your career. The public may or may not forgive a past
indiscretion as immature behavior. The public will never forgive a refusal
to be open and candid.
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