BUSH FAILS TO QUASH COCAINE RUMOUR FROM HIS PAST

The George Bush campaign juggernaut hit the first serious pothole of its
cash-fuelled drive to the presidency yesterday, as the Texas governor tried
in vain to fend off questions about whether he had used cocaine as a young
man.

Mr Bush abandoned the aloof "none-of-your-business" tactics he has used so
far in his attempt to be the Republican party's presidential nominee,
declaring that he would have passed the background checks used on staff by
the FBI when his father was president - implying he had not used cocaine or
other illegal drugs for at least 15 years.

But this only drew more intensive scrutiny of his bachelor days in Texas.
The issue could prove as persistent an irritant as Bill Clinton's
half-hearted mitigation of his brush with marijuana, in which the president
claimed he "didn't inhale".

In an interview published in yesterday's Dallas Morning News, Mr Bush, 53,
said that he would pass the current FBI background check.

"As I understand it, the current form 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."

As the questions kept coming yesterday, he went further during a campaign
stop in Virginia: "Not only could I pass the background checks of the
standards in today's White House, I could have passed the background check
on the standards applied on the more stringent conditions when my dad was
president." The question then asked about drug use in the previous 15 years.

"I've told the people of this country that over two decades ago, I made
some mistakes when I was younger. I've learned from those mistakes. Should
I become the president my pledge to the American people is that I would
uphold the dignity and honour of the office."

Mr Bush's attempts in recent months to blunt the questions with
lighthearted variants of "When I was young and irresponsible, I was young
and irresponsible", has been rejected by his advisers as too glib. Mr Bush
hesitated for several months last year before announcing his presidential
bid, telling friends he was unsure about submitting his family to press
scrutiny of his bachelor life in the 1960s when he admitted having drunk a
lot, and dated a lot of women. He has refused to comment on his experience
of drugs.

Mr Bush's Vietnam record has also awakened scrutiny, with press reports
that family contacts helped him jump the queue for pilot-training in the
Texas Air National Guard. This meant he was removed from the draft, so
avoiding being sent into combat.

Mr Bush's evasions over drugs have brought accusations of hypocrisy from
critics, who recalled the Republicans' relentless pursuit of President
Clinton over his relationship with the White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

A Washington Post columnist, Richard Cohen, pointed out that as Texas
governor, Mr Bush favoured tough prison sentences for anyone caught with
even a gram of cocaine: "Using cocaine is a crime for which many go to
jail. The issue, then, is not so much what Bush did in the past but whether
he is a hypocrite in the present."

* "I wasn't interested in taking root. I was having fun." 1997

* "When I was young and irresponsible, that's exactly what I was - young
and irresponsible," 1997

* "I kind of floated and saw a lot of life." On his rootless period in the
1960s

* "I've assumed the mantle of being a governor and a father in a
responsible way, and the signal we ought to send to our children is that in
spite of what happened in the 60s and 70s we have learned some lessons. And
the lesson ought to be, don't be using drugs and alcohol. Learn the lessons
from the past." 1998

* "I'm not going to talk about what I did years ago. This is a game where
they float rumours, force a person to fight off a rumour - then they will
float another rumour. And I'm not going to participate - I've told people
that I've learned from my mistakes - and I have. And I'm going to leave it
at that." July 1999

* "Not only could I pass the background checks of the standards in today's
White House, I could have passed the back-check on the standards applied on
the more stringent conditions when my dad was president of the United
States - which is a 15-year period. Should I become the president, my
pledge to the American people is that I would uphold the dignity and honour
of the office to which I have been elected." Yesterday