MCCAIN: GOV. BUSH IS ENTITLED TO PRIVACY -- BUT MEDIA HAS RIGHT TO ASK

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- U.S. Sen. John McCain could have the most to gain if
Texas Gov. George Bush's popularity slips after he dodged questions about
possible drug use. But McCain isn't saying whether Bush should reveal
whether he used illegal drugs as a young man.

McCain, the No. 2 candidate in the Republican presidential race, said
Thursday that "the American people have the right to know a lot of things."

"I think that the governor is entitled to privacy," the Arizona senator said
when asked about Bush's claim Thursday that he had not used drugs for 25 years.

"I don't think it's appropriate for me to say whether he should or should
not answer the question," said McCain, 63, in a question-and-answer session
with reporters after a speech at the Commonwealth Club.

But McCain also said several times that "the media and the American people
have the right to make a judgment about him."

Bush's campaign said the governor, 53, had effectively denied drug usage
since 1974, when he was 28. That same year, McCain returned home after
surviving five and a half years in a P.O.W. camp in Vietnam, where his jet
was shot down during the war.

McCain's campaign has said he has no history of drug use, but he took pains
Thursday to avoid being cast as more pure than other candidates.

"This is a very delicate thing we're going through," he said. "All of us
have done things in our lives which we very much regret, that we feel were
wrong."

He then added one bit of advice for Bush: "It also is the right of the
person who is asked the question to refuse to answer."