25 YEARS AGO? OK, YOU'RE FORGIVEN

PESTERED by reporters, Texas Gov. George W. Bush has denied any illegal drug
taking since 1974. Before that, he's not talking.

Fine by us. Now can we ask him a question about Kosovo? Or whether he thinks
the GOP tax cut is a good idea? Or what it is about his tenure as governor
of Texas that he thinks recommends him for president?

Given that Bush seems to be halfway down the red carpet to a coronation at
the Republican national convention, it's more than OK -- it's imperative --
to ask him blunt, challenging questions. But "Did you ever use cocaine?"
wasn't at the top of our list.

The public, according to polls, is somewhat of two minds on youthful drug
use. A Fox News poll found 69 percent of voters wanting to know whether a
candidate had used cocaine in the past. But 72 percent were ready to forgive
youthful experimentation.

It seems to us that Bush has pretty well answered the drug question. He's
now flatly stated that since 1974 he hasn't taken any drugs that would
disqualify him from a federal job, were he given a background check. If
someone can show he's lying about that, he will deservedly be in deep
doo-doo, as his father would put it.

Bush's refusal to discuss earlier years looks like a tacit admission of drug
use. If it is, we're with the forgiving public majority.

But Bush shouldn't get off quite that lightly. He's been trying to walk a
tightrope on personal morality. Obviously it's a potent issue for
Republicans to raise with Bill Clinton in the White House. At the same time,
Bush would like to re-establish some zone of privacy for presidents,
particularly regarding behavior decades ago.

One way for candidates to accomplish this is to go lighter on promoting
their own personal morality. Bush, for instance, has made a point of
asserting his faithfulness in marriage.

Very few politicians with nothing to hide rule their private lives off
limits. All too many parade their alleged virtue. An amazing number of them
prove to be liars and hypocrites.

So far, Bush has avoided that pitfall. He's come closer to another type of
hypocrisy.

As Texas governor he's been in step with the popular politics of pounding
the hammer of justice on drug users. The behavior he's asking us not to ask
about is behavior for which he has advocated serious prison time.

If the public and the press agree to cut Bush some slack for having "made
mistakes," he ought to cut other mistake-makers the same slack.