BUSH JUST SAYS NO TO DRUG QUESTIONS

AUSTIN, Texas - A testy Texas Gov. George W. Bush refused
Wednesday to answer questions about whether he has used illegal drugs
and said those who did not like his silence should vote for someone
else.

In news conferences in Austin and New Orleans, the drug issue that has
begun to dog his frontrunning campaign for the Republican presidential
nomination took centerstage even though Bush tried to dismiss it as
``trash-mouth politics.''

In Austin, the governor became visibly irritated in a brief news
conference at the Texas capitol and chastised a reporter for asking
about drugs.

``Somebody floats a rumor and it causes you to ask a question, and
that's the game in American politics and I refuse to play it,'' he
snapped. ``That is a game. You just fell for the trap. I refuse to
play.''

He blamed unnamed adversaries for planting the drug
rumors.

``I think they are being planted. I know they are being planted and
they are ridiculous and they're absurd and the people of America are
sick and tired of this kind of politics and I'm not
participating.''

He turned away to answer a question on a different subject when a
reporter asked if he was denying drug use by calling the rumors ``absurd.''

Later, in a news conference during a campaign trip to New Orleans,
Bush again refused to respond to the drug rumors.

``If the voters don't like that answer, if the voters want me to
inventory something I did 25 or 30 years ago, then they can vote for
somebody else,'' he said.

But, in response to a reporter's question, he acknowledged that it was
``reasonable'' for voters to consider a candidate's past. ``I think
it's very reasonable and I think it's important for people to trust
the person for whom they're voting,'' Bush said.

The issue of Bush's possible use of illegal drugs goes back to the
days when he was, by his own admission, a heavy-drinking bachelor in
Houston and Midland, Texas.

He has steadfastly refused to say whether he used illegal drugs by
giving a pat answer: ``When I was young and irresponsible, I was young
and irresponsible.''

The issue became more pronounced after the New York Daily News
recently asked 12 presidential hopefuls if they had ever used cocaine.
Bush was the only candidate who refused to answer the question.

Vice President Al Gore, running for the Democratic presidential
nomination, has admitted smoking marijuana.