NOTHING'S IRREVLEVANT

While many of us wish that the media would stick to the important issues
when covering political campaigns, it seems a bit disingenuous for
fiftysomething Gov. George W. Bush to respond to a reporter's question about
possible marijuana or cocaine use, "I'm not going to talk about what I did
as a child. It is irrelevant what I did 20 to 30 years ago."

When a person is seeking the highest office in the land, nothing is
irrelevant from his past as we have witnessed in the press coverage (and
uncovering) of presidential candidates' lives. The dictionary defines
"child" as any person between birth and puberty. OK, let him off the hook
for what he did as a child, but anything after, say age 14, is fair game
unless the rules change in covering all candidates.

Michaelyn Jackson, Austin