| [images and
captions added by this website] 
Sunday, February 20, 2005
In Secretly
Taped Talks, Glimpses of Future
President Author, Former Aide to
Bush's Father, Disclosed Tapes'
Existence By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK,
The New York Times The
author recorded conversations with George Bush
as a historical figure, but knew they may be
viewed as a betrayal. WASHINGTON, (Feb. 20) - As
George W. Bush was first moving onto the national
political stage, he often turned for advice to an
old friend who secretly taped some of their private
conversations, creating a rare record of the future
president as a politician and a
personality. In the last several weeks, that friend, Doug
Wead, an author and former aide to Mr. Bush's
father, disclosed the tapes' existence to a
reporter and played about a dozen of them. Variously earnest, confident or prickly in those
conversations, Mr. Bush weighs the political risks
and benefits of his religious faith, discusses
campaign strategy and comments on rivals. John
McCain "will wear thin," he predicted. John
Ashcroft, he confided, would be a "very good
Supreme Court pick" or a "fabulous" vice president.
And in exchanges about his handling of questions
from the news media about his past, Mr. Bush
appears to have acknowledged trying marijuana. Mr. Wead said he recorded the conversations
because he viewed Mr. Bush as a historic figure,
but he said he knew that the president might regard
his actions as a betrayal. As the author of a new
book about presidential childhoods, Mr. Wead could
benefit from any publicity, but he said that was
not a motive in disclosing the tapes. The White House did not dispute the authenticity
of the tapes or respond to their contents. Trent
Duffy, a White House spokesman, said, "The
governor was having casual conversations with
someone he believed was his friend." Asked about
drug use, Mr. Duffy said, "That has been asked and
answered so many times there is nothing more to
add." "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You
know why? Because I don't want some little kid
doing what I tried." The conversations Mr. Wead played offer insights
into Mr. Bush's thinking from the time he was
weighing a run for president in 1998 to shortly
before he accepted the Republican nomination in
2000. Mr. Wead had been a liaison to evangelical
Protestants for the president's father, and the
intersection of religion and politics is a
recurring theme in the talks. Preparing to meet
Christian leaders in September 1998, Mr. Bush
told Mr. Wead, "As you said, there are some code
words. There are some proper ways to say things,
and some improper ways." He added, "I am going
to say that I've accepted Christ into my life.
And that's a true statement." But Mr. Bush also repeatedly worried that
prominent evangelical Christians would not like his
refusal "to kick
gays." At the same time, he was wary of
unnerving secular voters by meeting publicly with
evangelical leaders. When he thought his aides had
agreed to such a meeting, Mr. Bush complained to
Karl Rove, his political strategist, "What
the hell is this about?" Mr. Bush, who has acknowledged a
drinking problem years
ago, told Mr. Wead on the tapes that he could
withstand scrutiny of his past. He said it involved
nothing more than "just, you know, wild behavior."
He worried, though, that allegations of cocaine use
would surface in the campaign, and he blamed his
opponents for stirring rumors. "If nobody shows up,
there's no story," he told Mr. Wead, "and if
somebody shows up, it is going to be made up." But
when Mr. Wead said that Mr. Bush had in the past
publicly denied using
cocaine, Mr. Bush replied, "I haven't denied
anything." He refused to answer reporters' questions about
his past behavior, he said, even though it might
cost him the election. Defending his approach, Mr.
Bush said: "I wouldn't answer the marijuana
questions. You know why? Because I don't want some
little kid doing what I tried." He mocked Vice President Al Gore for
acknowledging marijuana use. "Baby boomers have got
to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs,
but instead of admitting it, say to kids, don't do
them," he said. Mr. Bush threatened that if his rival Steve
Forbes attacked him too hard during the
campaign and won, both Mr. Bush, then the Texas
governor, and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush of
Florida, would withhold their support. "He can
forget Texas. And he can forget Florida. And I will
sit on my hands," Mr. Bush said. The private Mr. Bush sounds remarkably similar
in many ways to the public President Bush. Many of
the taped comments foreshadow aspects of his
presidency, including his opposition to both
anti-gay language and recognizing same-sex
marriage, his skepticism about the United Nations,
his sense of moral purpose and his focus on
cultivating conservative Christian voters. Mr. Wead said he withheld many tapes of
conversations that were repetitive or of a purely
personal nature. The dozen conversations he agreed
to play ranged in length from five minutes to
nearly half an hour. In them, the future president
affectionately addresses Mr. Wead as "Weadie" or
"Weadnik," asks if his children still believe in
Santa Claus, and chides him for skipping a doctor's
appointment. Mr. Bush also regularly gripes about
the barbs of the press and his rivals. And he is
cocky at times. "It's me versus the world," he told
Mr. Wead. "The good news is, the world is on my
side. Or more than half of it." 
OTHER presidents, such as Richard M. Nixon
and Lyndon B. Johnson, secretly recorded
conversations from the White House. Some former
associates of President Bill Clinton taped
personal conversations in apparent efforts to
embarrass or entrap him. But Mr. Wead's recordings
are a rare example of a future president taped at
length without his knowledge talking about matters
of public interest like his political strategy and
priorities.
Mr. Wead first acknowledged the tapes to a
reporter in December [2004] to defend the
accuracy of a passage about Mr. Bush in his new
book, "The Raising of a President." He did not
mention the tapes in the book or footnotes, saying
he drew on them for only one page of the book. He
said he never sought to sell or profit from them.
He said he made the tapes in states where it was
legal to do so with only one party's knowledge. Mr. Wead eventually agreed to play a dozen tapes
on the condition that the names of any private
citizens be withheld. The New York Times
hired Tom Owen, an expert on audio
authentication, to examine samples from the tapes.
He concluded the voice was that of the
president. A White House adviser to the first President
Bush, Mr. Wead said in an interview in The
Washington Post in 1990 that Andrew H.
Card Jr., then deputy chief of staff, told him
to leave the administration "sooner rather than
later" after he sent conservatives a letter
faulting the White House for inviting gay activists
to an event. But Mr. Wead said he left on good
terms. He never had a formal role in the current
president's campaign, though the tapes suggest he
had angled for one. Mr. Wead said he admired George W. Bush and
stayed in touch with some members of his family.
While he said he has not communicated with the
president since early in his first term, he
attributed that to Mr. Bush's busy schedule. Mr. Wead said he recorded his conversations with
the president in part because he thought he might
be asked to write a book for the campaign. He also
wanted a clear account of any requests Mr. Bush
made of him. But he said his main motivation in
making the tapes, which he originally intended to
be released only after his own death, was to leave
the nation a unique record of Mr. Bush. "I believe that, like him or not, he is going to
be a huge historical figure," Mr. Wead said. "If I
was on the telephone with Churchill or Gandhi, I
would tape record them too." The first of the taped conversations Mr. Wead
disclosed took place in the summer of 1998, when
Mr. Bush was running for his second term as Texas
governor. At the time, Mr. Bush was considered a
political moderate who worked well with Democrats
and was widely admired by Texans of both parties.
His family name made him a strong presidential
contender, but he had not yet committed to run. Still, in a conversation that November on the
eve of Mr. Bush's re-election, his confidence was
soaring. "I believe tomorrow is going to change
Texas politics forever," he told Mr. Wead. "The top
three offices right below me will be the first time
there has been a Republican in that slot since the
Civil War. Isn't that amazing? And I hate to be a
braggart, but they are going to win for one reason:
me." Talking to Mr. Wead, a former Assemblies of God
minister who was well connected in conservative
evangelical circles, Mr. Bush's biggest concern
about the Republican presidential primary was
shoring up his right flank. Mr. Forbes was working
hard to win the support of conservative Christians
by emphasizing his opposition to abortion. "I view
him as a problem, don't you?" Mr. Bush asked. Mr. Bush knew that his own religious faith could
be an asset with conservative Christian voters, and
his personal devotion was often evident in the
taped conversations. When Mr. Wead warned him that
"power corrupts," for example, Mr. Bush told him
not to worry: "I have got a great wife. And I read
the Bible daily. The Bible is pretty good about
keeping your ego in check." In November 1999, he told his friend that he had
been deeply moved by a memorial service for
students who died in an accident when constructing
a Thanksgiving weekend bonfire at Texas A & M
University, especially by the prayers by friends of
the students. In another conversation, he described a
"powerful moment" visiting the site of the Sermon
on the Mount in Israel with a group of state
governors, where he read "Amazing Grace" aloud. "I
look forward to sharing this at some point in
time," he told Mr. Wead about the event. Preparing to meet with influential Christian
conservatives, Mr. Bush tested his lines with Mr.
Wead. "I'm going to tell them the five turning
points in my life," he said. "Accepting Christ.
Marrying my wife. Having children. Running for
governor. And listening to my mother." In September 1998, Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead that
he was getting ready for his first meeting with
James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the
Family, an evangelical self-help group. Dr. Dobson,
probably the most influential evangelical
conservative, wanted to examine the candidate's
Christian credentials. "He said he would like to meet me, you know, he
had heard some nice things, you know, well, 'I
don't know if he is a true believer' kind of
attitude," Mr. Bush said. Mr. Bush said he intended to reassure Dr. Dobson
of his opposition to abortion. Mr. Bush said he was
concerned about rumors that Dr. Dobson had been
telling others that the "Bushes weren't going to be
involved in abortion," meaning that the Bush family
preferred to avoid the issue rather than fight over
it. "I just don't believe I said that. Why would I
have said that?" Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead with
annoyance. By the end of the primary, Mr. Bush alluded to
Dr. Dobson's strong views on abortion again,
apparently ruling out potential vice presidents
including Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and
Gen. Colin L. Powell, who favored abortion
rights. Picking any of them could turn conservative
Christians away from the ticket, Mr. Bush said. "They are not going to like it anyway, boy," Mr.
Bush said. "Dobson made it clear." Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried
that Christian conservatives would object to his
determination not to criticize gay people. "I think
he wants me to attack homosexuals," Mr. Bush said
after meeting James Robison, a prominent
evangelical minister in Texas. But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change
his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: "Look,
James, I got to tell you two things right off the
bat. One, I'm not going to kick gays, because I'm a
sinner. How can I differentiate sin?" Later, he read aloud an aide's report from a
convention of the Christian Coalition, a
conservative political group: "This crowd uses gays
as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear
of the homosexual political agenda and fear of
homosexuality, however." "This is an issue I have been trying to
downplay," Mr. Bush said. "I think it is bad for
Republicans to be kicking gays." Told that one conservative supporter was saying
Mr. Bush had pledged not to hire gay people, Mr.
Bush said sharply: "No, what I said was, I wouldn't
fire gays." As early as 1998, however, Mr. Bush had already
identified one gay-rights issue where he found
common ground with conservative Christians:
same-sex marriage. "Gay marriage, I am against
that. Special rights, I am against that," Mr. Bush
told Mr. Wead, five years before a Massachusetts
court brought the issue to national attention. Mr. Bush took stock of conservative Christian
views of foreign policy as well. Reading more of
the report from the Christian Coalition meeting,
Mr. Bush said to Mr. Wead: "Sovereignty. The issue
is huge. The mere mention of Kofi Annan in
the U.N. caused the crowd to go into a veritable
fit. The coalition wants America strong and wants
the American flag flying overseas, not the pale
blue of the U.N." As eager as Mr. Bush was to cultivate the
support of Christian conservatives, he did not want
to do it too publicly for fear of driving away more
secular voters. When Mr. Wead warned Mr. Bush to
avoid big meetings with evangelical leaders, Mr.
Bush said, "I'm just going to have one," and, "This
is not meant to be public."
MANY of the taped conversations revolve around Mr.
Bush's handling of questions about his past
behavior. In August 1998, he worried that the
scandals of the Clinton administration had
sharpened journalists' determination to investigate
the private lives of candidates. He even expressed
a hint of sympathy for his Democratic
predecessor. "I don't like it either," Mr. Bush said of the
Clinton investigations. "But on the other hand, I
think he has disgraced the nation." When Mr. Wead warned that he had heard reporters
talking about Mr. Bush's "immature" past, Mr. Bush
said, "That's part of my
schtick, which is,
look, we have all made mistakes." He said he learned "a
couple of really good lines" from Mr.
Robison, the Texas pastor: "What you need to say
time and time again is not talk about the details
of your transgressions but talk about what I have
learned. I've sinned and I've learned." "I said, 'James' - he stopped - I said, 'I did
some things when I was young that were immature,' "
Mr. Bush said. "He said, 'But have you learned?' I
said, 'James, that's the difference between me and
the president. I've learned. I am prepared to
accept the responsibility of this office.' "By the
summer of 1999, Mr. Bush was telling Mr. Wead his
approach to such prying questions had evolved. "I
think it is time for somebody to just draw the line
and look people in the eye and say, I am not going
to participate in ugly rumors about me, and blame
my opponents, and hold the line, and stand up for a
system that will not allow this kind of crap to go
on." Later, however, Mr. Bush worried that his
refusal to answer questions about whether he had
used illegal drugs in the past could prove costly,
but he held out nonetheless. "I am just not going
to answer those questions. And it might cost me the
election," he told Mr. Wead. He complained repeatedly about the press
scrutiny, accusing the news media of a "campaign"
against him. While he talked of certain reporters
as "pro-Bush" and commented favorably on some
publications (U.S. News & World Report
is "halfway decent," but Time magazine is
"awful"), he vented frequently to Mr. Wead about
what he considered the liberal bias and
invasiveness of the news media in general. "It's unbelievable," Mr. Bush said, reciting
various rumors about his past that his aides had
picked up from reporters. "They just float sewer
out there." Mr. Bush bristled at even an implicit aspersion
on his past behavior from Dan Quayle, the
former vice president and a rival candidate. "He's gone ugly on me, man," Mr. Bush told Mr.
Wead. Mr. Bush quoted Mr. Quayle as saying, "I'm
proud of what I did before 40." During the primary contest, Mr. Bush often sized
up his dozen Republican rivals, assessing their
appeal to conservative Christian voters, their
treatment of him and their prospects of serving in
a future Bush administration. He paid particular
attention to Senator John Ashcroft. "I like
Ashcroft a lot," he told Mr. Wead in November 1998.
"He is a competent man. He would be a good Supreme
Court pick. He would be a good attorney general. He
would be a good vice president." When Mr. Wead predicted an uproar if Mr.
Ashcroft were appointed to the court because of his
conservative religious views, Mr. Bush replied,
"Well, tough." While Mr. Bush thought the conservative
Christian candidates Gary L. Bauer and
Alan Keyes would probably scare away
moderates, he saw Mr. Ashcroft as an ally because
he would draw evangelical voters into the race. "I want Ashcroft to stay in there, and I want
him to be very strong," Mr. Bush said. " I would
love it to be a Bush-Ashcroft race. Only because I
respect him. He wouldn't say ugly things about me.
And I damn sure wouldn't say ugly things about
him." But Mr. Bush was sharply critical of Mr. Forbes,
another son of privilege with a famous last name.
Evangelicals were not going to like him, Mr. Bush
said. "He's too preppy," Mr. Bush said, calling Mr.
Forbes "mean spirited." Recalling the bruising primary fight Mr. Forbes
waged against Bob Dole in 1996, Mr. Bush
told Mr. Wead, "Steve Forbes is going to
hear this message from me. I will do nothing for
him if he does to me what he did to Dole. Period.
There is going to be a consequence. He is not
dealing with the average, you know, 'Oh gosh, let's
all get together after it's over.' I will promise
you, I will not help him. I don't care." Another time, Mr. Bush discussed offering Mr.
Forbes a job as economic adviser or even secretary
of commerce, if Mr. Forbes would approach him
first. Mr. Bush's political predictions were not always
on the mark. Before the New Hampshire primary, Mr.
Bush all but dismissed Senator John McCain, who
turned out to be his strongest challenger. "He's going to wear very thin when it is all
said and done," he said. When Mr. Wead suggested in June 2000 that Mr.
McCain's popularity with Democrats and moderate
voters might make him a strong vice presidential
candidate, Mr. Bush almost laughed. "Oh, come on!"
He added, "I don't know if he helps us win." Mr. Bush could hardly contain his disdain for
Mr. Gore, his Democratic opponent, at one point
calling him "pathologically a liar." His confidence
in the moral purpose of his campaign to usher in "a
responsibility era" never wavered, but he
acknowledged that winning might require hard jabs.
"I may have to get a little rough for a while," he
told Mr. Wead, "but that is what the old man had to
do with Dukakis, remember?" For his part, Mr. Wead
said what was most resonant about the
conversations with Mr. Bush was his concern that
his past behavior might come back to haunt him.
Mr. Wead said he used the tapes for his book
because Mr. Bush's life so clearly fit his
thesis: that presidents often grow up
overshadowed by another sibling. "What I saw in George W. Bush is that he
purposefully put himself in the shadows by his
irresponsible behavior as a young person," Mr. Wead
said. That enabled him to come into his own outside
the glare of his parents' expectations, Mr. Wead
said. Why disclose the tapes? "I just felt that the
historical point I was making trumped a personal
relationship," Mr. Wead said. Asked about
consequences, Mr. Wead said, "I'll always be
friendly toward him." Copyright © 2005
The New York Times Company.
| ![[]](../../std/dings/list.gif){kind=small}
write to David
Irving