Laura on George
Roedy Green
excess. Drinking is not one of the good things to do to excess."
~ Laura Bush
Bush is not on your side!
--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
Coaching, problem solving, economical contract programming.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss.html for The Java Glossary.
Rhino
"Roedy Green" <loo...@mindprod.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:qkj5m0h1s9um6d0kh...@4ax.com...
> "George is pretty impulsive, and does pretty much everything to
> excess. Drinking is not one of the good things to do to excess."
> ~ Laura Bush
>
you find this quote?
Rhino
Roedy Green
<rhi...@NOSPAM.sympatico.ca> wrote or quoted :
>> "George is pretty impulsive, and does pretty much everything to
>> excess. Drinking is not one of the good things to do to excess."
>> ~ Laura Bush
>>
>How about a proper citation for this quote: when did she say it? Where did
>you find this quote?
quoted in Favorite Son page 73.
In the notes for chapter 3 Ties that Bind which is largely about
Bush's alcoholism, Hatfield cites the following sources:
This an uncorrected OCR scan which will explain some of the odd typos:
1994; “Running for Governor. . . and Beyond,” PBS News Hour,
October 27, 1998; “George W. Bush, the Dirt Digger,” MSNBC,
December 10, 1998; CNN interview with George W. Bush,
February 2, 1999; Diane Sawyer interview with George W. Bush
on ABC-TV’s Good Morning, America, May 10, 1999; “George W.
Bush: The Son Also Rises,” A&E Biography,June 9, 1999; Diane
Sawyer interview with George W. Bush, ABC’s Good Morning,
America, May 10, 1999. On-line: “Fear of Nude Picture Rocks
Campaign 2000 Star,” the Drudge Report
(www.drudgereport.com), February 28, 1999; “Bush Up to His
Arse in Allegations!” by Amy Reiter (www.salonmagazine.com),
August 25, 1999; “Bush Denies Using Any Illegal Drug During
the Past 25 Years,” CNN Interactive (www.cnn.com), August
19, 1999. Interviews: Jimmy Keller; Clay Johnson; Buddy
Jenkins; confidential interviews with Bush’s former
classmates at Andover and Yale; Cora Leonard; Joe Newell;
Benny McKissick; confidential interviews with Bush family
friends; Retired Maj. Gen. Thomas Bishop; Allen Gerson; John
DeCamp; Sam Drogan;JamesJohnson; confidential interviews
with Bush’s flight school classmates at Moody Air Force Base
in Valdosta, Georgia; Eddie Johnston; Leonard Freeman;
confidential inter views with former residents of Houston’s
Chateaux Dijon apartment complex; Ernie Ladd; Edgar Arnold;
Muriel Henderson; confidential interviews with former
members of Winton “Red” Blount’s U.S. Senate campaign staff;
Diane King; Danny Freeman; “Junior” McDonald; confidential
conversations with aides to Governor Bush and presidential
campaign strategists. Archives and Oral History Collections:
Incorporation records from the Texas Secretary of State’s
office regarding Arbusto Energy Inc., Bush Exploration, and
Spectrum 7 Exploration Co.; 1978 campaign filings with the
Federal Election Commission, Washington, D.C.;James N.
Allison obituary in the Midland Reporter- Telegram,
September 1, 1978; Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library,
George Bush Files; The George Bush Presidential Library,
College Station, Texas; the Texas State Archives, Austin,
Texas; Texas Room, Houston Public Library; Center for
American History, the University of Texas at Austin; Texas
Historical Society, Houston, Texas; Thomas Ludlow Ashley
Papers, MS-159, Center for Archival Collections, Bowling
Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio; Public Service
Archives, Woodson Research Center, Rice University; Eugene
C. Barker Texas History Center, Austin; Permian Basin
Petroleum Museum, Midland, Texas; Midland County Historical
Museum; Haley Library and History Center, Midland, Texas.
Books: The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride Into the Heart of BCCI,
byJonathan Beaty and S.C. Gwynne, Random House, New York,
1993; With No Apologies: The Personal and Political Memoirs
of United States Senator Barry M. Goldwater~ by Barry Morris
Goldwater, William Morrow, NewYork, 1979;Just As JAm: The
Autobiography of Billy Graham, by Billy Graham, Harper, San
Francisco, 1997; Looking Forward, by George Bush and Victor
Gold, Doubleday, New York, 1987; George Bush: An Intimate
Portrait, by Fitzhugh Green, Hippocrene Books, New York,
1989; George Bush: The Liji 0/ a Lone Star Yankee,
Herbert S. Parmet, Charles Scribners Sons, New York, 1997;
Barbara Bush: A Memoir (paperback edition), by Barbara Bush,
St. Martin’s Press, NewYork, 1995; Simply Barbara Bush: A
Portrait of America’s Candid First Lady (paperback edition),
by Donnie Radcliffe, Warner Books, New York, 1990; Barbara
Bush: A Biography, by Pamela Kilian, St. Martin’s Press, New
York, 1992; The Agency: ~1’he Rise and Decline of the GA,
byJohn Ranelagh, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1987. Among the
published articles consulted: “Good Connections: Family Ties
Helped Fund Oil Venture That Began Bush’s Business Career,”
by Richard A. Oppel Jr. and George Kucmpel, I)allas Morning
News, November 16, 1998; “Rangers’ Bush Keeps Traditions
Intact, Times Two,” by Bob Porter, Dallas Timen.Herald, May
23, 1991; “George W. Bush/Wealth Produced Via Stock Swaps
and Bailouts,” by Bob Sahlatura, Houston Chronicle, May 8,
1994; “The Color of Money,” by Stephen J. Hedges, US. News &
World Report, March 16, 1992; “Oil Firms of Vice-President’s
Sons Also in Struggle to Survive,” by Robert Reinhold, New
York Times, May 4, 1986; “George W. Bush Blazing Own Trail,”
by R.G. Ratcliffe, Houston Chronicle, November 7, 1993;
“Family Value$,” by Stephen Pizzo, Mother Jones,
September/October 1992; “The Family that Preys Together,” by
Jack Calhoun, Covert Action Quarterly, #41, Summer 1992;
“The Saturday Profile: The Bush Clan, The Family That Plays
Too,” by Rupert Cornwell, Independenti, November 7, 1998;
~The Same Old Dirty Tricks,” by David Corn, The Nation,
August 23, 1988; “Bush Planning Run-Off Tactics,” by Ed
Todd, Midland Reporter-Telegram, May 10, 1978; “Bush, Hance
Trying to Keep ‘Big Names’ Out of Race,” Midland
Reporter-Telegram, September 13, 1978; “GOP Candidate Bush
Under Fire From Hance Camp,” by Lana Cunningham, Midland
Reporter-Telegram, November 3, 1978; “Bush Says Most
Contrihutions Come From Within 19th District,” by Lana
Cunningham, Midland Reporter-Telegram, November 6, 1978;
“Campaign Donations Favor Bush,” Midland Reporter-Tel egram,
October 15, 1978; “George Bush Works the Hustings From Door
to Door,” by Linda Hill, Midland Reporter-Telegram, May 28,
1978; “It’s Bush Over Reese in Election,” by Lana
Cunningham, Midland ~eporter-Telegram,June 7, 1978; “Bush,
Reese in Runoff for Mahon Seat,” by Lana Ci~nningham,
Midland Reporter- Telegram, May 7, 1978; “Bush (of
Connecticut) Reveal~ His Single Regret,” by Lana Cunningham,
Midland Reporter-Telegram, June 2, 197~ “Innuendo Countered
by Bush,” Midland Reporter-Telegram, May 30, 1978;
“Long)Road to Victory; Questions Abound About Likely Race
for Governor,” by Sam 4ktlesey, Dallas Morning News,
September 7, 1993; “George Bush Jr~ Enters Raç/e for Mahon’s
Seat,” Dallas Morning News, July 20, 1977; “Candidate’s
Father is Runoff Issue,” by Ron Calhoun, Dallas
Times-Herald, June 1, 1978; “George W. Bush Trying to Hold
Up Tradition in Runoff,” by Carolyn Barta, Dallas Morning
News, June 2, 1978; “Bush’s Son Sees ‘Victory’ for Father,”
Dallas Morning News, January 13, 1980; “Bush Says Election
of Republican Vital,” by Lana Cunningham, Midland
Reporter-Telegram, September 9, 1978; “Bush, Hance: A Hair’s
Difference,” by Lana Cunningham, Midland Reporter-Telegram,
October 6, 1978; “Bush-Backers Barbecue Looks Like ‘Love
Fest,” by Lana Cunningham, Midland Reporter-Telegram,
October 15, 1978; “Bush, Hance Focus on Inflation Ills,” by
Lana Cunningham, Midland Reporter- Telegram, October 26,
1978; “Our Future President a Man of Warmth,” by Rollan
Melton, Reno Gazette-Journal, January 19, 1989; “Allison
‘Missing Man’ in Bush’s Formation,” by Pete Roussel, Midland
Reporter-Telegram, November 27, 1988; “Bush Stumps for
Husband on Home Tuft” by Tonic Millar-Uzzel, Midland
Reporter Telegram. May 12, 1994; “Out of ‘Texas, A Familiar
But Singtilar Brand,” by Jill Lawrence, USA Today, September
8, 1998; “A Dynasty Sign in Bush Sons’ Rise,” by Mary
Leonard, Boston Globe, November 18, 1998; “George W. Bush;
Politics, Baseball and Life in the Shadow of the White
House,” by Diane Reischel, Dallas Morning News, February 25,
1990; “Younger Bush Wasn’t Surprised,” by Lana Cunningham,
Midland Reporter-Telegram, May 27, 1980; “Bush Cites Reagan
Stamina, Class,” by Lana Cunningham, Midland
Reporter-Telegram, February 15, 1981; “President Bush’s Son
on a Roll,” by Steven R. Reed, Houston Chronicle, July 2,
1989; “Another Bush in Line?” by Sue Anne Presley,
Washington Post, May 9, 1997; “Downloading the Bush Files,”
by Michael King, Texas Observey November 1998; “Arabs Bought
into Bank with Connally Aid,” by Kate Thomas and John
Mecklin, Houston Post, August 3, 1991; “Feds Investigate
Entrepreneur Allegedly Tied to Saudis,” by Jerry Urban,
Houston ~2hronicle, June 4, 1992; “Bush Beginnings/New First
Lady’s Quiet Life to Greet Thunder of Politics,” by Cheryl
Laird, Associated Press, January 15, 1995; “Lone Star
Stars,” byJulia Reed, Vogue, February 1999; “Faithful Have a
Place in Politics, Says Bush;’ by R.G. Ratcliffe, Houston
Chronicle, March 7, 1999; “Bush Cites Work, Rejects Rich-Boy
Image,” by Ken Herman, Austin American-Statesman, October
11, 1998; “Footnotes,” Houston Chronicle, February 7, 1999;
“Eldest Son May Seek Office,” Dallas Morning News, December
23, 1991; “The Son Also Rises,” by Evan Thomas, Newsweek,
November 16, 1998; “I Was Young and Irresponsible,” by Pete
Slover and George Kuempel, Dallas Morning News, November 15,
1998; “George Walker Bush, Driving on the Right,” by Lois
Romano, Washington Post, September 24, 1998; “Favorite Son,”
by Robert Draper, GQ October 1998; “Billy Graham/A Prophet
with Honor,” by Cecil Holmes White, Houston Chronicle,
September 28, 1991; “Company Man,” by Scott Armstrong and
Jeff Nason, Mother Jones, October 1988; “Republicans Try to
Get Their Act Together,” by Tom Wicker, New York Times
Magazine, February 12, 1978; “He Ran the GOP for Nixon, He
Ran the CIA for Ford,” by Alexander Cockburn and James
Ridgeway, Rolling Stone, March 30, 1980; “Reading Laura
Bush,” by Skip Hollandsworth, Texas Monthly, November 1996;
“Laura Bush Likes the Traditional Role She’s Filled,” by
Claudia Feldman, Houston Chronicle,July 20, 1997; “A Run for
the House,” by Lois Romano and George Lardner, Jr.,
Washington Post, July 29, 1999; “A Shrub Grows in Midland,”
by Karen Olsson, Texas Observer, July 1999; “1986: A
Life-Changing Year,” by Lois Romano and George Lardner,Jr.,
Washington Post, July 25, 1999; “Bush Putting Faith to Fore
in Public,” by Deborah Kovach Caldwell, Dallas Morning News,
May 12, 1999; “Longtime Friendship Drives Bush Campaign
Fund-Raiser,” by Laylan Copelin, Austin American-Statesman,
March 3, 1999; “In Business, Bush Known for Strength of
Personality,” by Richard Aim and Mark Curriden, Dallas
Morning News, July 30, 1999; “How George Got His Groove,” by
Eric Pooley and S.C. Gwynne, Time, June 21, 1999; “The Man
from Midland,” by Kenneth T. Walsh, US. News & World
Report,June 7, 1999; “Go East, Young Man;’ by Helen Thorpe,
Texas Monthly,June 1999; “Not So Great in ‘78,” by Patricia
Kilday Hart, Texas Monthly, June 1999; “George’s Road to
Riches’ by Byron York, American Spectator, June 1999.
Television: CNN interview with George W. Bush, February 2,
1999; “Lone Star Legend,” produced by Phillips Productions,
December 11, 1994; Diane Sawyer interview with Laura Bush on
ABC-TV’s Good Morning, America, May 10, 1999; Chris Matthews
interview with Washington Post reporter, Lois Romano, CNBC’s
Hardbal4 July 26, 1999; “George W. Bush: The Son Also
Rises,” A & E Biography, June 9, 1999; Diane Sawyer
interview with George W. Bush, ABC’s Good Morning, America,
May 10, 1999. On-line: “George W. Bush: Front-Runner for
2000,” BBC On-line Network (news. hbc.co.uk), October 2,
1998; www.bush98.com (See Biographies—Laura Welch Bush). For
this chapter, the author drew on conversations with Walt
Holton, Jr.; Diane King; Tom Craddick; Don Evans;
confidential interviews with U.S. intelligence op eratives
regarding concerns that bin Laden might attempt an
assassination of Bush or his father in 1998; Frank Hobbs;
Carl Barker; Bill Hammer; confidential interviews with
Midland friends of Harold and Jenna Welch; Floyd Walker;
Roger Newman;Jimmy Dolan; confidential interviews with
friends and former Midland neighbors of George and Laura
Bush; Pete Teeley; David Rosen; Dennis “Wemus” Grubb; Larry
Makinson; confidential interviews with a former Texas
Republican Party fund-raising consultant; Harvey Blocker;
Jay Howard; Bill Barnes; confiden tial interview with
members of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; Logan
Gray, M.D.
you can get a copy of Favourite Son: George W. Bush and the Making of
an American President
by James H. Hatfield at:
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887128751/canadianmindprod
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887128751/canadianmindp-20
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887128751/canadianmindp-21
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887128751/canadianmin0b-21
Barnes & Noble
http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=2181&sourceid=39378888&bfpid=1887128751&bfmtype=book
Chapters Indigo (Canada)
http://chapters.indigo.ca/Affiliates/ItemPage.asp?PRODUCTTYPE=1&AFFID=109369&ISBN=1887128751
Rhino
"Roedy Green" <loo...@mindprod.com.invalid> wrote in message
> On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 13:45:02 -0400, "Rhino"
> <rhi...@NOSPAM.sympatico.ca> wrote or quoted :
>
> >> "George is pretty impulsive, and does pretty much everything to
> >> excess. Drinking is not one of the good things to do to excess."
> >> ~ Laura Bush
> >>
> >How about a proper citation for this quote: when did she say it? Where
did
> >you find this quote?
>
> quoted in Favorite Son page 73.
>
asked]
>
>
> you can get a copy of Favourite Son: George W. Bush and the Making of
> an American President
> by James H. Hatfield at:
>
URL), not to actually buy it.
You didn't answer my question about *when* she made this remark.
Rhino
Roedy Green
<rhi...@NOSPAM.sympatico.ca> wrote or quoted :
>You didn't answer my question about *when* she made this remark.
Instead of me interpreting for you, let the "suicided" James Hatfield
tell you about Bush's alcoholism in his own words from Chapter 3 of
Fortunate Son;
The sources Hatfield quotes are in my previous post.
I can't believe people are so cavalier about letting an admitted
alcoholic into the White House. The fools must have no experience
with alcoholics.
-----------------
BORN AGAIN
Since the birth of Jenna and Barbara five years earlier,
George W. had begun what one friend described as his "long,
winding road to maturity." He had slowed down on the
drinking (usually just an after dinner drink and a couple of
beers in the evening while watching TV), stopped smoking
cigarettes, and ran three miles to five miles every day at
noon at the local YMCA.
"Each step was another exercise in discipline. He likes
that," Laura explained "It makes him feel good to give up
bad habits."
Although the impetuosity Bush displayed in his youth was
tempered by his marriage and the birth of his twin
daughters, it was Reverend Billy Graham, America's
evangelical statesman, who ultimately taught Bush to
discipline his energies and guided him through his
transformation to devoted family man and recovering
alcoholic.
For decades, Graham had preached to hundreds of millions of
people worldwide, rubbed elbows with kings, and acted as
confidant to several American presidents. But to the Bush
family, he was more than a spiritual adviser, he was a
close and dear friend, who frequently vacationed with them
at their summer compound in Kennebunkport, Maine.
During the l980s, Graham developed a uniquely special bond
with the vice president's eldest son. Junior reminded the
evangelist of his own son, Franklin, who at the age of 22,
after a lengthy period of hell-raising and hard-drinking
rebellion, committed his life to Jesus Christ. There were
difficult times over the years, Graham told George W., when
his son would tell him that he was a lost cause. Graham
thought it ironic that he had helped millions of people
around the world find a personal relation ship with God, but
he had seemingly failed in his own household, with his own
prodigal son. Finally, after years of one-on-one ministering
from his father, Franklin saw the light.
In 1986, during a walk on the beach in Kennebunkport, the
evangelist asked Junior if he was "right with God." Bush
responded that for the past five years he and his family had
regularly attended services at a Midland Methodist church
and he had even taught Sunday school class on several
occasions.
Graham stopped walking and put a hand on Junior's shoulder.
"You didn't answer my question, son," he said sternly. "Do
you have the peace and understanding with God that can only
come through our Lord Jesus Christ?"
Bush lowered his head and admitted that although he had
grown up in the church, he "didn't always walk the walk,"
and had a nagging feeling that something was missing in his
life. Although he had survived the collapse of the oil
industry by merging Spectrum 7 with Harken Energy, the
buyout had signaled the end of Bush's career as an
independent oil man. Bush said he felt like a failure and
instead of turning to God for strength, he acknowledged he
had been drinking excessively to dull the pain and sense of
loss.
"To be without God in this life is to be terribly lonely,"
Graham noted. "If there is one thing I want you to take back
to Texas, it is this: God loves you, George, and God is
interested in you. To recommit your life to Jesus Christ,
you have to give up that one last demon before you can
become a new man. Give it to Him, George, he'll take the
burden, and set you free."
Graham's influence on his new disciple was "like planting a
mustard seed. It took time to grow," Junior admitted, "and I
began to change." Bush's reckoning with his "demon" came a
few months later at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, where he had gone with Midland friends for a
collective 40th birthday celebration. For George W. it was a
party to end all parties, after his brother Neil came in
from Denver, and the friends stayed up late, laughing and
drinking. The evening dinner at the venerable resort was
extravagant, complete with a multi-course meal, several
bottles of $60 Silver Oak cabernet and repeated toasts to
all the birthday celebrants. Bush and fellow oilman, Don
Evans (who would take on the role of U.S. Commerce Secretary
in the coming years), both turned 40 that month, and their
wives would reach the same age in the fall. Also in
attendance were the couple who had introduced the Bushes at
their backyard barbecue, Joe and Jan O'Neill (she was also
nearing 40).
"We weren't that loud," remembered Joe O'Neill. "But the
next morning, nobody felt great."
Contrary to some accounts of the morning after, Bush didn't
make any major proclamation at breakfast. He said nothing at
first, not even to his wife, Laura. "It's easy to say, 'I
quit," he later acknowledged. "But this time I meant it." It
wasn't until Bush returned to Midland that he told her he
had stopped drinking.
"He just said, 'I'm going to quit,' and he did," Laura
recalled. "That was it. We joked about it later, saying he
got the bar bill and that's why."
"I didn't get the sense at all that it was anything
momentous at the time," said Jan O'Neill. "I think it was a
big turning point in his own mind, but these things never
take on momentous meaning until you follow through."
So what really happened the morning following the group's
all-night party that prompted Bush's sudden vow of sobriety?
Alone in the hotel bathroom, Junior stared at the face in
the mirror -- a man with disheveled hair, crusted vomit on his
chin, and blood shot eyes that were beginning to tear up. He
fell to his knees and sobbed uncontrollably, asking God to
save him before he drank himself to death. From that moment
on, he swore he'd never touch another drop of alcohol
again. And he hasn't, later calling the talk with Graham and
the morning he quit drinking "the defining moments" of his
life.
[Roedy's note: This is actually not true. Here is Bush bombed
at a wedding 6 years later in 1992 when Bush was 46.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/packageart/bush/bush_tsg.mov]
"Christ has made a huge difference in my personal life,"
Bush told an Austin, Texas church congregation years later.
"I firmly believe in the power of intercessory prayer;"
During his campaign for Texas governor and president, George
W. has been repeatedly hounded by the press with
scrutinizing questions about his hard-drinking years and why
he abruptly stopped one morning. "A lot of people say,
'Well, gosh, what's in his background, that he had to quit
drinking?" Bush often states. "What they ought to say is,
'This is a guy that's disciplined enough to quit drinking."
Laura Bush said her husband's drinking years ended
overnight, but it was not an overnight decision. "I think he
had been thinking for probably a couple of years that he was
drinking too much and it was interfering with his life."
Bush has frequently acknowledged in interviews that "alcohol
began to compete with my energies. . . I'd lose focus."
Although he once said "he couldn't remember a day he hadn't
had a drink," he added that he didn't believe he was
"clinically alcoholic." Even his father, who had known for
years that his son had a serious drinking problem, publicly
pro claimed: "He was never an alcoholic. It's just he knows
he can't hold his liquor."
Dr. Logan Gray, a specialist in the treatment of alcoholism
and sub stance abuse, offered, "No other progressive and
potentially fatal disease is more often denied than
alcoholism. Even members of the alcoholic's family, who may
suffer as much as the victim, often fail to recognize or
refuse to acknowledge the existence of alcohol abuse by
their relative," Dr. Gray said.
Bush's wife, who repeatedly begged him to quit, also seems
to be in denial regarding her husband's years of alcohol
abuse. "George never was a drinker who drank during the
day," she once claimed. "He never did. He didn't have a
Bloody Mary at lunch -- ever."
"It is not when a person drinks," countered Dr. Gray, "but
whether the amount can be controlled."
"Once he got started he couldn't quit, didn't shut it off,"
admitted Bush's close friend, Don Evans. "He didn't have the
discipline."
More disturbing, however, is the vague hint in the Bushes'
comments that George W.'s personality underwent a darker
transformation when he was drinking heavily. "I wasn't
pleasant to be around. . . I wasn't so funny when I drank!
All you have to do is ask my wife," he has said. "If you're
feisty anyway, you don't need any reason to be more feisty."
By his own account, Bush also spent a great deal of time in
Midland bars, where his kind of ragged nervous energy turned
him into a bully after he drank. "George is pretty impulsive
and does pretty much every thing to excess," admitted Laura.
"Drinking is not one of the good things to do to excess."
Less than three months before the birthday party in
Colorado, Bush encountered Al Hunt, then the Wall Street
Journal's Washington Bureau Chief, at.a Mexican restaurant
in Dallas, where Hunt was dining with his wife, Judy
Woodruff, and their 4-year-old son. The current edition of
Washingtonian magazine had just hit newsstands, featuring 16
pundits who predicted that Jack Kemp would be the 1988 GOP
nominee instead of Vice President Bush.
Hunt said an obviously drunken George W. approached his
family's table in the restaurant and began loudly cursing at
him in front of his young child. "You fucking son of a
bitch," Hunt has quoted Bush as saying at the time, "I saw
what you wrote. We're not going to forget this."
Charles Younger, a Midland orthopedic surgeon who jogged
three or four miles with Bush most every day, allowed that
when his close friend, a spree or binge drinker, had one too
many "he could say some things that were not reflective of
how he really felt when he was not drinking."
George W.'s father knew, however, that his son didn't need
alcohol to make the metamorphosis from Dr. Jekyll to Mr.
Hyde. Ever since he was a boy he had always been alternately
sharp-tongued and funny, combative and consoling, charming
and abrasive--just like his mother.
They were personality traits George W. would need as he
reentered the hardball arena of politics, not as a
candidate, but as his father's "loyalty enforcer" for the
1988 presidential campaign.
-----------
If you change your mind and decide you want to check this out further,
you can get a copy of Favourite Son: George W. Bush and the Making of
an American President
by James H. Hatfield at:
Amazon