Pubdate: Mon, 21 Feb 2005
Source: CNN (US Web)
Copyright: 2005 Cable News Network, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.cnn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/65
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AUTHOR: I SHOULD GIVE TAPES TO BUSH

Doug Wead Says Recordings Were Not Meant for Public

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The author who secretly recorded his conversations with 
then-Gov. George W. Bush told CNN Monday he should give the tapes to the 
president despite lucrative offers to sell them.

Doug Wead -- a former aide to President Bush's father, George H.W. Bush -- 
recorded about nine hours of conversations with the Texas governor while he 
was considering his run for the White House.

On the tapes, the president appears to admit to past drug use and says he 
won't join some conservative Christians he sees as "kicking gays."

The tapes, first featured in a New York Times article on Sunday, have 
raised eyebrows -- not only about Bush's comments, but also Wead's motives 
for releasing them.

"Tonight, my agent called me and said, 'Well, do you want to retire a 
multimillionaire?' " Wead told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

But Wead said despite "long lists" of potential buyers, he feels he should 
give the tapes to Bush, who didn't know their conversations were being 
recorded at the time.

"My initial hope was to record something that would have historical value, 
but this has become too much," Wead said. "I think I should get the tapes 
back to him. He was the other person on the line, and they can do whatever 
they want with them. History can wait."

Asked if he had contacted the White House, he said, "I've been talking with 
an intermediary in the private sector."

There was no immediate reaction from the White House.

Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Scott McClellan described the 
tapes as "casual conversations that then-Gov. Bush was having with someone 
he thought was a friend."

Wead told CNN he has no plans to do more television interviews about the 
subject, because he believes the story is taking on a life of its own.

"I've already told my publicist here, 'I don't want any more TV. I'm going 
home,'" he said. "I just think this story has become a distraction.

"I would rather be a good man with mediocre book sales, than a mediocre man 
with big book sales. Book sales were never my interest," said Wead, who 
wrote "The Raising of a President."

Wead told CNN that Bush for the most part is the same man in private as he 
is in public.

"There are some pretty dramatic differences, but by and large the same," he 
said. "In terms of principle, they're exactly the same."

Wead: Drug Use 'Irrelevant'

Earlier Monday, Wead told CNN that the tapes were a historical record he 
never wanted made public.

Wead said he was thinking about writing a book when he made the tapes, but 
would not say whether he thought the tapes would boost sales of his book 
about presidential childhoods.

"My book could have been released before the election," Wead said. "It 
would have been driven by partisan sales."

"I hope it sells," Wead said. "I'm a historian, and he's president and has 
to lead, has to set an example. I had to write about the Roosevelts, the 
Kennedys, the Bushes. I attempted to vet the stories with all three families."

In a segment of the tapes made available to CNN by ABC News, the president 
appears to admit to trying marijuana.

Bush says he "wouldn't answer the marijuana question ... 'cause I don't 
want some little kid doing what I tried."

"But you gotta understand, I want to be president, I want to lead. I want 
to set -- Do you want your little kid to say, 'Hey daddy, President Bush 
tried marijuana, I think I will?' " he said.

In a segment of the tapes played on ABC's "Good Morning America," Bush says 
the same holds true for questions about cocaine use, which have dogged him 
since the 2000 election.

"The cocaine thing, let me tell you my strategy on that," Bush said on the 
tape. "Rather than saying no ... I think it's time for someone to draw the 
line and look people in the eye and say, you know, 'I'm not going to 
participate in ugly rumors about me and blame my opponent,' and hold the 
line. Stand up for a system that will not allow this kind of crap to go on."

Bush also corrected Wead when he said that an evangelical leader had said 
Bush promised not to hire gay men and lesbians.

"No, what I said was I wouldn't fire gays," he said on the tapes. "I'm not 
going to discriminate against people."

Wead revealed the existence of the tapes to The New York Times. The Times 
hired a voice analyst who concluded after eight days that Bush was the 
speaker on the tapes. ABC News also concluded the voice on the tapes was Bush.

Wead told ABC News that he had played the tapes for his publisher to 
confirm anonymous sources, and The New York Times somehow learned of their 
existence. But the Times report says Wead told the paper about the tapes to 
defend a passage in his book.

Wead told ABC that Bush, who has acknowledged past alcohol abuse, spoke 
about past drug use "often" in their conversations. But Wead told CNN that 
the drug use was "an irrelevant point to me."

"He's already said he was young and irresponsible," he said. "That 
established the point I needed to make in my book about the man in the 
shadow. My feeling was because of his indiscretions as a young person, it 
took the pressure off him, the expectations he'd have to achieve and live 
up to the Bush image."

With attention showered on his brother Jeb Bush, governor of Florida, 
George W. Bush "found Laura, he found his faith" out of the public glare.

"In a 10-year period, he became a millionaire, the governor of Texas, and 
the president of the United States," Wead said.
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