Bush Off The Wagon?

Is President Bush drinking now and getting drunk regularly? Do we have an alcoholic making life and death decisions in the war on terror? If you don't think this should be an issue, then please read this article on addiction and leadership.

Now, I have no problem with you drinking or me drinking or drinking in general. My husband and I both did our share of partying in college. But Bush is an admitted alcoholic and cocaine user whose life was a disaster until age 40, when he got sober with no support system. Sounds like my grandfather, who got sober when my dad was born, then fell off the wagon when my dad was 10. He destroyed his law career, his political career and his family.

There is a lot to make me suspicious that the President is drinking again. Are his multiple facial injuries in the last year really due to mountain bike accidents or to getting falling down drunk? I fell and fractured my wrist a few years ago, but didn’t cut up my face because of my helmet. My brother took a spill riding in a race. He broke his collarbone, but his face was fine.

In addition to the facial injuries, there's the incident when he was found passed out on the floor at the White House because he has "choked on a pretzel." There is the slurring of words and his confusion over simple concepts such as tribal sovereignty. Or how about this clip from the Daily Show. Right after Trett Lott. How about falling off the scooter or dropping the little dog?

Some of us have seen the photo of Bush with a beer at the G-8 summit in Canada. Then there’s the 1992 wedding video. There’s more out there. There is even an AOL chat room for DEA agents where they recount Secret Service talk about Bush going on benders. (More on this as soon as I find it.)

bush_g8_canada

There are official "explanations", but taken together a much simpler reason which accounts for all of the facts and which is completely consistent with his past is booze. Bush's drinking is apparently an "open secret" in Washington, yet Newsweek ran a profile highlighting his "sobriety" as a demonstration of his will and determination.

Periodically there are articles by psychologists and experts in the field of recovery in the foreign press speculating on Bush’s drinking. But nothing here.

I admit that I really want to know, too. We all need to know. Good men and women are dying every day in Iraq. We all owe it to them to find out the truth about the commander-and-chief.

My neighbors and I were discussing Bush and Kerry on our porch last night. Some of them are actually true undecided. They like Bush personally but worry about his judgment. We all wish that the issues could decide this election, with serious debate on Iraq and the economy. But the media isn’t going to cooperate.

Their idea of covering the issues is to have two "experts":
Moderator: "Tonight we have two experts on the War in Iraq."
GOP person: "We are winning the war on Terror."
Demo person: "No we aren’t."
GOP person:" "Yes we are."
"No we aren’t."
"Yes we are."
Moderator: "There you have it."

This is what passes for analysis on cable and the networks.

Questions about whether Bush did or did not take a TANG physical 30 years ago or used cocaine when his dad was president don't matter to my neighbors and friends here in central Pennsylvania. But his drinking does.

So is Bush drinking again?