| Bush Admits 24-Year-Old DUI Arrest | |
It's politics as usual. In an apparent last-minute effort to damage the presidential campaign of Republican candidate George W. Bush, a 24-year-old drunk driving charge has surfaced in the national news media. "I think the timing of an announcement like this coming out four to five days before the election about an incident that happened 24 years ago about which even the governor's daughters did not know is certainly questionable," Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes told the Houston Chronicle.
The Bush campaign admitted to the DUI conviction after the story was first aired on WPXT-TV of Portland, Maine. Someone apparently faxed a copy of an old police report to the station.
"It's not something he's proud of," spokeswoman Mindy Tucker told the Washington Post, explaining to reporters why Bush had not come forward with the information on his own.
Bush was pulled over by police for driving too slowly near his family's Kennebunkport, Maine, summer home during the Labor Day weekend in 1976. He paid a $150 fine and had his driving privileges revoked in the state of Maine for a short period. His drivers' license in Texas, where Bush lived at the time, was not revoked or suspended, Tucker said.
Bush told the Chronicle he has not reveal the incident previously because he has tried to keep his teen-age daughters from driving while intoxicated and did not want them to see him as a poor example.
"I made the decision that as a dad I didn't want my girls doing the thing I did," Bush said. His daughters did not know about the incident until Thursday.
Calvin Bridges, the arresting officer in the drunken driving case, said in told The Associated Press that he recalls driving home from work after midnight and spotting a car slipping briefly onto the shoulder before getting back on the road.
Bush, the driver, failed a road sobriety test and a second test in the police station, registering a 0.10 blood-alcohol level -- the legal limit at the time, Bridges said.
Asked about Bush's demeanor, the retired officer said, "The man was, and I say this without being facetious, a picture of integrity. He gave no resistance. He was very cooperative."
Bush has said many times he quit drinking on his 40th birthday in 1986 and has not had a drink since.
The Gore campaign denied having anything to do with the report being leaked to the press.
Previous Features
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday
Friday | Saturday | Sunday
