Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

A few days ago a story broke in the news in which tapes of G.W. Bush admitting to have smoked pot were released. It did not get as much attention, however, as you would have expected. The media in the rest of the world is having as much fun with it as they can, but in the U.S. it's buried in a longer a story about a friend who betrayed the President by releasing the tapes.

Is this because the marijuana admission is really no big deal? Or is it because the "liberal" media is afraid of being accused of attacking the President? Probably a bit of each. Clinton proved it was no big deal by saying publicly (if stupidly) that he'd tried it. Bush is proving it's no big deal by not denying the authenticity of the tapes.

But it's not entirely true that nobody cares about youthful pot smoking. Bush's conservative base claims that they do. Bush himself has made some fairly harsh comments in the past about illegal drug users. And that's the story that timid press is shying away from; not that W smoked pot, but that he's a hypocrite. Of course, that's not really news either, though - is it?

(Washington Post: Bush Gets Stoned by the World Media)