Okay, I've done a good job of not talking about politics ever since starting this weblog, and though I could rant about so many thought going through my head, like Nader helping Bush win, comparisons between this race and the 1988 race, and how Reagan helped Bush get elected but Bush Jr is condemning Clinton for campaigning for Gore, even though he's done it far less, blah blah blah.

What really gets me is the DUI thing. I'll keep it short, but sweet, and I only bring it up because my own concern isn't one I've seen spread in the media yet.

With the whole Lewinsky scandal, several defendants of the President tried to downplay the importance of the infidelity by citing statistics of how common infidelity is, and exposing members of congress, gingrich, Hyde, and others, who had continuing problems with infidelity. The Republican response to this was, 'Sure Clinton's bad because he cheated on his wife, but we impeached him because he lied about it, which is far, far worse.'

Okay, fast-forwarding to last week, when the DUI news came out, Bush is calling it all irresponsible, dirty politics, because it happened 24 years ago, and he's since quit drinking. That's fine, I buy that, but if that's the case, he shouldn't have hidden it. Unfortunately, his spin-doctors are spinning in opposite directions, and this is evidenced by his own statements after the disclosure. On one hand, he's said again and again that he's learned from his mistakes. To quote:

"I'm proud to tell you, I've learned from those mistakes. And that's the role of a leader: to share wisdom, to share experience with people."
--George W Bush, Thursday, November 2

At the same time, he's said time and time again that he didn't disclose the DUI arrest because he didn't want to tell his daughters. to quote again:

"I'm not trying to get away with anything. I didn't want to talk about this in front of my daughters. I've been very candid about my past."

My question is, if he's going to protect his daughters by not telling him about his own mistakes, and consequently won't share those mistakes with anyone else, how is he sharing wisdom and experience? It seems to be just the opposite. If he was serious about sharing his own wisdom, he would be up-front about how he learned it. I would be more convinced about the evils of cocaine, for example, if I was preached to from a recovered addict than someone who took a pharmacology class.

Okay, I'm ranting. The point is, I don't think that much less of Bush because of a DUI he got 24 years ago, but I do think less of him for the daily decision he made to hide it by dodging questions about his past agan and again, saying, "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible," and refusing to elaborate.

I'm simply amazed that no reporter has, in the last three days, directly asked Bush: "Have you been arrested for anything else aside from the three incidents previously reported?" He hasn't said "Okay, you got me, you found my secret." and he's still just as evasive about his past. If I were thinking of voting for him, I'd certainly want to know his answer to that simple question before going into the booth.

Conclusion, as we learned from the Clinton impeachment trial: Doing something bad is bad, but lying about it to cover your ass is worse. Shouldn't this be a bipartisan lesson?