Bush's Refusal to Talk Keeps Media Buzzing

Harper, Jennifer, The Washington Times (Washington, DC)

Gov. George W. Bush's remarks about cocaine have touched off a media explosion of the most dan-gerous kind.

There are no conclusions yet, just buzz.

It's everywhere. Talks shows, newspaper editorials, columnists, pundits and spinmeisters have spent the past 48 hours analyzing the fallout of Mr. Bush's decision to neither confirm nor deny that he was once young, foolish and who knows, maybe illegal.

Yesterday, he stuck to his guns, although he regaled his audiences about the dangers of drug use, morality, parental responsibility and the lessons he has learned on the campaign trail since Thursday.

"I've learned that politics can be unnecessarily ugly, and I'm trying to purge the system of ugly politics," Mr. Bush said in Akron, Ohio.

The flap is mostly over privacy, who gets it and who doesn't. Mr. Bush has been determined to preserve his own and evade perilous "politics of personal destruction." This has not played well with a impatient reporters and commentators, frustrated by years of President Clinton's evasions and careful formulations in one scandal and another.

The first of many polls has already weighed in on the matter.

A Time/CNN …

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Publication information: Article title: Bush's Refusal to Talk Keeps Media Buzzing. Contributors: Harper, Jennifer - Author. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: August 21, 1999. Page number: 1. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group.

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