Bush's drinking and drug use
must be investigated
By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
Jan 3, 2006, 00:00
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It is my belief that President
George W. Bush is drinking
again. Even worse, he may be
mixing alcohol and
anti-depressants -- a
dangerous combination fo
more

Bush's drinking and drug use
must be investigated
By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
Jan 3, 2006, 00:00
Email this article

Printer friendly page

It is my belief that President
George W. Bush is drinking
again. Even worse, he may be
mixing alcohol and
anti-depressants -- a
dangerous combination for
anyone, let alone the
so-called leader of the free
world.

No, I don't have any proof of
this, just random events and
comments from those who work
in and around the Bush
administration and who tell me
the President has acted in
ways that suggest the use of
alcohol and drugs. I'm a
recovering alcoholic (sober 11
years, six months and 24 days)
and I've run across a lot of
relapsed drinkers who show the
same symptoms as the
President, including:


Blacking out while watching
television alone;
Slurred speech and stammering
responses to simple
questions;
Anger and hostility in front
of staff members;
Unexplained bruises on his
face;
Trouble remembering recent
events or comments.

During his trip to Mongolia
last November, Bush openly
sampled the local drink Airag,
which is fermented milk with
an alcohol content ranging
from three to twelve percent.
In other words, booze.

This was the same trip where
Bush tried to evade reporters'
question by attempting to walk
out a locked door and then
turned sheepishly to the
cameras and said he was
'jet-lagged.' Some at the
event said his stride was
unsteady and his speech
slurred.

'According to reports,
President Bush may be drinking
again,' David Letterman said
in a late-night monologue.
'And I thought, 'Well, why
not? He's got everybody else
drinking.'

Rumors that Bush was hitting
the bottle surfaced in
Washington two years ago.
Sources told us the President
was using anti-depressants in
2004 and we reported the
story. The same sources told
us last year he was drinking
again and we reported it in
August. The National Enquirer
also ran a front page story on
it but no mainstream media
outlet picked up on the
story.

On August 27 of last year, the
Houston Chronicle reported on
a party at Bush's ranch,
noting that:

Nothing the president said
could be quoted, but it's rare
that reporters get
uninterrupted access to him
for 90 minutes, particularly
when beer is served. Bush, who
gave up drinking years ago,
drank a non-alcoholic
Buckler.

In Alcoholics Anonymous, we
are warned to stay away from
so-called 'non-alcoholic'
beers or 'near beer' as it is
called. The brew does, in
fact, contain some alcohol and
can trigger a renewed desire
for more.

The November issue of the
Journal Alcoholism: Clinical &
Experimental Research, cites a
study by team of California
scientists who report that
just the smell of
non-alcoholic beer may be
enough to trigger cravings and
a subsequent relapse among
certain alcoholics.

In my original articles about
Bush's bouts with anger and
depression, I quoted Dr.
Justin Frank, a George
Washington University
psychiatrist and author of the
book: Bush on the Couch:
Inside the Mind of the
President.

'Two questions that the press
seems particularly determined
to ignore have hung silently
in the air since before Bush
took office,' Dr. Frank says.
'Is he still drinking? And if
not, is he impaired by all the
years he did spend drinking?
Both questions need to be
addressed in any serious
assessment of his
psychological state.'

Dr. Frank's analysis of the
President, which is based on
watching and reading and not
actual treatment of Bush,
agrees with those who have
told me the President is also
taking anti-depressants.

'In writing about Bush's
halting appearance in a press
conference just before the
start of the Iraq War,
Washington Post media critic
Tom Shales speculated that
'the president may have been
ever so slightly medicated,''
he said.

Dr. Frank explains Bush's
behavior as all-to-typical of
an alcoholic who is still in
denial:

'The pattern of blame and
denial, which recovering
alcoholics work so hard to
break, seems to be ingrained
in the alcoholic personality;
it's rarely limited to his or
her drinking,' he adds. 'The
habit of placing blame and
denying responsibility is so
prevalent in George W. Bush's
personal history that it is
apparently triggered by even
the mildest threat.'

None of this, of course,
proves Bush is drinking again
or taking anti-depressants.
The only evidence we have of
Bush drinking is the sampling
of a local, alcohol-based
drink in Mongolia and his
consumption of so-called
non-alcoholic beer at a party
in Crawford, Texas.

But my instincts tell me he is
doing both alcohol and drugs
and I believe as both a
journalist and a recovering
alcoholic that he needs to
prove to Americans that he is
not attempting to govern while
under the influence.

Category Comedy

Tags President, , Bush, is, Drinking, Again!