DUBYA'S BETRAYER?

So a supposed friend of the President's went off and secretly recorded some of their conversasions. Then he sold them to the NY Times. And what did they reveal? That the President has been open and honest with the American people. That what he believes now, he believed then. Eric Fettmann explains. - Sailor

DUBYA'S BETRAYER?
Eric Fettmann
New York Post

February 23, 2005 -- ONETIME George W. Bush friend Doug Wead has leaked from his secretly taped private conversations with the then-governor of Texas as he was preparing to run for president. But somehow Wead hasn't been getting the Linda Tripp treatment from the national news media

To put it mildly.

Tripp secretly taped phone conversations in which Monica Lewinsky discussed her sexual exploits with Bill Clinton — and was widely derided as the lowest form of traitor. Back in 1998, ABC News' Web site asked readers who should win the "Ig-Noble Peace Prize": Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic — or Tripp.

So widely demonized was Tripp that she was held up as the touchstone of back-stabbing: When George Stephanopoulos published his insider's look at the Clinton White House, Katie Couric confronted him on-camera: "A lot of people, George, think this is just kinda creepy that you've done this. They see you as a turncoat, a Linda Tripp."

A lot of people no doubt think that what Wead did to Bush was even creepier — and find his convoluted explanation of why he made the taped, and then was "forced" to make them public against his will, downright laughable.

(For the record: Wead says The New York Times learned of the tapes from Simon & Schuster, the publisher of his new book. At which point, he says, "It was a slippery slope; once we let them listen to the tape of a quote in the book, they wanted context to prove it wasn't taken out of context." He doesn't seem ever to have considered simply saying "no" to demands he play the tapes.)

But Wead isn't held up as Bush's betrayer. Instead, the Times initial story credits him for "creating a rare record of the future president as a politician and a personality" and providing "insights into his thinking."

Much of the coverage focused on how Bush handled questions about whether he'd ever used drugs, with his answers seemingly suggesting that he'd at least tried marijuana.

But another common thread ran through the media coverage — one that Bush bashers hardly enjoy.

Indeed, one can almost see their eyebrows arching in astonishment once they realize, as the Times wrote, that the George W. Bush on tape "sounds remarkably similar in many ways to the public President Bush."

Or, as presidential historian Robert Dallek put it, "What I found most interesting in the tapes is how consistent the personality is with the man we've seen in the White House."

Talk about the triumph of cynicism. Or maybe it's just the dubious legacy of eight years of Bill Clinton. But the fact that Bush says the same things in private as in public should be considered remarkable actually is kind of sad.

The fact is, however, that the tapes explode the Bush-bashing myth of a secret and sinister pre-election plot to invade Iraq and turn the government over to fundamentalist Christian leaders.

In fact, it is on the latter point that the tapes are most revealing. The soon-to-be president vows that, despite his opposition to same-sex marriage, he refuses to bow to demands from evangelicals that he publicly condemn homosexuality.

"I'm not going to kick gays," he says, complaining that "this crowd uses gays as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality."

Yes, he worried about the political consequences of such a stand — but he made clear he wasn't about to compromise his principles. "I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays," he said.

Compassionate conservatism, anyone?

OK, so that still won't win Bush honorary membership in ACT-UP. But it's pretty far removed from typical mainstream GOP rhetoric — especially for a Republican said to be in thrall to the Christian right.

Little wonder, then, that Slate's Mickey Kaus suggests — tongue only partly in cheek — that "another round of explosive front-page relevations from secretly recorded phone conversations . . . and Bush's approval will hit 70 percent."

Because the Wead tapes underscore the secret to George W. Bush's success: He's always been honest with the American people. He may gloss over certain issues, but he doesn't lie. And he doesn't tailor his convictions to political self-interest.

Which is a pretty refreshing change from what we'd gotten used to in a president.