- Secretly recorded tapes released yesterday show that
George W Bush rejected calls to take a hard line against homosexuals and
that he had smoked marijuana.
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- The material, published in yesterday's New York Times,
was recorded from 1998 to 2000 by a Christian evangelical called Doug Wead,
who had worked for the first President Bush.
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- The tapes cover the period when Mr Bush was governor
of Texas to the time he declared for the presidency.
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- Taken as a whole, the material indicates that the private
Mr Bush is very similar to the public man - a figure who means what he
says and whose personal faith is at the centre of his political life.
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- In the months running up to his declaration, Mr Bush
sought to co-opt the support of the Christian Right. But the Wead tapes
indicate there were limits to how far he was willing to go.
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- Aware that many evangelicals have powerful feelings about
homosexuality, Mr Bush said after a meeting with a leading Texan evangelical
minister: "I think he wants me to attack homosexuals."
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- But the president-to-be said he would not. He told the
preacher: "Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the
bat. One, I'm not going to kick gays because I'm a sinner. How can I differentiate
sin?''
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- Later he says: "This is an issue that I have been
trying to downplay. I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays."
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- Mr Bush also says in passing that he had tried marijuana,
a question he refused to answer when asked by journalists.
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- "I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions. You
know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."
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- * The president and his wife Laura are looking for a
new White House chef and they want someone who knows barbecue and other
American fare.
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- Mrs Bush told Newsweek she is looking for a chef who
can cook spicy food of all kinds. "We like Tex-Mex and barbecue,"
she said.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
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