<p><a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16443180/[/url]”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16443180/</a></p>
<p>“Senator admitted trying cocaine in memoir written 11 years ago”</p>
<p>If this amount of dirt results in his downfall, God really does need to help America.</p>
<p>If it matters than what it amounts to is that we elect liars, cheaters and those who cover up.</p>
<p>Yes it matters to me. I’d rather vote for somebody honest (and maybe even fallible) than a liar.</p>
<p>Really. Does anyone think GWB didn’t “try cocaine” in his party-boy days? The rumors certainly had him trying and trying again, and I don’t think he has ever squarely denied it. Of all the things that make GWB a poor President, that doesn’t even register.</p>
<p>He will have a hard time landing that NSA gig…</p>
<p>I’d rather elect someone who appears to be honest about youthful transgressions than to elect yet another obvious liar or person who dodges such questions.</p>
<p>JHS: Yes. Bush is a known (former?) “partier.” When I said it mattered to me - I meant it might just make me vote for Obama. He has never tried to lie about his past…</p>
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<p>As far as you know.</p>
<p>Weenie – I understood your post, and my “Really” was meant to show my agreement with you and the others who had posted before you.</p>
<p>It’s not like he’s a “dry alcoholic”.</p>
<p>Maybe we should friend him on Myspace or Facebook, to see what he really did!!!</p>
<p>From the Washington Post article cited in the original post. My thoughts are that the story of his redemption might give hope to a lot of Americans who are concerned about how our country’s reputation is in tatters due to our ill conceived wars and democracy refuting practices like torturing prisoners. As long as his life has been exemplary since college, I really don’t think that Obama’s admitting the below will hurt him.</p>
<p>"In the book, Obama acknowledges that he used cocaine as a high school student but rejected heroin. “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though,” he says.</p>
<p>In an interview during his Senate race two years ago, Obama said he admitted using drugs because he thought it was important for "young people who are already in circumstances that are far more difficult than mine to know that you can make mistakes and still recover.</p>
<p>“I think that, at this stage, my life is an open book, literally and figuratively,” he said. “Voters can make a judgment as to whether dumb things that I did when I was a teenager are relevant to the work that I’ve done since that time.”</p>
<p>Regarding mini’s comment…I thought I’d google dry alcoholic because it’s a term that I’ve never been able to wrap my head around. This is what I found in one source…</p>
<p>‘Dry Drunk is a term used to described a condition of returning to one’s old alcoholic thinking without actually having taken a drink.’ </p>
<p>Okay…still confused. Are we now faulting GWB because he HAS stayed dry, but we don’t like what we THINK are his innermost feelings are about being dry? I would think there would be many other things to hold his feet to the fire over than this.</p>
<p>Honestly, I voted for GWB and am disappointed in a lot of things he has done. And I think he knows he is not doing a good job. I would not vote for him again…and I’ll be extremely careful about my next vote. But…staying dry is one thing for which I think GWB deserves commendation.</p>
<p>If you’ve got a better explanation for “troop surge” (a euphemism if ever there was one) than “hair of the dog that bit you”, I’d love to know what it is.</p>
<p>Of course, he may have decided it is better to listen to his “voices” rather than the troops and generals on the ground.</p>
<p>Poor guy.</p>
<p>Stay the course.</p>
<p>On cable news last night Bob Morris was saying that the Hillary/Obama ticket was a done deal. What do you think?</p>
<p>^ Gah…I hope not. I’d vote for Obama under any other circumstance; but I wouldn’t vote Hillary dogcatcher. btw…I knew Hillary would either smear him or get him ‘in bed’. If it is the latter, maybe Obama’s not quite the great guy I thought he was…</p>
<p>ldmom, I’m not referring to George Bush now (though infer any connections as you see fit) but a “dry drunk” is sober in terms of never drinking (which is a huge accomplishment in itself) but still exhibits a lot of the behaviors and thinking of an alcoholic. They may stop the drinking but the behaviors associated with it remain. </p>
<p>This is nothing like Obama’s case. Someone who experimented with drugs as a teen or in college but never became addicted is not the same as someone who is an alcoholic. </p>
<p>In the case of Obama, NONE of that would bother me at all and I’d say he is pretty normal. If anything, as he writes, it sends a message to others about turning his life around after some poor choices in his youth. I think if our country is looking for someone who never made a poor choice or never tried this or that, they are going to be looking into the far reaches of the universe. I always felt that our political election process has gotten a bit overboard with examinations into every thing every candidate ever said or did, who they dated, what they inhaled, their children, their sex lives, etc. and I almost wonder who wants to go through such scrutiny that can be over the top. I believe in scrutiny but it has gone overboard. I think someone’s work record and political record is open for scrutiny but the delving into everything they’ve said or done from infancy has gotten extreme. Frankly, however, I admire Obama for being open and it shows that such matters shouldn’t be hidden and he is who he is and he is normal.</p>
<p>I’d rather vote for one who’s honest ‘and’ hasn’t tried the cocaine. Some posters think these are mutually exclusive terms but they’re not.</p>
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<p>Well, supposing he does have a “troop surge”, that would indeed be a case of listening to the troops on the ground. But, if you truly are interested in “staying the course”, that of course would be what the generals are advocating. But note that neither the troops on the ground nor the generals are advocating “cut and run”.</p>
<p>But, I can’t help but wonder what the whole issue of “dry drunk” or Iraq War policy has to do with Obama. I guess it must be a “mini hijack”.</p>