Doug Wead used to be a friend of George W. Bush. He taped conversations with Bush made before Bush became president, and he has chosen to disclose the tapes, or at least let journalists listen in to the tapes. That makes Wead, in my book, a treacherous bastard that should be treated with utter contempt.
Of course the tapes are going to make headlines. In fact, I think they reveal that Bush is the real deal. What you see, and what you hear, is much the same as the real man. Yes, as everybody has known for a long time, he's done many stupid things when he was young, including alcohol and drugs.
Bush has been opposed to gay marriage (and I disagree with him on that) but he has refused to engage in gay-bashing:
Early on, though, Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gays. "I think he wants me to attack homosexuals," Mr. Bush said after meeting James Robison, a prominent evangelical minister in Texas.
But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: "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?"
Later, he read aloud an aide's report from a convention of the Christian Coalition, a conservative political group: "This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It's hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however."
"This is an issue I have been trying to downplay," Mr. Bush said. "I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays."
Told that one conservative supporter was saying Mr. Bush had pledged not to hire gays, Mr. Bush said sharply: "No, what I said was, I wouldn't fire gays."
As early as 1998, however, Mr. Bush had already identified one gay-rights issue where he found common ground with conservative Christians: same-sex marriage. "Gay marriage, I am against that. Special rights, I am against that," Mr. Bush told Mr. Wead, five years before a Massachusetts court brought the issue to national attention.
All in all, the tape recordings show George Bush the president to be a reflection of George Bush the man. As an atheist, I can say it is very welcome to see a Christian applying his religion to himself foremost, but not insisting on shoving it down everybody else's throats.
I know many will disagree with me on this, but I see George Bush as a very honest man, true to himself, even when he has become the most powerful man in the world.
3:06:59 AM 
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