Word: arresting
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...Bush camp portrays the D.U.I. arrest as a piece of ancient history from his "irresponsible youth," according to his frequently used phrase. "I've oftentimes said that years ago I made some mistakes," Bush said after the arrest was revealed. He was 30 at the time of this mistake, but Bush campaign spokeswoman Karen Hughes pointed out that it occurred before he was married and had children. The campaign also noted that it came long before he became a born-again Christian and gave up alcohol. While many voters may be forgiving of such an old incident, the offense...
...larger issue the Bush campaign has been forced to deal with is whether its candidate was honest about the incident. "He was always very forthcoming in acknowledging that he drank too much in the past," says Hughes. The reason he did not disclose the D.U.I. arrest specifically, she says, is that he did not want his behavior to set a bad example for his twin daughters, now freshmen in college--an excuse that struck some listeners as similar to one that President Clinton gave for lying about Monica Lewinsky...
...Bush affirmatively misleading about the D.U.I. incident? Slater had interviewed Bush about a different arrest, in 1968, when Bush and his Yale fraternity brothers were charged with stealing a Christmas wreath in what they described as a prank. Slater says he asked Bush whether he had been arrested since that incident, and Bush said no. Bush then seemed to want to amend his answer, Slater recalled, but spokeswoman Hughes prevented the interview from going further, leaving his answer as a denial. Hughes has disputed Slater's account, saying Bush insists he didn't answer no to the first question...
Reporters quickly began searching for other evidence that Bush might have given misleading answers about the arrest. When he was called for jury duty in 1996, Bush did not answer a question on a juror questionnaire about whether he had been involved in a previous criminal case. The Bush campaign says the form was filled out by an aide, who also did not answer several other questions. And there were suggestions in some press reports that when Bush got a new driver's license, with the number 00000005, after he became Governor in 1995, his intent might have been...
...D.U.I. episode reminded everyone of a lesson from Campaign Strategy 101: get the bad stuff out early--and on your own terms. If Bush had mentioned the arrest months ago, perhaps buried deep in a speech about finding religion and giving up drinking, it would have lacked any 11th-hour drama. But by avoiding it, the campaign made itself vulnerable. Whether it is a calculating partisan or an inquisitive local reporter, there's always someone in the final days of a presidential campaign who is more than happy to yell, "Surprise...