Doug Wead - George W. Bush Taping Controversy

George W. Bush Taping Controversy

Doug Wead secretly tape-recorded conversations with George W. Bush back in 1998 and released some of them to the media recently, starting with "The New York Times." He subsequently apologized to the president and turned over the tapes to the White House. George Bush: Man of Integrity, which includes accounts of all family members, was published in 1988, written primarily from these taped conversations.

Wead continued his taping of George W. Bush between 1997 and 2000, recording at least nine hours of telephone conversations with Bush, who was then Governor of Texas, as he engaged in his presidential run; the recordings were made without Bush's knowledge. Wead stated that he wanted to create an ongoing record of Bush as a historical figure. In February 2005, a month after Bush was sworn into office for his second term as president, Wead revealed the existence of the tapes to The New York Times, and publicly released twelve excerpts from them, each one ranging in length from five minutes to half an hour. He insisted that the taping was legal, having been made only in U.S. states where there was no law against taping someone without their consent. Several newsworthy revelations emerged from the tapes, such as Bush appearing to acknowledge having previously used marijuana and other drugs, and saying he would not answer press questions about his drug use because he did not want to set a bad example for children; calling then-primary opponent Steve Forbes "mean-spirited" and saying Forbes could not rely on Bush's help if Forbes won the Republican nomination; and calling his eventual Democratic election opponent, Al Gore, "pathologically a liar". Other excerpts seemed to match Bush's public persona, such as his statement that he was not worried about getting corrupted by the presidency because he read the Bible daily, which he called "pretty good about keeping your ego in check"; and his insistence that he was not anti-homosexual, regardless of his opposition to gay marriage.

The release prompted some hostility from members of Bush's inner circle: Bush's wife, Laura Bush, said in an interview, "I don't know if I'd use the word 'betrayed,' but I think it's a little bit awkward for sure"; while Bush evangelical ally James Dobson said he was "shocked by breach of trust". Bush himself did not comment. The tapes' release also provoked negative reaction from some commentators, such as Bill Press, who called Wead "scum", and Bill O'Reilly, who called Wead "the lowest form of debris in the country."