PRIVATE conversations with George W. Bush taped secretly by an old friend before he was elected President were leaked to the press yesterday. They reveal a politician eager to court conservative Christians, with an utter contempt for Al Gore and seeming to admit that he had used marijuana.
The dozen conversations were recorded without Mr Bush’s knowledge by Doug Wead, a former aide to Mr Bush’s father, who played them to The New York Times. They cover the period from 1998, when the Texas Governor was considering running for the White House, to just before the Republican National Convention in 2000 when he accepted his party’s presidential nomination.
Although the White House condemned Mr Wead for publicising the tapes, they reveal a private Mr