Giddy Republican leaders and conservatives of all stripes were fired up yesterday when they gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.
All of their heavy hitters were there, from former/future Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney to Scott Brown, recently elected senator from Massachusetts.
One speech that is being quoted in newspapers and on TV screens around the country is from author Jason Mattera. The "zinger" from Mattera likened the CPAC conference to Woodstock -- "except that unlike the last gathering, our woman are beautiful, we speak in complete sentences and our notion of freedom doesn't consist of cocaine, which is certainly one thing that separates us from Barak Obama."
While the whole quote is offensive, I want to hold up a mirror to Mattera and the GOP on the issue of drug use. Surely many in the crowd who were chuckling and cheering remember that President Bush -- "the straight shooter" -- was never able to answer simple questions about his cocaine use. For years his answer was that he made "youthful indiscretions."
Let's also remember that President Obama's GOP challenger, John McCain, and his family, know about substance abuse on a very personal level. Cindy McCain had a well-known addiction to prescription pain pills. She was so hooked that she illegally used her charity to obtain the drugs. She would have physicians write prescriptions and then filled them with names of her staff.
And how about Rush Limbaugh, one of the most prominent conservative voices? Anyone remember how he would send his maid out to score him his Oxycontin? I could go on and on. Has Sarah Palin ever used an illegal drug? Yes. Newt Gingrich? Yes.
I would never expect our elected officials to go through life without trying drugs. We are a society swimming in drugs: Marijuana, Prozac, Ritalin, Cigarettes, Alcohol, Viagra. Almost every American uses drugs both for pleasure and to soothe pain -- and more than half of American adults have used an illegal drug.
Past or current drug use should not be worthy of ridicule -- but hypocrisy should be. Rush Limbaugh once scoffed at the idea that African Americans are disproportionately arrested on drug charges, and suggested that the solution should be to arrest more white people. Yet when he was busted for drugs, he changed his tune in a heartbeat.
And how about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg? When asked if he had smoked marijuana he said yes, and even added that he enjoyed it. Yet under Mayor Bloomberg, New York has the shameful distinction of being the marijuana arrest capital of the world. Last year 40,000 New Yorkers were arrested and jailed on low-level pot possession charges. More people have been arrested on marijuana possession charges under Mayor Bloomberg than under any elected official in New York history!
It is in this context that President Obama's honesty on drug use was so refreshing, especially considering the lack of candor from his Democratic White House predecessor, Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton. Obama openly admitted to smoking marijuana and trying cocaine as a young man. Obama has also been open about his current struggles to give up cigarettes. His candidness about his past and current experiences with substance use and dependence set a new standard for honesty. And even more important was the response from voters who never let it become an issue and voted for him to be their President.
Drug war propaganda demonizes and dehumanizes people who use drugs. Once the silent majority of people who use drugs speak out, the stereotypes that drive the war on drugs will be impossible to sustain. I hope and believe that one day soon an elected officials' support of inhumane and racist drug laws will cost more votes than simply admitting to having tried a certain drug.
Tony Newman is director of media relations for the Drug Policy Alliance (www.drugpolicy.org)
Follow Tony Newman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TonyNewmanDPA
Let's see--The Right doesn't deal with Blacks, so their Woodstock had no Jimi Hendrix.
The Right doesn't deal with foreigners, so their Woodstock had no Clapton.
The Right doesn't deal with lefties, which means their Woodstock didn't have Crosby, Stills, Nash OR Young.
The only music they had was John Ashcroft singing "Let the Mighty Eagle Soar", and no drug is powerful enough to get through three days of that.
On the flip side, script drugs can pass through 50 hands and still not loose their strength...they are bad news all around when it comes to abuse of them.
You forgot "Repug Party of No"
Is it wrong to point out that Palin could rock that phrase with pride? It's just that empty.
Hughes had just briefed the reporters who were assigned to the Bush campaign. They had all dispersed, leaving Hughes and Gregory alone on the tarmac in front of the Bush campaign's plane. The two of them were alone with CSpan's camera, which was still rolling; I don't think Hughes realized that they were still on the air.
Gregory asked her (and these are exact quotes) "Has the Governor (Bush) ever been arrested for DRUGS?" -- Rumors had been rampant that there was more than just a drunk-driving arrest, that there was also a cocaine arrest buried, and a race was on around the country to find out if it was true and where it had occurred.
Hughes thought for a good 10 seconds. She actually closed her eyes to think as she formulated a response, at which point she opened her eyes, looked at David Gregory and said, "The Governor has admitted to 'youthful indiscretions'."
Gregory wrote it down and said nothing more. He didn't report on it that night, or the next, or ever as far as I know.
I appreciate him trying to work with the other side, but it really is time for him to get tough and stop worrying about appeasing anybody on anything. He just needs to ram his agenda through without worrying about stepping on anybody's toes. They certainly don't worry about stepping on his.
Go back and read and listen to Obama's speeches, debates and interviews from the 2008 campaign with your now 'experienced' ears. He ran a deceptive campaign, and is still utilizing the same techniques (wordsmithing) to suggest that he means one thing when he actually means something quite different.
Obama campaigned as a projective test, using words and phrases that evoked emotional reactions in listeners which led to presumptions about him and what he would do if elected that he never actually said.
Bush did something very similar. His speeches were written using focus-group tested words in combinations that had alternate meanings to those that listeners would reasonably, automatically presume. It's why early on people said "Bush lied", but in fact he hadn't lied. He had intentionally deceived, never intending the first or original meaning.
Obama does the same thing. He's been deceptive in just about all of his positions on issues. You won't get 2 people to agree on anything that they hear coming out of his mouth; that's not an accident. He intends to confuse, and perhaps it takes lawyers or public relations' experts (trained in manipulating the public's perception) to recognize his intention to deceive. He's a politician first and foremost.
J
History will be very kind to this President and prove out every red flag he brought up as accurate, valid and what was needed at this time in our Country.
History will document the fists he was met with here.......