Has Bush ever come out and said he's an alcoholic?

[Momgonepostal]

We got in a discussion about this on another board. I thought it was common knowledge he's a dry or recovering alcoholic. A FReeper type on the board swears His Great Leader is not and has never admitted such a thing.

So is it true or not? Has he or anyone in the know gone on record about this?

[Parche]

1. bush

He never admits his mistakes, because its hard work to do that
You can run but you cant hide from your mistakes

Coke is it..............................
That is worse than being a so called Alcoholic

[Catch22Dem]

2. Yeah, in 99/00 he did

I'm almost certain.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. He's never gone to AA

though I've heard that he stopped drinking after his Billy Graham 'conversion'.

[Catch22Dem]

4. Admited it on Oprah in 2000

"Bush said his life changed when he decided to stop drinking on the morning after his 40th birthday. He did, he said, have an outright problem with alcohol."

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/09/19/campaign.wrap/index.html

[benito]

5. The second step of the twelve step AA program says

Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Neither Rush nor Bush* could ever get past this entry-level hump since they both believe they are gods.

Here are the 12 and see just how many Bush* would fail miserably.

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Make a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditations to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

[Catch22Dem]

7. I didn't know AA was a religious thing

What do you know. Well, I'd never take part then.

[sandnsea]

8. "as we understood Him"

It's not religious. It does, however, require an acknowledgement of some power greater than your own brain, the group, nature, something beyond one's own ego. That's all.

[Catch22Dem]

9. so it's thinly veiled religion then

Can I cite plate tectonics as a power greater than me? How about a bulldozer?

[sandnsea]

10. yep

Whatever turns your crank. I've known people to pray to a doorknob, truly.

[Catch22Dem]

11. HEHEHE

a doorknob. That's funny. :D

[CitySky]

15. "fearless moral inventory"

"mistakes? umm... I'm sure if I thought about it I could come up with some..."

definitely not a 12-stepper!

[Rockholm]

6. To my knowledge, No.

There is a BIG difference. Bush has basically said he quit drinking. He has never uttered the words that said he was an alcoholic.
My name is George and I am an alcoholic. Until he says that and admits it, he is a dry drunk. Might as well still be drinking.

[kskiska]

12. Poppy has said that Junior is NOT an alcoholic

He just has problems holding his liquor.

[smirkymonkey]

14. Exactly, an alcoholic.

Poppy likes his cute little euphamisms - "Problems holding his liquour" - whatever you say, Poppy.

[Lisa]

13. it was "beginning to compete with my affections"

http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/092000/new_Alcohol.html

""Alcohol was beginning to compete with my affections for my wife and my family. It was beginning to crowd out my energy. And I decided to quit."

He said Laura had not quite given him an ultimatum. "But I think she got disappointed in some evenings. ... There were some times when she said 'you need to think about what you're doing."'"


That's what he told Oprah.

I seem to recall reading that Laura was more than "disappointed" -- she confronted him about the booze one night, and he smirked at her and poured himself a drink. Which suggests to me that he was completely inconsiderate, or in the grip of an addiction. (Not mutually exclusive, either.)