A Little Dabble'll Do Ya

I'm looking forward to the day when presidential candidates answer questions about their misspent youth by saying things like "Oh, I dropped acid twice, kinda freaked me out; did some coke with Harry Nilsson at the Troubador a few times; had a couple of minor pothead phases, but that's about it." Then, maybe it won't be long before A) consensus builds for rolling back the shameful Drug War, and B) people stop asking these questions. In the meantime, here's Democrat flavor of the month Howard Dean, being grilled by U.S. News & World Report:

You were at Yale from 1967 to '71. What were you like?
I had long hair. My drug of choice was beer. I didn't generally engage in an excessive lifestyle. I mean, you know, I dabbled in a little of this and a little of that. We did some heavy-duty partying, but I didn't do anything outrageous.

Did you ever break the law?
I'm not going to answer that.

Were you ever arrested for drunk driving?
No. Never arrested for anything.

Via The Corner.

Comments

[twistedmerkin]

So, is Dean going to legalize "a little of this and a little of that?"

[matt]

I wonder if he "inhaled"

[Warren]

nothing will change till we elect someone willing to say "My youth!? Hell I did a line for this interview. Keeps me sharp, don't you know."

[SPUR]

He probably did smoke marijuana -- based on his shameful fight of a medical marijuana bill that passed the VT legislature overwhelmingly with 85% state voter support one must assume he uinhaled a bit and then pulled a Clinton by advocating jailing patients, etc.

[Jim Walsh]

The correct and appropriate answer to *all* of said questions would be, "that's none of your goddamned business."

[Sean]

It's on it's way to becoming a non-issue, but it will simply take more time. Compare the reaction to Clinton's "but I didn't inhale" comment in '92 to the lack of attention in 2000 to Gore's admission of marijuana use. Given that even the born again republican candidate had a history of illegal drug use, I can't see a candidate ever again ever being grilled on the issue. The slower aspect (and more painful to many americans) is that it will take a few more cycles before the drug war rhetoric tones down considerably and the laws ease up. The problem is that the old folks of the "greatest generation" have been the most indoctrinated with "drugs are evil," and are the most likely to vote of any age group. Once the Boomers make up the bulk of the 60-80 crowd, this pressure to will be tough on drugs will likely ease (yes, even despite the growing follow-what-I-say-not-what-I-do attitude of the boomers). Once this happens, the pressure of legalization/decriminalization groups made up of the younger X,Y,Zers will shift legislation towards that end.

[SM]

Cmon, stop being so cynical. He's a Doctor of some sort - so maybe he spent most of his time in college studying ?

[Dan]

Sean, the different reactions to Gore's admitted pot use in 2000 (by the way, he admitted to it in 1992 as well, and before) and Clinton's "didn't inhale" line have nothing to do with society acceptance of past drug use. If Clinton, in 1992, had said "yes, I smoked pot sometimes in the 60s", nobody would have given a rat's ass (at least, nobody inclined to vote for him in the first place).

What made the "I didn't inhale" line so controversial is that it was an incredibly pathetic lie, told to cover up a trivial misdeed from his past. It gave a pretty good indication of what the next eight years would be like, actually. 🙂

[Glenn Reynolds]

Somehow I keep being reminded by the line from "Stripes:"

Convicted? (Sigh of relief). Uh, no!

[Plutarck]

Well, I did some kind of white-stuff, but frankly I had so adopted the stoned-and-don't-know-my-own-name mentality and culture that I couldn't tell you what in hell it was. Apparently, whatever it was, I hit a bad batch of it at some point then stopped doing it. Instead I became a bit of a workaholic, throwing myself into what was ostensibly a search for wealth and being industrious, but I was really just trying to find some meaning to life, but wasn't finding it in white-stuff or at work.

It was all just so out-of-control, you know? I hated it. It was like I had no control whatsoever, just like my parents, and my friends...and hell, everyone. So then somehow I got introduced into politics - finally, not only did you have control, but you were actively encouraged to dominate and ridicule other people. Finally, I found what I was looking for - I could go home at the end of the day and feel in control and good about myself.

So, you know, that's why I ultimately stopped doing drugs - I just couldn't keep it under control. But that's what so great about being a politician - it's my job to control every little detail of other people's lives and dominate and direct people I've never even met. It's a real rush.

^--- What is ever so often true, and what you will absolutely, positively, never fucking hear.

[Bongwater Bill]

I never buy weed from a guy that dabbled in "a little bit of politics here and there." Chances are he is over exaggerating the quality and selling it to you for an overinflated value, meanwhile making you feel like that he is only there to serve your every need.

[mr bean]

i swallowed 😀 oh wait!

[Hal E.]

If they ever asked Bill Frist what he did in college, he could answer: "Never had time for drugs; I was too busy killing cats."

[joe]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss "I didn't inhale" as a lie. Apparently (I'm too young to know first hand) fake-smoking a joint that was passed to you was the polite thing to do in the 1970s. You hold it between your fingers, you put it to your lips, but you don't inhale. Then you pass it.

Is it totally unbelievable that Bill and Hillary wanted their peers to think they were cooler than they actually were?

[Sean]

Hal,

Why would cat killing be so time consuming as to prevent one from using drugs? What deep dark secret about Frist are you sitting on?

[Plutarck]

I once smoked a cigarette but didn't inhale. Honestly - it never occurred to me that you would actually _breath in_ through a burning piece of paper and plant leaves. I just sucked on it, much like a straw. Course, that was actually tobacco - years ago, you understand, so letting a child take a puff off a cigarette while booby-trapping them with little exploding thingeys wasn't akin to raping and murdering masses of people.

I think the problem is that Clinton has, shall we say, a reputation which isn't condusive to taking the things he says as honest representations of history and reality. People, as such, would just as quickly assume him lying as telling the truth.

Though, now that you mention it, it isn't at all unreasonable to think he actually didn't inhale. It actually never occurred to me that he might be telling the truth on such a point.

Hah, go figure!

[Dan]

1. Has anyone close to you used illegal drugs in the past?
2. Did they serve jail time for it?
3. If not, do you feel that they or society would be better off today, had they spent time in jail?

Even if the answers are "yes", "no", and "no", what of it? There is nothing wrong with thinking that something should be illegal even though you do it, or have done it, yourself. Suppose you used to steal cars and take them for joyrides when you were a teenager, but nobody ever got hurt and you never got caught -- does that mean that, as an adult, you have to support repealing auto-theft laws?

Now if a politician supports making something illegal, gets caught doing it, and then complains about the arrest -- horsewhip him.

Politicians should support the repeal of anti-drug laws because it's in society's best interests for them to do so, not because they had wild and crazy youth experiences themselves.

[Russ D]

What the hell does "politically talented" actually mean? I don't know myself, but it sounds kinda creepy.

[digamma]

Here's the series of questions EVERY politician who supports the War on Drugs should have to answer:

1. Has anyone close to you used illegal drugs in the past?
2. Did they serve jail time for it?
3. If not, do you feel that they or society would be better off today, had they spent time in jail?

[david f]

what about dean's medical exemption from vietnam for a bad back. and then his ski bum years.

(and to correct the stripes:
convicted
yes convicted
no. never convicted
(exchange of smiles)

cheers,
drf

[Anonymous]

If he's never been arrested for anything, he must be rather naiive and probably wouldn't make a good president.

[Henry A. LaMonte]

Well, either way it's a deception. Either he really didn't inhale, thus deceiving those he was with at the time, or he did inhale and lied about it years later.