Jeb Bush's daughter fails hair-improvement therapy...

July 17, 2002 1:37 PM

Jeb Bush's daughter fails hair-improvement therapy... errr...I meant fails drug program. Says Jeb: "There are consequences for every action we take in our lives, and as her parents, Columba and I wish we could have prevented our daughter from making the wrong choices." Now if somebody could just take that kind of responsibility for his brother.
posted by LuxFX (28 comments total)

her hair is pretty 'out there'.

so to speak.
posted by delmoi at 1:44 PM on July 17, 2002

Is it that hard to find a doctor who will write a script for Xanax? If anything, I thought it was over prescribed.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:44 PM on July 17, 2002

Sorry but this pisses me off. What motivated this email? Some preemptive damage control? What better way to show your support than emailing the press about your "care" and "concern" for your daughter's well being.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:45 PM on July 17, 2002

Maybe the big secret is that she's been sniffing the ground up remains of this.&
posted by interrobang at 1:50 PM on July 17, 2002

My guess: Gov. Bush knew the story would hit the press, so he wanted to get out in front of the story. Sending an e-mail to the press let him break it on his terms, which had to be a better alternative than getting asked about it during a press conference.
posted by rcade at 1:51 PM on July 17, 2002

That's sad that she failed her treatment. I hope she's able to find help that works. Before it's too late.
posted by ColdChef at 1:57 PM on July 17, 2002

Would it really? (not being snarky rcade, just asking a question). Do you think possibly a "This is a personal family matter and we are dealing with it in private" would have sufficed? I know tabloid press can be dogs as they always have been but what about mainstream press? The naive side of me would like to believe they would back off after such a response.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:58 PM on July 17, 2002

The naive side of me would like to believe they would back off after such a response.

You mean the same way they backed off of Clinton?
posted by BlueTrain at 2:01 PM on July 17, 2002

There is a significant difference between the former president's willful seeking of a blowjob from an intern and the affliction of one's daughter.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:12 PM on July 17, 2002

There is a significant difference between the former president's willful seeking of a blowjob from an intern and the affliction of one's daughter

I disagree. Both are intrafamilial problems that have zero bearing on the state of the state (or the nation).
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:19 PM on July 17, 2002

http://www.nfm.go.kr/eng_2002/index.jsp
posted by Postroad at 2:20 PM on July 17, 2002

Right BOP. I agree that they have zero bearing on the state of the anything. I'm responding more to how personal issues, whether they be related to sexual escapades or addiction, are treated by the press. It seems Clinton's sexual behavior was the equivalent of the entire forest falling rather than just the tree.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:30 PM on July 17, 2002

The press generally treats a cover-up, or something that smacks of a cover-up, much worse than a damaging or embarrassing admission of a personal nature. If President Clinton had gone on Barbara Walters right after Isikoff's Lewinsky story was spiked by Newsweek and admitted his adultery, complete with all the sincere contrition he could fake, I don't think impeachment would've ever happened.

Gov. Bush's daughter was national news the last time around when she got nabbed for allegedly faking a prescription, and it was a given that it would be national news again when she failed the terms of her probation. I think he handled it as well as he could.

As for whether any of this has bearing on the state, as a Floridian, I think it matters. Gov. Bush and people loyal to him are in a position to give his daughter preferential treatment. The punishment she gets could reflect on whether that has happened or not.
posted by rcade at 2:57 PM on July 17, 2002

Seeing that story, my life doesn't seem so bad. At least my problems aren't newsworthy. Poor girl. I have to agree with rcade, though, just because she's a member of the Bush dynasty doesn't mean she should get a free ride.
posted by RylandDotNet at 3:04 PM on July 17, 2002

The PR-speak for this move would be "inoculation".

And while an extramarital blow-job, or the drug travails of one's daughter, may have little bearing on legal questions of governance, they're generally fair game in political campaigns. (Though the opponent who uses such material runs his own risks.) And Jeb Bush, unlike Bill Clinton, is up for re-election.
posted by dhartung at 3:14 PM on July 17, 2002

And Jeb Bush, unlike Bill Clinton, is up for re-election.

Exactly. Clinton scandal? To discredit the sitting president, forcing him to be much less effective as a leader.

Same thing happened to Giuliani before 9/11. Same thing happened to Chirac in France (and look what happened...they almost got Le Pen).
posted by BlueTrain at 3:32 PM on July 17, 2002

So what's up with the Bush family?

George does coke. His daughters are underage drinkers. IIRC, Jeb's got a mean streak, doesn't he?, and his daughters are druggies. Neil's a S&L crook, and the list goes on.

The entire family is fucked up, and they get elected to office?! Sheeeyit, whatever happened to electing people with intelligence and vision, people who'd make the country a better place?
posted by five fresh fish at 6:53 PM on July 17, 2002

five fresh fish: people like that don't go into politics.

Seriously, I think there are an awful lot of bright people with good intentions out there who would never dream of a political career because of what a meat grinder politics is. And what kind of compromises it forces you into if you want to survive.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 7:55 PM on July 17, 2002

I agree with Slithy, my opinion is that the bright, well meaning people who could do some good in political office will never see office. The game is too dirty.
posted by dejah420 at 8:18 PM on July 17, 2002

You can get Xanax prescribed if you have serious panic attack problems. She could have such problems, and for some reason not wanted to go to a doctor, or she could be into the recreational use of downers in order to relax, or it could be the former disguised as the latter. My sympathy for her would totally depend on the situation that led her to do this...though I'd think it wouldn't be that hard for her to buy Xanax on the black market anyway.
posted by bingo at 8:49 PM on July 17, 2002

noelle bush's chronic drug abuse problems are just another symptom of the atmosphere of do-whateverever-feels-good that filtered down from the klinton administration, the most corrupt president this nation has ever seen.

oh wait.
posted by lescour at 9:46 PM on July 17, 2002

Xanax is not prescribed as often as it once was. Klonopin (clonazepam) has been found to have a longer half-life and not have the severe peaks and valleys as Xanax. Bottom line, patients were sometimes feeling panicky when Xanax was wearing off. Klonopin hangs around in the patient's system longer before tapering off. Unfortunately, it's found it's way to the streets and there is a blackmarket for it.
posted by RunsWithBandageScissors at 10:46 PM on July 17, 2002

By "inoculating" himself (in the PR sense) with the news release, Gov. Bush also will make it difficult for the judge and prosecutor to treat his daughter any differently than someone else in a similar situation. I hope that doesn't mean jail time. No one deserves jail for forging a scrip for Xanax. If she does go to jail, maybe the bright minds in my dear state's legislature will decide to amend that law.

Most people who have experience with illegal substances would agree that our parents had little or nothing to do with our choices.

Bush has my sympathy, but not my vote this November.
posted by Holden at 5:22 AM on July 18, 2002

noelle bush's chronic drug abuse problems are just another symptom of the atmosphere of do-whateverever-feels-good that filtered down from the klinton administration, the most corrupt president this nation has ever seen.

I don't see a sarcasm tag, are you seriously blaming Clinton for the drug problems of Gov. Bush's daughter? And my selfishness is his fault, too? The 70's was the "Me" decade, and the 80's was the "Decade of Greed" (sorry Al Franken fans), but Clinton is the one who institutionalized "If it feels good, do it?"

And the most corrupt president? There might be a lot of challengers, but at least one president much more corrupt than Clinton was born in a little clapboard house just a few minutes from my hometown. Clinton's impeachment, you recall, was ONLY about lying about the hummers, none of the Whitewater stuff panned out. Nixon ordered his Attorney General (actually three in succession as the first two quit and were fired, respectively) to fire the special prosecutor, Cox, which so alarmed the country that it was called a "constitutional crisis," as Nixon threatened to destroy the balance of authority to save himself.

Pure evil, not to mention his congressional campaigns, HUAC, etc. If you get a chance, though, the Elvis gun exhibit is way cool.
posted by planetkyoto at 5:26 AM on July 18, 2002

I agree that "personal issues" that don't affect ability to govern shouldn't be overblown. (heh)

But seriously, Clinton's inability to control *his own penis*, _in the nation's Oval Office_, even while on the phone ostensibly carrying out the business of the nation with members of Congress, is *definitely* more serious than a person who has an adult child who has a substance abuse problem.

You can be a good parent and *still* end up with fucked-up kids. Genetics is, after all, a crap-shoot much of the time.
And when they leave the nest, you don't have direct control over them anymore. That's what "adult" means.

I don't think it's that big of a deal that Bill got blown by Monica. I just wish they'd had their little dalliance somewhere private, like a hotel room, rather than sully the office where leaders who actually took the honor of the Presidency seriously did their good work.

And yeah, I think Nixon was a disgrace to this country, too.
posted by beth at 7:48 AM on July 18, 2002

"You can be a good parent and *still* end up with fucked-up kids. Genetics is, after all, a crap-shoot much of the time."

Especially if you're doing blow while pregnant.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:47 AM on July 18, 2002

I don't see a sarcasm tag...

that would be the 'oh wait' in the final paragraph.

my apologies for not being a more clever writer.

oh wait.
posted by lescour at 12:01 PM on July 18, 2002

Xanax is popular as a drug to come down from Ecstasy and other rave drugs. Had the police correctly done a drug test they may have found lots of other drugs in her system. My beef is why Noelle was not charged with forging a prescription. It's not like they didn't have proof positive. Could family ties have affected the decision to not do a drug test and not press a forgery charge? "Enquiring" minds want to know.
posted by nofundy at 1:06 PM on July 18, 2002