The Bush Tapes

The NYT publishes a story about audio tapes of candidate Bush made secretly by a friend (the friend just happens to have a book coming out right now...). Ann Althouse suggests the tapes were made with the knowledge of candidate Bush because of the marked consistency between candidate Bush and President Bush.

How ironic.

Those of you (like me) old enough to remember the Nixon tapes heard a distinct dissimilarity between the privately vulgar calculating Nixon and his public persona.

Not so candidate/President Bush. And so Althouse smells a rat: the tapes were knowingly made by candidate Bush 5 years ago -- to be released now -- to show the consistency between his thinking then -- and his thinking (and actions) now.

A more likely scenario is this: Bush (like Reagan before him) says what he thinks. Genuinely. No secret plot. What you see is what you get. Then and now.

(I guess it's hard to imagine after Clintonian triangulation and spin. Or perhaps that is why Rove-ian spin is suspected in this, as in Rathergate).

This helps, not hurts, the President.

UPDATE: It occurs to me that Nixon knew he was being taped -- and was genuinely vulgar and scheming. All indications are Bush did not know he was being taped -- and was consistent with his public persona.