cannabisnews.com: W. and Jr. -- What Did They Do in the '60s? W. and Jr. -- What Did They Do in the '60s? Posted by FoM on September 05, 1999 at 12:37:34 PT By Christopher Matthews Source: San Francisco Examiner WASHINGTON. Pauline Gore was so gung-ho about her son's anti-Vietnam war views that she was ready to head to Canada with him. Barbara Bush is so angry about the press's hammering of her son's possible cocaine use that she's hitting the airwaves to demand "Enough!" So both these fellows, Al Gore and George W. Bush, have tough mothers. The query facing voters is what kind of characters they themselves were back in the late 1960s -- the era when both these boomers became men. How did these two fellows, similar in so many ways, stand up to the dangers and allures of the nation's turbulent coming-of-age? Let's start with the front-runner. George W. says he has not used cocaine beyond the age of 28. If he didn't consume the illegal drug prior to that time, his careful denials make no sense whatsoever. A hawk on the Vietnam war, the Texas governor joined the Air National Guard when he graduated from Yale, a step that kept him from the fighting. When he ran for the presidency the first time in 1988, Al Gore admitted to past use of marijuana but said that he quit smoking dope at 25. A dove on the war, Gore nonetheless enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1970 and served a tour in Vietnam. In his recent biography of the vice president, a book often critical of Gore, author Bob Zelnick gives his subject ample credit for combat service: "Without question, Gore spent plenty of time in the field. While not nearly as dangerous as the activity of the grunts, it was a decent and honorable way for him to discharge his obligation to this country during a period of great domestic disturbance and moral ambiguity. "It was also far more dangerous than the post-graduate courses and "essential' jobs to which flocked many future hard-liners whose reverence for interventionist military policies would grow in direct proportion to their personal distance from the threat of military service." Placing these two '60s portraits side-by-side, we get an interesting comparison. On the right is the charming, gregarious Bush who avoided the generational militancy of the '60s, who backed the war but felt no urge to fight in it, who may have enjoyed the pleasures of the counterculture but not its intellectual ferment or political revolt. On the left is the socially reserved Gore. He accepted service in a war he and his peers detested. He smoked dope but also exposed his young mind to the issues of his new generation -- from environmental protection to Pentagon reform. As a member of the same generation as this pair, I find the picture of George W. Bush the more familiar, if hardly the more attractive. But it's hard to give three cheers to a certified hawk, a young and committed backer of the war, for grabbing for a billet in the well-recognized safety of the home guard. The same goes for the drug question. I'll admit to a '60s bias here. There'll be a lot more issues ahead in the 2000 choice, but I like that young fellow, Al Gore, who dug deeply into the political and cultural excitement of that great decade, and not just the dope.Christopher Matthews EXAMINER COLUMNIST Sunday, September 5, 1999 ©1999 San Francisco Examiner Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by RJLChristen-Mitchell on October 10, 2000 at 14:25:52 PT: 'Easter of "69"' Greetings- The Spirit of The Sixty's Lives !!!We're having the Big Fun in the Sun in Springs. The PSPF of 69 was tres awesome! There were Three Venues, Angel Statium, SunSet DriveIn In CAThedralCity and Palm Springs Drive-IN......I Just Recently Came Down, In Fact. Those were the days, and These Are The Days, AGAIN!!! "The rooms were so much colder then, my father was a soldier then, and times were very hard, when I was young...........He Dresses The Boys As They Stand In Line. The smell of gun grease and the baoyonets, they shine. He's there to help them all that he can, to make him feel wanted, he's a good holy man......Eric Burden and The AnimalsThe wall is almost down. The war is as good as over. Bam!"Help me get my feet back on the ground. Help Me. Help Me.It was PCP in a Sherm, that Jackie and I and a friend burned on the 1st base line in front of PSPD and everone.If The JackBooted Thug Cops had'nt repeatedly violated inalienable rights to the point of no give.Things are different now thanks to Ossphucquer PeterEater Parker, Beckert, Demares, FRANZ and Chief WiiGal.thank youforgive me$13 Million if you want to go to trial. It will be cheap to Avoid Expensive Problems. Settle out of Court, is the reccommendation I now give to: Palm Springs California.And to the City of DallasAnd to NashvilleAND ESPECIALLY TO THE CITY OF HAYS, ELLIS COUNTY, KANSASAND TO THE SOCIAL SERVICES DIVISIONS IN HILLSBORO, JEFFERSON COUNTY, MISSOURI. c a n n a b e m l i b e r e m u s The Michaelist Foundation [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by RJLChristen-Mitchell on October 10, 2000 at 14:25:29 PT: 'Easter of "69"' Greetings- The Spirit of The Sixty's Lives !!!We're having the Big Fun in the Sun in Springs. The PSPF of 69 was tres awesome! There were Three Venues, Angel Statium, SunSet DriveIn In CAThedralCity and Palm Springs Drive-IN......I Just Recently Came Down, In Fact. Those were the days, and These Are The Days, AGAIN!!! "The rooms were so much colder then, my father was a soldier then, and times were very hard, when I was young...........He Dresses The Boys As They Stand In Line. The smell of gun grease and the baoyonets, they shine. He's there to help them all that he can, to make him feel wanted, he's a good holy man......Eric Burden and The AnimalsThe wall is almost down. The war is as good as over. Bam!"Help me get my feet back on the ground. Help Me. Help Me.It was PCP in a Sherm, that Jackie and I and a friend burned on the 1st base line in front of PSPD and everone.If The JackBooted Thug Cops had'nt repeatedly violated inalienable rights to the point of no give.Things are different now thanks to Ossphucquer PeterEater Parker, Beckert, Demares, FRANZ and Chief WiiGal.thank youforgive me$13 Million if you want to go to trial. It will be cheap to Avoid Expensive Problems. Settle out of Court, is the reccommendation I now give to: Palm Springs California.And to the City of DallasAnd to NashvilleAND ESPECIALLY TO THE CITY OF HAYS, ELLIS COUNTY, KANSASAND TO THE SOCIAL SERVICES DIVISIONS IN HILLSBORO, JEFFERSON COUNTY, MISSOURI. c a n n a b e m l i b e r e m u s The Michaelist Foundation [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by J Christen-Mitchell on September 06, 1999 at 01:55:07 PT: Clinton/Gore Body Count The Clinton Body Count is now between 80+ or 400 depending on wether you count Oaklahoma City. Is this Circle of Death to be ignored completely? Al Gore must share responsibility for some of these horrible murders. Check them out. Search for "Clinton Body Count"! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 05, 1999 at 21:42:45 PT: I'll second the welcome! Good comment Achene! It sure is the truth! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Achene on September 05, 1999 at 20:03:38 PT Mrs. Barbara Bush, Welcome to the War On Drugs!! Barbara Bush, Yes you kid might not make the presidential cut off.. There are other mothers out there with kids behind bars for expressing them selves in the same way as George Jr. has Done in the past. WELCOME TO THE WAR ON DRUGS!!!Achene [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: