Pubdate: Tue, 14 September 1999 Source: Times, The (UK) Copyright: 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd Contact: http://www.the-times.co.uk/ Author: Damian Whitworth, in Washington BUSH SR SCOFFS AT DRUG GOSSIP The former President George Bush has scoffed at rumours that his son, George W. Bush, is, or has been, a drug abuser. Mr Bush said that he had not specifically asked his son about drug use, but he and his wife, Barbara, had no reason to suspect that their son was mixed up in anything illegal. George was a "rambunctious" youngster, nothing more. "All this stuff about George's totally irresponsible past," Mr Bush said. "Barbara and I never saw this. We knew he had some problems that he faced up to, but no different than most kids." The younger Bush, 53, now Governor of Texas and the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, has admitted that he had a problem with drink and has been dogged by repeated questions about whether he used cocaine. Mr Bush, who came up with the word "irresponsible" to describe his youth, has said he has not used illegal drugs in the past 25 years and refused to make any further response. In an interview with Fox News, the former President said that he and his wife had not asked their son about the rumours. "I wouldn't even consider that. I think what he's doing is correct and he has my full support. Barbara and I know that these allegations - most of these allegations - have no basis in fact." The man defeated in 1992 by Bill Clinton, who smoked marijuana but "didn't inhale", denounced what he called "gotcha politics". The only waywardness he would admit he had seen in his son was when he came home from school one day with his brothers "using the two dirtiest words in the English language" and an incident when his son, aged 9, tried to hit him. "I just held him at arm's length flailing away at me." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D