Pubdate: Fri, 03 Sep 1999 Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Copyright: 1999 Houston Chronicle Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html Author: Martin R. Adams BUSH'S `UNSPUN' THOUGHTS To the editor: On the Aug. 22 Chronicle Editorial page, David S. Broder's column, "Pressure Bush on his policies and ideas, not his past," said it all. That is, the media have spent far too much time pursuing the truth about George W. Bush's alleged use of hard drugs and paid far too little attention to what the man stands for, his political experience, ability to lead and agenda for the nation. While I am distressed that the governor won't come completely clean about whatever his history of drug use, it is considerably more disconcerting to see that we have in Bush, the likely Republican presidential candidate, a man who had no apparent interest in politics until his run for governor, has never contended for any other elected office and has yet to come forth with policy statements that reflect his position on the many critical issues that must be confronted. My profound concern is that he will be making up his positions as he goes along, or even worse, that he will be spoon-fed his positions by a group of "handlers." We do not know the governor's own independent thinking on pertinent topics such as campaign finance reform. I can understand how people yearn to return to the White House a person of good character, but we err badly if we place so much emphasis on that trait that we overlook a person's lack of experience, ability to lead or capacity to arrive at a national agenda through their own thoughtful deliberation. MARTIN R. ADAMS Houston - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto