Al Gore III: Caught speeding in Prius, released to Maserati
Is the irony lost on the Gore family, or at least their lawyers/publicists? OK, great for the planet that Al the 3rd was driving a Prius (albeit at 100 mph), but didn't someone think about the effect it would have when he was released from jail, to ride off in a... Maserati?
Video clip of Al's release into waiting Maserati
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Gore III joins a long line of White House kids who have been caught getting high.
In 1976 and 1977, Keith Stroup, the head of America's largest pro-marijuana lobbying organization, smoked pot with Chip Carter, the son of President Jimmy Carter.
According to their mother, all three of the Carter boys smoked marijuana. From 1976 to 1978, until a series of scandals made it politically impossible, President Carter advocated federal decriminalization of marijuana.
Vice President Albert Gore smoked marijuana as a soldier during the Vietnam War, but he and Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton presided over an increase in drug war spending and arrests during the eight-year Clinton-Gore administration.
In 2002, Chelsea Clinton was criticized for passing out during wild booze binges in London.
Jenna and Barbara BushPresident Bush's twin daughters Jenna and Barbara have had numerous legal and personal problems due to violations of underage drinking laws, and college student friends of the Bush girls say the famous pair also enjoys marijuana.
Ashton Kutcher, star of That 70's Show, recently told Rolling Stone the Bush daughters got high at a party at his home in 2003.
"I go upstairs to see another friend, and I can smell the green wafting out under the door," Kutcher said. "I open the door and there he is, smoking out the Bush twins on his hookah."
President Bush, who is believed to have engaged in cocaine use and driving while intoxicated prior to 1976, reportedly called his daughters to ask them to be more discreet about their drug use.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush, brother of the president, is a zealous drug warrior, but his daughter Noelle, now 26, was arrested in Tallahassee in 2002 for prescription drug fraud. She has been been cited for numerous traffic violations and for causing three car accidents.
Sentenced to do time in a rehab facility, Noelle allegedly stole pills from a nurse, and also allegedly had crack cocaine in the facility. She was sentenced to three days in jail for the pill incident, and later served 10 days in jail for having the cocaine.
American politicians who totally back the drug war often have children who run afoul of the law. Republican Representative Dan Burton backed the death penalty for drug traffickers, but when his son Dan II was convicted of felony possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in 1994, the elder Burton asked the judge for leniency.
Young Danny received a relatively light sentence, but five months later, police found 30 marijuana plants and a shotgun in Burton's Indianapolis apartment. Federal mandatory minimum rules that his dad helped create should have sent Burton to prison for at least six years. Instead, his dad did a deal with prosecutors, and all charges were dropped.
Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham also advocated the death penalty for drug dealers, until his son Randy was convicted of having 400 pounds of pot. He pled for mercy for his son, but while out on bail, his son tested positive for cocaine and then jumped through a window to avoid being incarcerated for bail violations. Randy was sentenced to 30 months in jail, but this was only half the 60-month term that mandatory sentencing guidelines required.
Politicians' children probably don't use illegal drugs more than other young people do, but they are the victims of a special irony: the laws that ensnare them are often written by their parents!
To your point: drug abuse, unfortunately, is an indulgence/weakness of all corners of the political spectrum (as you rightly point out).
Years ago General Motors hired private detectives to follow Nader, the real green party leader, and they were shocked at his walking the talk. They were still mad at Nader for his actions which led to the demise of the Corvair. All these years and nothing bad about Nader.
I can just imagine what those folks at the Free Republic are saying. Well must we be reminded that, Rush a three time loser at marriage, was in the Dominican Republic, a country infamous for sex slavery, with a bottle of Viagra? Gore can only be embrassed as Rush and the whole family values evangelical movement. Just where do these people get this idealism which they have no intentions of following?