Philip Stutts recalls the 2000 campaign moment when a DUI conviction from George W. Bush's twenties broke three days before the election. Stutts was in the green room with Bush's running mate when the story hit, and asked if he knew about it. The candidate said no.
Chapters
3 days before the election, it was announced somebody had uncovered that George W. Bush had a DUI when he was 25 or 28 years old. And by the way, like, that would be a whole, like, laughable offense now, but back then it almost cost him the entire election. So it was revealed he had this DUI and it was huge headlines everywhere. And he, George W. Bush, had to come out to a press conference and say it is true. I never told my family. I never told my kids. I mean, it was like a big deal. And it was broken in— it was during the— I was sitting in the green room with his vice presidential candidate. And I looked over, and I'm like, did you know that? And he goes, nope. And I went, how do you think that affects things? And he goes, well, we'll see. And I'm like, oh my God. Like, this is the biggest news in the entire campaign. And I'm sitting here with the vice president, the future vice president of the United States, in a green room while the news is breaking.