Drunk driving is bad. Like, very bad. Don’t do it. You put others’ lives in danger if you do.
There’s no excusing it. There’s no downplaying it.
What’s ridiculous, though, is the attempt to compare former President George W. Bush’s 1976 DUI to Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rouke’s 1998 DWI, especially in light of new reporting on the latter. There’s no comparison between the two.
Here’s what the Washington Post reported in 2002 on Bush’s DUI:
Bush, the driver, failed a road sobriety test and a second test in the police station, registering a 0.10 blood-alcohol level – the legal limit at the time, Bridges said.
Asked about Bush’s demeanor, the retired officer said, “The man was, and I say this without being facetious, a picture of integrity. He gave no resistance. He was very cooperative.”
Bush, 54, has refused to answer questions about “youthful indiscretions,” including whether he used illegal drugs in the 1960s and early 1970s. He continued to avoid specifics Thursday night.
Bush has said he quit drinking the day after his 40th birthday on July 6, 1986.
Bush pleaded guilty to the charge. He paid a $150 fine and had his driving privileges temporarily suspended in Maine, where the arrest took place.
Here’s what the Houston Chronicle reported Friday on O’Rourke’s DWI charge:
O’Rourke recorded a 0.136 and 0.134 on police breathalyzers, above a blood-alcohol level of 0.10, the state legal limit at the time. He was arrested at the scene and charged with DWI, but completed a court-approved diversion program and had the charges dismissed.
[…]
Police said O’Rourke then attempted to leave the scene but was stopped by the same motorist he had just passed. The unidentified motorist “then turned on his overhead lights to warn oncoming traffic and to try to get the defendant (O’Rourke) to stop” … The DPS report described O’Rourke as having “glossy” eyes, slurred speech, smelling of liquor, and almost falling to the ground as he got out of his car.
The court eventually dismissed the DWI charges, for reasons hard to fathom. The influence of his politically connected family (his father is an El Paso judge) could have been a factor.
O’Rouke, who is polling closely in his race against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, did not deny the allegations Friday, including that he tried to flee the scene of his drunk driving-induced crash. Rather, he reiterated that he’s sorry for drunk driving.
“I drove drunk and was arrested for a DWI in 1998,” O’Rourke told the Houston Chronicle. “As I’ve publicly discussed over the last 20 years, I made a serious mistake for which there is no excuse.”
You can go on claiming O’Rourke crashing his car into oncoming traffic, trying to flee the scene of the crime, and then blowing a 0.136 and 0.134 on the breathalyzer test is totally like the anodyne-by-comparison Bush DUI.
But you’d be wrong.
