Kitty's book? Mostly catty
BY CORKY SIEMASZKODAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

-->The new Kitty Kelley book that has the Bush campaign's underwear in a bunch is more catty than explosive. It does claim that President Bush snorted cocaine at Camp David. It does repeat rumors that he arranged an illegal abortion for an ex-girlfriend. And it does accuse First Lady Laura Bush of once being a pothead.

But the sourcing for these accusations is thin and there are no other big surprises in Kelley's much anticipated "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty." Instead, the 705-page tome obtained by the Daily News chronicles the rise of the GOP's First Family and likens them to a WASP-y Mafia clan. "Like the
hotheaded Sonny Corleone in 'The Godfather,' he became savage about avenging his father's honor and preserving the family's political fortunes," Kelley writes of Dubya after Newsweek suggested his dad was a "wimp."

The Bush family soldiers are retired CIA men loyal to the first President George Bush, who "worked to silence pesky girlfriends, talkative associates and grudge-bearing enemies."

"In Texas especially, the Bushes ruled," Kelley writes. "Even
people who disliked them did not want to run afoul of them socially." A worried White House has denounced the book as "garbage" and Bush's people have attacked the credibility of Kelley, best known for her gossipy tell-alls about Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan. But all the buzz has made Kelley's new book a best seller even before it hits store shelves on Tuesday.

Most of the tawdry tales in Kelley's book have appeared in print before, but in retelling them she adds more kindling to the controversy that erupted when the ex-wife of Dubya's brother, Neil, claimed Bush and another brother snorted coke at Camp David during their father's term as President. "Not once,"
Neil's ex-wife Sharon says in the book, "but many times."

After that sensational snippet was leaked, Sharon Bush denied telling Kelley the story, but former Daily News editor Lou Colasuonno says he was there when she said it. Kelley's source about the First Lady's alleged pot smoking is a Texas public
relations man named Robert Nash who says, "She not only smoked dope, but she sold dope."

Kelley also claims that the First Couple went to pot parties on
the British Virgin Islands with Laura Bush's college roommate Jane Clark and her pal, Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax.
To back up the much-rumored story of the younger George Bush getting an abortion for a girlfriend, Kelley cites Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt.

Kelley offers no new insights into Bush's controversial stint in the Texas Air National Guard. But the Bush that appears in her book is a mean ex-drunk who mistreats his wife, believes Jews can't go to heaven and is terrified of "looking wimpish."

Via Steve Gilliard's blog

I am extremely intrigued by the "Jews can't go to heaven" part. Even if George Bush doesn't feel that way now, the question is, did he ever think that way? When? and What made him change his mind? I think he'd owe it to the Jewish community to let them know when he started believing they are heaven worthy.