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Hatfield is a Texas reporter and syndicated columnist. He has previously published a biography of "Star Trek" actor Patrick Stewart.

"Our lawyers looked at the manuscript with great care, it was thoroughly fact-checked," Thomas Dunne, publisher of the St. Martin's imprint that's publishing Hatfield's book. "This author is a pretty good digger. He used a lot more sources than Bob Woodward has in a while. I didn't ask for the names of the three anonymous sources he used in regard to the drug charges. His editor might have, I don't know.

Fortunate Son: The Rise of George W. Bush & The Next Generation of Politics By J.H. Hatfield

"Do I know for a fact these allegations are true? No, of course not. But I know that the author believes them to be true. He researched the book exhaustively and put it together with a variety of independent sources, including many who have never met each other."

"Salon actually started this," Hatfield said in an interview Monday. "The book was finished. The galleys were in and ready to go to print. You guys did the story on the MLK Jr. center.

"When I was working on the book, it's almost like being one of those women who sit around and make quilts all day. You've got all these patches of fabric. The Project P.U.L.L. year in 1972 did not fit his personality. It would be like that one piece on that quilt and you may not notice it. But if I made that quilt I'd be across the room going, 'That piece just doesn't fit. It bothers me.'"

Hatfield says he, like other reporters, didn't pay much attention to the year Bush spent doing community service -- at a time when it was well-known he was drinking and carousing. "I fell for it just like everybody has. Kinda glossed over it -- 'That's nice.' All of a sudden he goes back to his young and irresponsible years again. Why all of sudden would you quit flying your planes, quit drinking, quit chasing women and go mentor inner-city black kids? That piece never fit in.

"He was arrested. He was not charged as far as I know from my sources. What happened was he was picked up, taken to Harris County Jail. Within hours Dad was there.

"I think his dad might have gotten him switched to another judge. Texas judges are elected, which makes a lot of people believe that they can be manipulated and corrupted."

Reported by Anthony York, Craig Offman and Daryl Lindsey.

salon.com | Oct. 18, 1999

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