- GREER, S.C. (Reuters)
- When President Bush talks about his drinking days, he usually speaks
in serious tones and often with a moral lesson attached, but he found a
chance to laugh about them on Monday.
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- During a meeting Bush held at a BMW vehicle factory in
South Carolina with plant workers and suppliers, Spartanburg Steel Products
President Stephen Thies told the president his company had an affiliate
that was the only American maker of beer kegs.
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- "I quit drinking in '86, but I bet some of the people
out here use the product," Bush said. "I'm not going to point
out which ones."
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- Thies said, "Well, we did notice a dip in demand
at a point in time. Probably no relationship."
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- To which Bush replied, laughing with his audience, "Pretty
observant fellow, aren't you?"
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- Later, BMW worker Archie Gist recalled a training trip
to BMW's home country of Germany.
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- He told the Texan Bush, "We learned about the glockenspiel
and lederhosen, and beer ... German beer. And let me tell you, if you all
think things are big in Texas, you ought to see the beer in Germany."
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- Bush took a more serious tone in an Oct. 29 speech at
a Dallas church, when he alluded to his decision to quit drinking after
turning 40.
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- "A lot of times, the best way to help the addict,
a person who is stuck on drugs and alcohol, is to change their heart. See,
if you change their heart then they change their behavior. I know,"
he said.
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