Did GWB call Laura a "cunt"? A closer look...

A rumor is circulating that a drunken George Bush called Laura a filthy name in front of witnesses. What are the sources for this story? Does the claim have any merit? This story digs up all the facts.

Bottom line: Many such reports trace back to Wayne Madsen -- who has an NSA background -- and to the tabloids, often linked to American intelligence. The National Enquirer, let us not forget, became what it is under the leadership of one Generoso Pope, who had links to both CIA and Da Mob. To recap an earlier piece:

Nobody knows just how long Pope worked for CIA, or why he left -- or if he left. But a few years later, in a scene that might have been co-directed by Orson Welles and Francis Ford Coppola, Pope decided that it would be fun to run a newspaper. So he hit up his godfather for some start-up capital (estimated at $250,000 -- quite a tidy sum in those days), and purchased a nearly-defunct rag called the New York Enquirer, which had begun life as a pro-Nazi tentacle of the Hearst empire.

Pope's godfather happened to be Frank Costello, the "boss of bosses" in New York, New Jersey, and other points northeast.

Costello himself had CIA links. Although the tabloids have now come under centralized control, many believe that the intelligence community still has "wires" into that world.

We can, I think, fairly say that the sources for sensational stories about Bush's personal life tend to be kind of -- well, spooky. And that means the stories are significant, even if untrue.