conservative author who secretly taped conversations with President Bush insisted he gave up big bucks by holding his controversial book until after the 2004 election.
Doug Wead, who worked for Bush's father, said that decision proves he never planned to betray the future President by playing tapes of their private conversations for a reporter.
"I lost a million dollars by delaying the book after the election, where it would have been driven by partisan interests," Wead told CNN.
Wead drew on the tapes to write "The Raising of a President," which was released just after the new year to little fanfare. But he only recently played the tapes for a New York Times reporter to prove what he wrote was true.
"I'm a historian, and he's President," Wead said yesterday of Bush, adding, "He's my friend, yes."
Wead did not seem to get the message reported yesterday in the Daily News that he's persona non grata after breaking the No. 1 demand of the nation's most powerful political family: loyalty.
"We do not consider him to be a friend of the President," a Bush source told The News.
But even as Bush insiders blasted the secret tapes, Wead claimed the recordings - complete with controversial comments about past drug use and gay rights - only burnished Bush's legacy as a straight shooter.
Wead, who has written histories of the Kennedy and Roosevelt presidencies, worked for Bush's father and was viewed as a crucial link with the evangelical Christian community.
But it was those very ties that may have cost him his post in 1990 after hewrote conservatives that it was mistake to invite gay activists to the White House. Wead was always "a divisive character," said one former colleague from the first Bush administration.
Meanwhile, activists on both sides of the partisan divide sparred over whether the mostly PG-rated revelations would damage Bush politically.
"What we've learned is that this President isn't who the right wing wants him to be," said liberal political strategist and Internet blogger John Aravosis.
Conservative Web sites were burning up with talk of the tapes - but the criticism was directed at Wead for betraying Bush, who was the governor of Texas when the tapes were made.
Gay rights advocates took a dim view of Bush's claim on the tapes that he wouldn't fire someone for being gay. "His actions speak louder than his words," said Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry, a group opposed to Bush's call for banning gay nuptials.
Doug Wead, who worked for Bush's father, said that decision proves he never planned to betray the future President by playing tapes of their private conversations for a reporter.
"I lost a million dollars by delaying the book after the election, where it would have been driven by partisan interests," Wead told CNN.
Wead drew on the tapes to write "The Raising of a President," which was released just after the new year to little fanfare. But he only recently played the tapes for a New York Times reporter to prove what he wrote was true.
"I'm a historian, and he's President," Wead said yesterday of Bush, adding, "He's my friend, yes."
Wead did not seem to get the message reported yesterday in the Daily News that he's persona non grata after breaking the No. 1 demand of the nation's most powerful political family: loyalty.
"We do not consider him to be a friend of the President," a Bush source told The News.
But even as Bush insiders blasted the secret tapes, Wead claimed the recordings - complete with controversial comments about past drug use and gay rights - only burnished Bush's legacy as a straight shooter.
Wead, who has written histories of the Kennedy and Roosevelt presidencies, worked for Bush's father and was viewed as a crucial link with the evangelical Christian community.
But it was those very ties that may have cost him his post in 1990 after hewrote conservatives that it was mistake to invite gay activists to the White House. Wead was always "a divisive character," said one former colleague from the first Bush administration.
Meanwhile, activists on both sides of the partisan divide sparred over whether the mostly PG-rated revelations would damage Bush politically.
"What we've learned is that this President isn't who the right wing wants him to be," said liberal political strategist and Internet blogger John Aravosis.
Conservative Web sites were burning up with talk of the tapes - but the criticism was directed at Wead for betraying Bush, who was the governor of Texas when the tapes were made.
Gay rights advocates took a dim view of Bush's claim on the tapes that he wouldn't fire someone for being gay. "His actions speak louder than his words," said Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry, a group opposed to Bush's call for banning gay nuptials.
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