Did GWB call Laura a "cunt"?

A sensational story is creeping around the shadier regions of the internet. Clearly, some people want to believe this report, or are ready to believe it. But is it true? And how did it start?

The tale traces back to gadfly investigative journalist and former U.S. Naval Officer Wayne Madsen, of the Wayne Madsen Report:

Our White House Press Corps sources report further disturbing news about President Bush.

Our sources have witnessed a clearly inebriated Bush approaching members of the press corps and making rude comments, including one particularly crude remark about First Lady Laura Bush.

In that case, Bush, nodding toward Laura, called her a "c**t."

While Bush's drinking is no secret to the White House press contingent, that particular comment was reportedly the worst they have heard uttered by Bush.

Our sources also report that Laura Bush's stays at the White House are less frequent and that her overnight trips to the Mayflower Hotel often coincide with the president's drunken binges.

Does this story pass (pardon the expression) the smell test? Note that Madsen pins neither when nor where on this incident. No first-hand source confirms it. We don't even have any second-hand rumors from a source that traces back to someone other than Madsen.

One cannot easily believe that any journalist would overhear such a remark without making reference to it. On the other hand, reporters understand that any disclosure of such an incident would result in the loss of White House access.

Wayne Madsen's track record is best described as frustrating.

He often cites anonymous "intelligence sources" for scoops that never receive outside confirmation. Of course, Madsen did work for the NSA and the Navy, positions which allowed him to make contacts unavailable to others. Even so, most of his revelations remain suspended in a maddening realm of "Maybe so, maybe no."

Let's look at some recent examples (with emphasis added throughout):

1. Madsen claims that any story in which Democratic politicians have trouble with Capitol Hill police will always involve Terrance Gainer, the Senate Sergeant at Arms.

Our sources on the Hill said that McKinney was targeted by Gainer and the Republican leadership in a ploy to embarrass her.

2. Madsen claims that the Foley scandal involves the Department of Justice:

WMR has learned from informed sources in the Justice Department that the salacious e-mails from Rep. Mark Foley were leaked to ABC News by career Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents who are incensed that Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales covered up the House page scandal for political reasons. The back story of Pagegate is that there was a criminal conspiracy by the top political leadership of the Justice Department to cover up the predatory activities of Foley and other GOP members of Congress since at least 2003 and, likely, as early as 2001.

Nobody else working on the Foley scandal has even hinted at this.

3. Israel (says Madsen) played a bizarre role a then-notorious 2002 terror incident (blamed on Al Qaeda) in Bali:

Our Indonesian and American sources report that there was a significant U.S. and Israeli military-intelligence connection to the October 12, 2002 bombings of the Sari Club in Bali, Indonesia. A DeHavilland Dash-7 aircraft registered in Queensland, Australia, landed at Denpasar Airport in Bali only hours before a massive explosion ripped through the Sari Club, killing over 200 people, many of them vaporized.

Our sources claim that an Israeli military team arrived at Denpasar Hospital a after the explosion and claimed four bodies of white men in uniform and flew them out of Bali on the Dash 7.

Most, but not all, of the flight logs were deliberated altered. Or so claims Madsen. Moreover:

Our sources also indicate that the then-U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, Ralph Boyce, who is now posted as ambassador to Thailand, was fully aware of U.S. intelligence pre-knowledge of the terrorist bombing in Bali.

4. Russian expatriates control the U.K.:

Our sources in Britain report that the scandals surrounding British Prime Minister Tony Blair and key members of his government are part and parcel of the fact that Britain's government has been co-opted by the Russian-Israeli mobsters, much in the same way that their American colleagues, acting through neo-con proxies, have captured control of the Bush administration.

One could go on. Madsen relies on the nameless "sources" nearly every day -- and nearly every day, he reports some fact or claim that causes his more skeptical readers to shrug and to roll their eyes.

Madsen is scarcely the only person claiming that Bush has returned to the bottle and that the President's marriage has undergone great strain. The supermarket tabloids, all controlled by the same Republican-friendly company, have made the George/Laura separation a recurrent theme. Capitol Hill Blue (another source which does not command universal respect) has made claims of Bush's unhinged behavior. Bush's poor on-camera performances have persuaded many observers that he may have returned to the bottle, although such assessments remain highly subjective.

A oft-repeated Madsen claim holds that Laura Bush spends many nights in the Mayflower Hotel. The rumor has entered into beltway lore, and some folks seem to be under the impression that it was confirmed by the BBC, although no-one can point to the actual BBC story. As far as I can tell, every single "Mayflower" tale on the internet traces back to Wayne Madsen.

Could Laura Bush and her Secret Service detail take up residency at the Mayflower without the knowledge of any other reporter? Each reader must supply his or her own answer to that question.

Laura stays at the Mayflower...Bush is drinking again...Bush called a Laura a vicious name in front of witnesses... If anyone can cite any non-Madsen source for any of these claims -- or if anyone has first-hand testimony -- please write to me at cannonfiremail@yahoo.com.