(WMR) -- With less than two months remaining in office, George W. Bush, witnessing a devastating defeat for the Republican Party, worse favorability ratings than those of Richard Nixon at the height of the Watergate scandal, and the most devastating economic situation since the Great Depression, is reported by a number of well-placed sources in Washington as drinking heavily.

After having tried to explain away the collapse of several Wall Street brokerage houses by saying, “Wall Street got drunk,” it appears that it is Bush who is suffering from bouts of drunkenness.

According to informed sources who spoke to WMR, Bush was visibly drunk at the recent G-20 economic summit in Washington and at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Lima, Peru. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, Chinese President Hu Jintao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper were among the world leaders who had the chance to witness an inebriated Bush both at the G-20 and APEC summits.

WMR has long reported on Bush’s heavy drinking. On July 31, 2007, WMR reported: “WMR has learned that the January 13, 2002, incident in which President Bush claimed to have choked on a pretzel and passed out briefly was a cover story designed to divert the media’s attention away from Bush’s heavy drinking. A well-placed White House source has confirmed a previous account of another well-connected White House source that Bush had been drinking while watching a Sunday NFL playoff game between Baltimore and Miami.

The White House nurse on duty examined Bush after he passed out from drinking at around 5:35 pm and took a blood sample ostensibly to check his blood sugar levels. The blood sample reportedly showed Bush’s blood alcohol content at a level considered to be legal intoxication.

Bush fell from his couch bruising his cheek and cutting his lip. His eyeglasses also cut the side of his face. Bush blamed the incident on his failure to heed his mother’s advice and chew all his food before he swallowed.” 

On June 6, 2005, WMR reported: “A well-heeled Republican donor to the Republican Party was very frank about George W. Bush’s mental and physical condition. Attending a May 17 Republican National Committee $1500 a ticket fundraiser at Washington’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Bush supporter commented that he and others in attendance were talking the entire evening about Bush’s strange appearance. The donor and GOP supporter said that Bush ‘looked like he was on crystal meth,’ a reference to the illegal drug crystal methamphetamine, a hallucinogenic stimulant.”

On September 22, 2005, WMR reported: “The White House press corps has been whispering about Bush’s drinking over the past few years. None dare write or speak about it lest their credentials are lifted and further access cut off by the most vindictive White House in American history.”

On March 13, 2007, WMR reported: “Our White House Press Corps sources report further disturbing news about President George W. 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.” (12.05.2008) http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4093.shtml Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.