Now they tell us. Robert Mosbacher, who was a long-time adviser to former President George H.W. Bush, reveals in a posthumous autobiography that he opposed efforts by the more aggressive 1988 campaign adviser Lee Atwater to insert the "Read my lips, no new taxes" pledge in 41's GOP presidential nomination acceptance speech. In the upcoming Going to Windward: A Mosbacher Family Memoir, he says even Bush opposed the late Atwater's bid to jazz up the speech. Reason: Both knew the budget situation was bad and Bush didn't want to be "handcuffed." Of course Bush broke that pledge in 1990 and conservatives deserted him. Mosbacher, who died in January, says he was "played" by Atwater: While it helped Bush win in 1988, it doomed the "president's political survival in 1992."
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