who will kerry be debating tonight?
A lot of people that were watching the president's speech at the D-Day commemorations last June reported hearing a voice saying the lines that Bush was about to say before he said them. This continued into the Q&A. One example being at the 22:40 mark of this audio clip. The reports came after seculation during the previous months that Bush had started using an audio feed during his public statements.
There are times like at this news conference where Bush stumbles over the name of an alQeada terrorist at 13:25 and at 13:32 looks down and to his right, pauses for a second as if listening to something, then magically comes up with the correct pronunciation and apologizes.
Much discussion and some more evidence (and many more links can be found at Is Bush Wired?
The symptoms are all there. His long pauses that accompany his sentences that are more choppy than any line ever read by William Shatner, the way his eyes move erratically in a way that they wouldn't even approximate if he was using a teleprompter (which he claims he does). And that's not to mention strange comments made like the one in the debates last week when he said, as Salon.com remembers (you need to be a member or watch a 30-second ad to get a one day pass), "'As the politics change, his positions change. And that's not how a commander in chief acts. I, I, uh -- Let me finish -- The intelligence I looked at was the same intelligence my opponent looked at.' It must be said that Bush pointed toward Lehrer as he declared 'Let me finish.' The green warning light was lit, signaling he had 30 seconds to, well, finish." I remember that moment and thinking how odd it was myself.
And then there is the picture of the bulge on Bush's back:
This photo is straight off the newsfeed provided by Fox News and was caught on camera only after the photo pool decided to ignore the infamous twenty-some page agreememnt on dos and don'ts that the Kerry and Bush camp came to, and that specifically barred photos of the candidates from behind, on Bush's request (it might be added that the press ignoring that agreemement lead to the wonderful shots of Bush's facial expressions that were so amusing). It looks like a small battery pack for a radio as well as, some claim, a small wire running to Bush's ear.
If Bush uses audio clues and a wire during speeches I see no problems with it. It is nothing more than an audio version of a teleprompter that way too many politicians rely upon these days. It is also, then, like the same technology that television reporters use in recording their stories, then reading them back as they play in their ears. But the president should come forawrd and admit that he does it in those cases, just as he shouldn't hide his use of a teleprompter (not that one really could). The use of this technology in press conferences and other sorts of Q&As is not right. When a member of the press asks the president a question, the member of the press should receive an answer from the president...not Karl Rove or whoever (the Wizard oz Oz analogy of the man behind the curtain is just so relevent here...).
But the use of an earpiece in a presidential debate, when the citizens of America are trying to straighten out which of these two men, they should hear just what these tow men have to say (not the two men plus who's ever behind the Bush-shaped curtain).
Of course, this may all just be a coinicidence, there may be no one hiding behind the Bush, as it were. But it's all rather questionable, and it all sort of fits into the pattern of Bush's behavior and that of his handlers. Sadly, I don't doubt that it's true and I'll be watching/listening to the debate tonight with suspicion. I just wonder who it is that Kerry is actually debating...
There are times like at this news conference where Bush stumbles over the name of an alQeada terrorist at 13:25 and at 13:32 looks down and to his right, pauses for a second as if listening to something, then magically comes up with the correct pronunciation and apologizes.
Much discussion and some more evidence (and many more links can be found at Is Bush Wired?
The symptoms are all there. His long pauses that accompany his sentences that are more choppy than any line ever read by William Shatner, the way his eyes move erratically in a way that they wouldn't even approximate if he was using a teleprompter (which he claims he does). And that's not to mention strange comments made like the one in the debates last week when he said, as Salon.com remembers (you need to be a member or watch a 30-second ad to get a one day pass), "'As the politics change, his positions change. And that's not how a commander in chief acts. I, I, uh -- Let me finish -- The intelligence I looked at was the same intelligence my opponent looked at.' It must be said that Bush pointed toward Lehrer as he declared 'Let me finish.' The green warning light was lit, signaling he had 30 seconds to, well, finish." I remember that moment and thinking how odd it was myself.
And then there is the picture of the bulge on Bush's back:
This photo is straight off the newsfeed provided by Fox News and was caught on camera only after the photo pool decided to ignore the infamous twenty-some page agreememnt on dos and don'ts that the Kerry and Bush camp came to, and that specifically barred photos of the candidates from behind, on Bush's request (it might be added that the press ignoring that agreemement lead to the wonderful shots of Bush's facial expressions that were so amusing). It looks like a small battery pack for a radio as well as, some claim, a small wire running to Bush's ear.
If Bush uses audio clues and a wire during speeches I see no problems with it. It is nothing more than an audio version of a teleprompter that way too many politicians rely upon these days. It is also, then, like the same technology that television reporters use in recording their stories, then reading them back as they play in their ears. But the president should come forawrd and admit that he does it in those cases, just as he shouldn't hide his use of a teleprompter (not that one really could). The use of this technology in press conferences and other sorts of Q&As is not right. When a member of the press asks the president a question, the member of the press should receive an answer from the president...not Karl Rove or whoever (the Wizard oz Oz analogy of the man behind the curtain is just so relevent here...).
But the use of an earpiece in a presidential debate, when the citizens of America are trying to straighten out which of these two men, they should hear just what these tow men have to say (not the two men plus who's ever behind the Bush-shaped curtain).
Of course, this may all just be a coinicidence, there may be no one hiding behind the Bush, as it were. But it's all rather questionable, and it all sort of fits into the pattern of Bush's behavior and that of his handlers. Sadly, I don't doubt that it's true and I'll be watching/listening to the debate tonight with suspicion. I just wonder who it is that Kerry is actually debating...
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