TheLegacy

Bush's mystery bulge

The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate?

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By Dave Lindorff


http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/298647.shtml

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2...e/index_np.html


Oct. 8, 2004 | Was President Bush literally channeling Karl Rove in his first debate with John Kerry? That's the latest rumor flooding the Internet, unleashed last week in the wake of an image caught by a television camera during the Miami debate. The image shows a large solid object between Bush's shoulder blades as he leans over the lectern and faces moderator Jim Lehrer.

The president is not known to wear a back brace, and it's safe to say he wasn't packing. So was the bulge under his well-tailored jacket a hidden receiver, picking up transmissions from someone offstage feeding the president answers through a hidden earpiece? Did the device explain why the normally ramrod-straight president seemed hunched over during much of the debate?

Bloggers are burning up their keyboards with speculation. Check out the president's peculiar behavior during the debate, they say. On several occasions, the president simply stopped speaking for an uncomfortably long time and stared ahead with an odd expression on his face. Was he listening to someone helping him with his response to a question? Even weirder was the president's strange outburst. In a peeved rejoinder to Kerry, he said, "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.

Hot on the conspiracy trail, I tried to track down the source of the photo. None of the Bush-is-wired bloggers, however, seemed to know where the photo came from. Was it possible the bulge had been Photoshopped onto Bush's back by a lone conspiracy buff? It turns out that all of the video of the debate was recorded and sent out by Fox News, the pool broadcaster for the event. Fox sent feeds from multiple cameras to the other networks, which did their own on-air presentations and editing.

To watch the debate again, I ventured to the Web site of the most sober network I could think of: C-SPAN. And sure enough, at minute 23 on the video of the debate, you can clearly see the bulge between the president's shoulder blades.

Bloggers stoke the conspiracy with the claim that the Bush administration insisted on a condition that no cameras be placed behind the candidates. An official for the Commission on Presidential Debates, which set up the lecterns and microphones on the Miami stage, said the condition was indeed real, the result of negotiations by both campaigns. Yet that didn't stop Fox from setting up cameras behind Bush and Kerry. The official said that "microphones were mounted on lecterns, and the commission put no electronic devices on the president or Senator Kerry." When asked about the bulge on Bush's back, the official said, "I don't know what that was."

So what was it? Jacob McKenna, a spyware expert and the owner of the Spy Store, a high-tech surveillance shop in Spokane, Wash., looked at the Bush image on his computer monitor. "There's certainly something on his back, and it appears to be electronic," he said. McKenna said that, given its shape, the bulge could be the inductor portion of a two-way push-to-talk system. McKenna noted that such a system makes use of a tiny microchip-based earplug radio that is pushed way down into the ear canal, where it is virtually invisible. He also said a weak signal could be scrambled and be undetected by another broadcaster.

Mystery-bulge bloggers argue that the president may have begun using such technology earlier in his term. Because Bush is famously prone to malapropisms and reportedly dyslexic, which could make successful use of a teleprompter problematic, they say the president and his handlers may have turned to a technique often used by television reporters on remote stand-ups. A reporter tapes a story and, while on camera, plays it back into an earpiece, repeating lines just after hearing them, managing to sound spontaneous and error free.

Suggestions that Bush may have using this technique stem from a D-day event in France, when a CNN broadcast appeared to pick up -- and broadcast to surprised viewers -- the sound of another voice seemingly reading Bush his lines, after which Bush repeated them. Danny Schechter, who operates the news site MediaChannel.org, and who has been doing some investigating into the wired-Bush rumors himself, said the Bush campaign has been worried of late about others picking up their radio frequencies -- notably during the Republican Convention on the day of Bush's appearance. "They had a frequency specialist stop me and ask about the frequency of my camera," Schechter said. "The Democrats weren't doing that at their convention."

Repeated calls to the White House and the Bush national campaign office over a period of three days, inquiring about what the president may have been wearing on his back during the debate, and whether he had used an audio device at other events, went unreturned. So far the Kerry campaign is staying clear of this story. When called for a comment, a press officer at the Democratic National Committee claimed on Tuesday that it was "the first time" they'd ever heard of the issue. A spokeswoman at the press office of Kerry headquarters refused to permit me to talk with anyone in the campaign's research office. Several other requests for comment to the Kerry campaign's press office went unanswered.

As for whether we really do have a Milli Vanilli president, the answer at this point has to be, God only knows.

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Bansheelinks

very interesting.........i'd laugh my ass off if true and confirmed somehow..........until then, i reserve judgement, even for Bushgollum

TheLegacy

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Bansheelinks

Cheney is much fatter than that, and you're missing the "I Love Halliburton" tattoo over his exhausted heart......

andi_germany

Funny shit. At least we can make sure that the next debate will be without it as everybody will try to catch the signal now ;)
I bet Kerry will pad Bush on his Back now ;)

Mor eproblem I have with this:

"As the politics change, his positions change. And that's not how a commander in chief acts."

This basically means Bush stands to his decisions even though they might prove wrong. I find this very dangerous.

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mardigras

On Hannity and Colmes they just ran the clip of Bush and Kerry walking onto the stage, shaking hands and walking to their podiums and you can see the square bulge on his back then.

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The Bootyologist

that was his morphine drip

Keev

i highly doubt he was wired with that old POS technology. and if he was, I'd say Both guys probably were....

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liquidmoe

Given how small some of today's technology is why is that piece of hardware so big and in an easily detected location. If he placed it over his ribcage instead, even with that size it may go easier undetected as he would not only have his shirt covering it but also his jacket, giving him ample freedom of movement and extra space.

Oreo, would be interesting if it really were some sort of transmitter/receiver device.

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CET

Does Kerry have a bulge?

None the less, I love political debates because I love hearing them say "what my opponent doesn't realize is . . . ", which is a polite way of saying "my opponent is such a dumb fuck that . . . "

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Bigjohn

Even if he was wired, it sure didn't help him much

andi_germany

He might as well be an alien cyborg with a malfunction

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TheLegacy

why is it so hard to beleive that Bush needed assistance and Kerry didnt?? Look at any tape and you wont see him wired.

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jacked

can you say bullet proof vest ? he's got on a undershirt a bullet proof vest another shirt then his dress shirt then his jacket theres a lot of layers there fellas

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gornyhuy

Holy shit .... that is so fucking funny!!! I hope its proven true.

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More Booze

ahaha!! just like he did got a fucking antenna or something.

Come on people, you know better than that.

gornyhuy

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TheLegacy

that was already considered in the arguement - vests dont make buldges like that in the back, I've worn one - and even if he had some super duper new state of the art vest, it is also widely known that Kerry would also have to have one since the chances of him being the future president is possible.

Secret service ( SS ) have to protect all the candidates, especially the possible new president.

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TheLegacy

wireless headset - easily the ear piece can be clear plastic, but they cant show wires. Thus you have a transmitter, receiver there.. either way , neither one of will ever know for sure - but we sure as hell can speculate

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TheLegacy

I am going to fucking shoot my TV if Bush says"Kerry flip-flops" one more tiime when it was clearly explained that you can agree in principle to a plan, but not the implentation.

Yet I would think having a president who is prepared to change his mind is better than one who makes a mistake and refuses to see it and correct it... but thats American government bullying for you - even when their chief inspector came back from Iraq stating they were wrong in going on - Bush had the balls to say, "Kerry's party probably got to him!!"

MY GOD - how arrogant can you get??

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maxdaname

Even Wired, He Got Crushed by His Opponent!!

Fred Quimby

It was a batter pack to run his brain

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fktup

that's pretty suspect.


can you say P-U-P-P-E-T

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foolio

damm, he is even too stupid to put it in a place that will not be seen.

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bringer

he was wired
thats why he mumbles before replying to everything
what i dont get is why even wired he doesnt make sense

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Giorgio_Xo

Dang! I remember seeing that! I thought it was a posture correction device. Bush has bad posture.

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TheLegacy

really is hard to talk and listen at the same time - especially when you dont know how to listen to anyone else other than the Vice President.

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SlutFinder

well someone has to tell him what to say lol.. he cant think of it himself

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mardigras

If it was a posture correction device, it was a pretty crappy one

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TheLegacy

ya.. as I said, some of us have tried bullet vests on before (as have I) they dont have that mark on the back, plus if it was security, then Kerry would be wearing one...third point.. thats all the friggin white house had to say is that it was a vest!!

who knows, maybe it was an alien attached to his back giving him signals and running the country so that they can attack from space..why else would all the soldiers and military be overseas not protecting home land... .careful plot... bow to the dark overload masters in the sky who are going to invade..

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Bansheelinks

funny how Kerry "smuggling a pen" into the debates, even though this is allowed, was the headline on Drudge for a whole day, but a possible ( I say possible as there is no proof ) Bushgollum mic and earpiece doesn't even get a mention on Drudge..........

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

CamChicks

This video clip:
http://www.interule.com/vid/letmefinish.wmv
+ this picture:

is sure a pretty damning combo.

More evidence that we had of nukes in Iraq anyway..

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camchicks.com

Hey You . . . I Know You!

Could you imagine the fun you could have if you hijacked the frequency Bush has been using?

You could act like the actual Bush message sender and make him say some REALLY funny stuff (mixing up information, names and statistics). You might even be able to trick him into telling some truths.

OR - you could make him say stuff like, "I like to lick Dick Cheney's ball sack."

OR - you could just block him from receiving his intended help

OR - you could just SCREAM at him for the full hour and a half calling him every funny name you've ever read on this board.

Just start as soon as the first question is asked of him, you begin screaming at him, "YOU GOD DAMN MONKEY FACED, BRAIN DEAD FUCK, YOU MAKE ME SICK . . . (and on, and on until the debate ends). You might see Bush grab his ear, and twirl around, falling to the ground trying to rip out the ear piece. I would like to see that.

mardigras

I'm picturing that spin thing Curly (3 Stooges) does on the floor.

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Hey You . . . I Know You!

That made me laugh out loud!
Now I CAN'T STOP picturing that!!!