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Does Bush Wear A Wire?

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14:23 / 09.10.04

Is Bush Wired?

In last week's debate between John Kerry and George Bush, Bush had an odd verbal outburst - in the middle of a rebuttal to Kerry, Bush stopped and uttered "let me finish," though neither Kerry nor Jim Lehrer had tried to interject, and Bush still had 30 seconds remaining on the clock. Viewers also report seeing a brief shot of the president from behind, in which there is clearly something attached to his back under his clothes:

Bush's strange pauses in speech and odd expressions (like he is listening when no one - that we can hear at least - is speaking) all seem to suggest that the president is being fed answers through an earpiece...

Thoughts? It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

14:26 / 09.10.04

Audio clip of the "let me finish" blunder here.

15:22 / 09.10.04

It's interesting, for sure. A few days ago I went back and watched the video feed of that same moment, and it seemed to me that he was addressing moderator Jim Lehrer with that "hang on let me finish" comment--he was wagging his finger at Lehrer as he said it. Lehrer hadn't said anything out loud, but I assumed he was gesturing at Bush somehow (there's no camera feed of Lehrer, unfortunately). Point being, I figured the issue was specious and would die pretty quickly.

So imagine my surprise to find that, after the release of the "square bulge" photo, even the New York Times is on the story (login required--use laexaminer/laexaminer if you're not registered).

17:17 / 09.10.04

I posted about this in the debates thread as well. That NYT article is curious - I'd think the most simple and innocent explanation for the bulge was a bulletproof vest, but the White House says it wasn't? They don't explain what it was, which is an odd move because it will only feed the speculation.

17:30 / 09.10.04

Oops, sorry, I did a search for this topic before posting it and didn't find anything, and I didn't see your post in the other thread. Apologies.

02:57 / 10.10.04

This does indeed sound rrreealllly fishy to me, esp. given the various facts provided in support of the theory (esp. CNN picking up someone feeding Bush his lines minutes before a D-Day event, the RNC Bush people asking cameramen what frequency they run on)... however, I fear this theory might stay in the 'sounds like an unprovable conspiracy-type theory to the average American Joe' kind of category unless the news goes after it like a vicious hound dog and breaks something more substantial on it.

03:43 / 10.10.04

That's his hotline to God. *weeps despairingly* The USA is full of lovely people. How can they re-elect this cretin, and it looks like they're going to.

04:26 / 10.10.04

Hee, hee.
Shadow Govt. Puppet Show

madfigs #32, now with wasabi

04:34 / 10.10.04

It's probably better for Bush to have the media focused on relatively minor issues like this. He's had bad news on WMDs and the job growth rate this week, most people are calling the debate in Kerry's favor, and the polls show 2/3 of undecided voters leaning Democrat. The wire story is still negative, but at least there aren't concrete facts backing it up.

I definitely don't feel that a Bush victory is a sure thing anymore. I've heard a lot of comparisons from the pundits between this campaign and the last few weeks of Bush Senior's race against Clinton in 1992. I've also heard an interesting statistic that no incumbent president has ever been re-elected if the challenger led the polls at any time in the race, and Kerry did have the lead after the DNC. Then again, they say that the best electoral predictor is the sales of Halloween masks of the candidates, so who knows how accurate that is.

12:19 / 11.10.04

CNN has a story on Bush denying the charges -- but it's funny how they don't tell us what it actually IS. They don't even want to really address it. All they say is "no, that's outrageous and false."

---------------------

CNN.com

CHANHASSEN, Minnesota (AP) -- Campaign aides to President Bush on Saturday laughed off rampant Internet speculation about whether the president was wired to get help from advisers during his first debate with Sen. John Kerry.

"It's not true. It's ridiculous," Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

A still photo from television footage of Bush as he debated Kerry on September 30 in Coral Gables, Florida, appears to show a small, boxy shape between the president's shoulder blades.

Campaign officials declined to discuss it further because they weren't certain a bulge even existed and do not want to appear to take seriously what they consider a "wild accusation."

Bloggers and others began to muse on various Web sites that the bulge could have been a radio receiver that the president's aides could use to give him answers during the debate. One Web site, www.isbushwired.com, is devoted solely to the matter.

"Some people have been spending too many hours looking at left-wing conspiracy Web sites," Stanzel said. "Did you hear the one about Elvis moderating the third debate?"

13:13 / 11.10.04

It's where they stick the big wind-up key. C'mon, everybody knows the American President has been Disney animatronics since Eisenhower.

17:31 / 11.10.04

"Did you hear the one about Elvis moderating the third debate?"

Ridicule is the snap-to argument for a Republican caught with no real answers.

18:07 / 11.10.04

here's the website:
Is Bush Wired?

18:17 / 11.10.04

Another website shows a photo of GW from the second debate where there appears to be something that looks like a wire underneath Bush's tie (going under the suit jacket). The pic is large and should be viewed that way, so I'll just link to the site. Scroll down to Sunday October 10.

21:38 / 11.10.04

>>>here's the website:<<<

First line of my first post here, Tricks.

I watched the 2nd debate again today and I noticed on several occasions what looked like the shape of a wire snaking over Bush's left shoulder under his jacket, and there's one bit about 28 minutes in when he adjusts his tie and you can quite clearly see (again, what at least *appears* to be) a wire underneath.

22:39 / 11.10.04

Just felt I had to post this:

bush ipod

bush ipod

01:56 / 12.10.04

I don't buy this for the following reasons:

1) There's nothing in either of his ears. Even given that he was wearing a wire, I don't see how the information could reach him without an ear piece.

2) If they had the president wired the box would have been a hell of a lot smaller.

3) They wouldn't have put it on his back where you could see it. It would go nearby his jacket pocket.

He's the president. Lots of people hate him. As was pointed out earlier, he's almost certainly wearing a bullet proof vest. You're not being told what the bulge is because they don't want to put his life in danger.

02:16 / 12.10.04

1. If they were using an earpiece, they'd be using the type that sits deeper in the ear canal. This is fairly standard news reporter type technology.

2. It's true the "box" is curiously conspicuous. But the White House's lack of an explanation is equally curious.

3. See above. The White House is denying that it's a bulletproof vest. But why? There seem to be no damning implications or consequences to admitting the Pres is wearing Kevlar, but they won't say that, nor will they offer any alternative explanation other than "the suit is puckering."

I'm not actually convinced that Bush was/is wired, but I agree with those on the interwebnet who are pointing out, the fact that this is getting so much buzz (mainstream and otherwise) underlines the basic untrustworthiness of GWB.

11:00 / 12.10.04

Perhaps Bush was responding to auditory hallucinations. Does anyone know whether he 'got' Seaguy?

Jack The Bodiless

11:30 / 12.10.04

The box/wire/whatever is just too damn big. C'mon, they can make these things wireless and the size of a credit card these days...

12:10 / 12.10.04

(Unless with customary incompetence they forgot to put an order through for a new one and had to dig Nixon's old one out of the cupboard at the last minute..)

But anyway, yes, sadly the lack of an earpiece would seem to scupper this theory, but nevertheless I'd say the fact that Bush always talks like he's responding to mumbled commands in his ear becomes far more disturbing upon consideration of the idea that he ISN'T wired..

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

12:20 / 12.10.04

Ha! My thoughts exactly. When he said 'No, let me finish' to nobody in particular, you have to wonder if it wasn't Moses or the Ummites he was talking to.

12:35 / 12.10.04

>> The box/wire/whatever is just too damn big. C'mon, they can make these things wireless and the size of a credit card these days...

I agree that it seems far too obvious, they can make things much smaller, and as someone said above, wouldn't it go in his jacket pocket and be far less conspicuous...?

12:36 / 12.10.04

As was pointed out earlier, he's almost certainly wearing a bullet proof vest. You're not being told what the bulge is because they don't want to put his life in danger.

I don't get this one. I've seen people say it elsewhere and it just makes no sense to me. How would saying he wears a bulletproof vest put his life in any more danger?

12:48 / 12.10.04

" They'd " go for a headshot instead maybe ?

13:01 / 12.10.04

Yeah, but that's what I don't understand. Anybody wanting to kill a president would presume that ze wears a jacket as a matter of course and aim for hir head straight from the off. "No, the president doesn't wear a bulletproof vest" is a bit shit as double bluffs go.

13:12 / 12.10.04

Off the top of my head, but maybe some P.R. hack decided it would be bad for "the President's" image as The Choice of the Nation (and/or God) if he admitted that he felt the need to wear a bulletproof vest so someone didn't blow him away during the campaign? There have been stranger P.R. moves in the history of electoral politics, I'm sure.

~L

[Rove set up a nice wireless feed, but Bush Lost his signal in the middle of a response.]

13:38 / 12.10.04

The no earpiece theory - I didn't see any good shots of his ear canal, so he could have pretty easily had a small, wireless earbud receiver in there. It's like a hearing-aid, only alot smaller.

Poor hiding - The Bush camp originally pushed to have a ban on recording from behind the candidates. With no rearviews, the back is even better than the hip to hide something. However, somebody broke the rules with the camera.

The real question is who the hell was feeding him those 'brilliant' answers? Dan Quayle? (Sorry 1992, here's your joke back)

15:32 / 12.10.04

Hearing aids can also be surgically places along the ear canal behind the ear under the skin. It's not a very difficult thing to do and considering GW... Rove may have insisted on helping him out this way.

Granted, this is vearing into conspiracy theory but what else is new. It obvious few people trust Bush to be honest or educated.

That website (sorry Cam, when I clicked it the link went nowhere which threw me off) also mentions a similar situation where while meeting the Indonesian president GW was suddenly VERY skilled in discussing the nuances of local politics there...

As for kevlar jackets and such... a particular square bulge with a "wire" is not a common effect most jackets would have. He would more likely either appear to have more of a BOX like frame, Or look like Tim Burton's BATMAN.

19:08 / 12.10.04

On the positive side, the story has now reached the mainstream media, complete with pix. There's a pic on something like page 6 of the NY Daily News today.

00:59 / 13.10.04

why is the pack on his back so high up?
wouldnt it have been bettter in the small of his back?

Later, I had a call from a reader in Germany who told me she heard the same thing on CNN International including that same voice telling Bush what journalists to call on before he did. We have never heard that before. She asked: "Is someone controlling the president like a ventriloquist"?

It reminded me of a trick that some TV correspondents use for their on camera standups. They pre-record their standups for playback in their ears, and then turn to the camera in a way that you can't see the ear plug. They then play the tape and mouth their own words a long a few seconds later. It takes practice to be able to repeat the words but it makes for a smoother delivery without having to read. If I am right this means that this technique is used by the President to give his speeches the appearance of spontaneity, especially if he can't remember his own words. In this case, CNN picked up this audio track, perhaps because it was on a radio mic.

i'd link to think he was telling himself to shut up.

05:05 / 13.10.04

There seem to be no damning implications or consequences to admitting the Pres is wearing Kevlar, but they won't say that, nor will they offer any alternative explanation other than "the suit is puckering."

Of course there are consequences. If they admit it, then anyone who's planning an assassination is going to bring a more powerful weapon.

Anybody wanting to kill a president would presume that ze wears a jacket as a matter of course and aim for hir head straight from the off.

Aiming a handgun isn't easy. You say headshot as if it's a matter of leisurely clicking a mouse on a correct spot.

The Bush camp originally pushed to have a ban on recording from behind the candidates.

The alternative explanation here is that they don't want to show that John Kerry is taller, and are being really anal about it.

With no rearviews, the back is even better than the hip to hide something.

Except for the part where he walks across the stage and shakes John Kerry's hand.

09:57 / 13.10.04

That website (sorry Cam, when I clicked it the link went nowhere which threw me off) also mentions a similar situation where while meeting the Indonesian president GW was suddenly VERY skilled in discussing the nuances of local politics there...

Maybe he had a briefing god forbid, or read some notes.

Be nice to think of that bastard actually doing his job and attempting to be a politician for once instead of just mugging like a goon..

and RE: "sounding like a conspiracy theory", something I've been thinking recently is that with the advent of the current US administration, government-related conspiracy theories just got a lot more plausible.

Think about it this way; At the risk of over-simplifying, previous administrations have largely been run by sensible, straight-laced, pragmatic sort of characters (even if they were bastards) - you know, economics, global diplomacy, balancing budgets - sensible stuff. Whereas now we have people in high places who are all about combating sinister covert threats, developing weird new military hardware, biblical vengeance and strange NWO type worldviews.. people who are basically working within a conspiracy theorist mindset. Who knows what kind of bugfuck shit they're likely to be cooking up??

12:49 / 13.10.04

Now that Edwards has joked about the bulge on the Tonight Show, I'm curious see whether Bush will acknowledge the rumor in any way tonight, either by shedding the jacket or by making another clumsy joke (a la 'I almost wanted to scowl').

I feel a little torn on this issue, because half of me thinks the Bush team wants us to dwell on such distractions. Could that be why they've compounded the mystery by stating it's not a vest but not offering an explanation? On the other hand, it seems that if we don't try to pin him down on this one, he's gotten away with yet another deception. Damned if we do or don't.

These people, Rove and the whole Republican machine, they're just masterminds at controlling public opinion and media coverage.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:55 / 13.10.04

You can tell it's hit the news in the UK- Private Eye's front cover is about it.

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