I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Is is illegal for him to have an earpiece in? It seems unethical and would certainly be embarassing not to mention would kill him in the polls.
God was sepaking to him again. Only this time he was telling him it was time for him to go.
He was talking to Jesus.
he couldn't think of anything else to say. that's all.
This is really good:
Bush doesn't even know when Sept. 11 happened
I kid you not. This is as bad as the "who's buried in Grant's Tomb" joke. I've not seen a newspaper yet note the fact that during the debate Bush flubbed "September 11" by referring to it as "September 10."
That's kind of a pre-September 10th mentality, the hope that somehow resolutions and failed inspections would make this world a more peaceful place.
No, Mr. President, that's a pre September 11 mentality, or it's a September 10 mentality - but it's NOT a pre-September 10 mentality.
You may think this a small point, but imagine what Karl Rove would do if John Kerry flubbed the date America was attacked. How can John Kerry protect America if he can't even keep his dates straight? If he doesn't even know when America was attacked? We MUST start thinking Republican in order to win.
Which got me thinking. What other hardball questions like this should they throw at Bush the next debate?
- Mr. President, on what date does the 4th of July fall in the year 2010?
- What color is the White House?
Other suggestions?
http://americablog.blogspot.com/
...681800363443975
Dunno who he was talking to, but he does that all the time. Watch any interview, the punk always barks at people.
"Listen!"
"You gotta see!"
"Let me finish!"
"What you have to understand..."
He has a tendency to say "Let me finish" every time he's stumbling in an unscripted interview, so I wouldn't put much weight to any earpiece theory.
The earpiece theory is just a red herring that we shouldn't allow to distract us from the rest of the debate.
I think he said "let me finish" simply because that's what he always does. He doesn't seem able to speak without telling other people to shut up. I don't think there's any deeper meaning to it than that.
Jinx, Donkey. You owe me a Coke.
Mr. pResident, if you had four daughters instead of two, how many daughters would you have altogether?
Barking mad, is what.
Yeah, surely to God if Karl Rove was talking to him, he would have told him to stop slumping and acting like a spoiled, petulant child.
Bush is unravelling like a cheap sweater.
Does anyone know what the "what did Kerry slip out of his pocket" story Drudge has is all about? Don't just dissmiss it, cause you know the media desperately wants to jump on Kerry for something after he pounded on their guy the other night.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Bush was getting help off stage; however, in all honesty, you can't see Jim Lehrer in the shot, so it's impossible to say that he didn't motion to Mr. Bush - perhaps to interject a follow-up to something Bush was saying. I am suspicious though. Such devices have been used by faith healers at their services to hoodwink the gullible into believing they are getting information about them from on high.
And the "earpiece theory" link does not work.
The little green light on his podium went on, the timer. That's when he said, "Let me finish".
i don't buy the ear-piece.
don't you think that if he did in fact have an ear-piece they would have told him that helooked like a jackass when he was making faces?
and the person on the other end of the line probably would have been able to come up with better things to say than "it's hard work"...
i just think he's paranoid, inventing straw men who are constantly challenging him.
We'll always have Poland
You think he forgot about the split-screen thing again, and said "let me finish" hoping that viewers would think that a boorish Kerry was trying to cut him off?
Nah. I think it was more likely that under the stress of the debate he was having flashbacks of arguing with his dad.
The little green light on his podium went on, the timer. That's when he said, "Let me finish".
The Donkey
So now he's holding conversations with blinky lights? "Ah luv me mah imaginerary frends. They help me clear brush!"
-
Yeah, but the dupes watching on the TeeVee didn't know that. So W could use it to make it sound like someone was interrupting him, even though they set the rules.
More interesting is the times he asked for a 30 sec rebuttal and then just stared into the camera like a deer in the headlights. Then all he could say was "..mixed messages".
what did Kerry slip out of his pocket
I know what he slipped out of his pocket and it's not good.
Far worse than an earpiece.
http://www.hairyfishnuts.com/#10304226PM
I imagine that Bush saw an expression on Leher's face that telegraphed that he (Leher) thought what he was hearing was total crap. Having spent his youth talking his way out of trouble, Bush was in damage control mode and interjected to head off what he thought was going to be an interruption that was not, in fact, forthcoming.
But it SO reminds me off Ross Perot's famous on-air meltdown. Which one, I can't recall.
tommy is right.
If Bush was getting his info through an earpiece, he was talking to a moron.
Who was he speaking to?
Kenneth, in all likelihood.
...the "what did Kerry slip out of his pocket" story Drudge has...
Cheeto-fueled wankers throughout the land are wailing from their mother's basements, "Kerry broke the written debate rules, he had notes, notes, watch the video!! Rule of law, RULES, I HAVE DEFEATED KERRY!!"
Omigod, we should be in tears, our guy is defeated, and GWB actually didn't show us he is befuddled, un-informed and off the wagon.
There are pictures of Bush at a press conference (think it was last spring) with an earpeice in his ear. I wouldn't discount the theory so quickly.
There were an awful lotta pauses in his answers. Sometimes right in the middle of his responses.
Someone should track this down before the next debate. Ask the question. What can be hurt by it?
Maybe he was talking to God. Which is all right, everyone should feel free to do it but when God starts answering back, in words. Especially if it's through your dental restorations. That's what should give us pause. Does he look way up to the front while he's saying it? About nine stories up? The Oral Roberts effect.
Would anyone be surprised to find out he wears a reciever to feed him answers? Would anyone REALLY be surprised or just make believe they would be?
The little green light on his podium went on, the timer. That's when he said, "Let me finish".
The Donkey
LMAO! That's probably it. Bless his hapless little heart.
As a T-shirt slogan, "Let me finish" is even better than "What about Poland?" ("Pre-September 10" is also promising, but maybe there's rather too much of the "inside baseball" about it.)
I think Lehrer physically made a move to begin asking the next question. Bush paused, and Lehrer thought he was done.
It was clumsy on Bush's part, both to pause so long and to bark the way he did, but I think it was to keep the next question from being answered.
Erik, you chowderhead...you've broken ANOTHER THREAD. Tinyurl or hyperlink, sonny jim. Learn it and love it. (Though, admittedly, that's an intruiging post and the thread isn't all that broken; I'm just wound up today).
Say, does anyone remember in the South Park movie where the Canadian ambassador is trying to prevent the U.S. from invading? They keep making fun of him saying "aboot" - which I've only heard from one Canadian I've ever met, but, admittedly, it was a hoot - and he kept saying "Can I finish? Can I finish?". All the senators got quite and he said, "Okay. I'm finished."
That's who Bush reminded me of, except he didn't say "aboot".
Erik,
Sadly, this was just a slip of the tongue, not total idiocy. Wingnuts often refer to clear eyed thinking as "September 10th" thinking. That's what the famous phrase-mangler was getting at.
But there are plenty of LEGIT things to replay like:
"They attacked us" or whatever he said concerning Iraq.
That's money!
r
r
Please insert those into Jim Lehrer's name in my post above.
Now I'm off to do penance (all Tom Lehrer's songs, all day long).
He barked at Lehrer because Lehrer was listening to his vague, listless, confused response and looking at Bush like he had just started producing ping pong balls from his mouth like an Atlantic City Magician.
Bush was afraid that the jig was up and they were finally coming to take him away and put him in a cozy room where he couldn't hurt himself with pointy objects like the Pentagon.
There are pictures of Bush at a press conference (think it was last spring) with an earpeice in his ear. I wouldn't discount the theory so quickly.
There were an awful lotta pauses in his answers. Sometimes right in the middle of his responses.
Someone should track this down before the next debate. Ask the question. What can be hurt by it?
Here's the video that they claim is Kerry cheating by pulling notes from his coat pocket. Watch the video and you see him pull something from his jacket. Then watch it again and watch the President. He too pulls something from his jacket!!!!! I'm telling you people .. we better get on top of this!!
video
Being coherent is hard work.
Let me finish.
It's incredibly hard.
Kerry was getting his pre-approved pen. Drudge is an idiot. Notice how GRAINY the footage he decides to use is? Wonder why? Maybe so we can't see what Drudge doesn't want us to see. But even w/ the purposefully grainy footage I still see a pen.
Yeah, Kerry would REALLY violate the rules like that when there were a series of 6 cameras on him, that REALLY makes sense. If Drudge keeps pushing this, we're going to HAVE to push the earpiece story since they are complementary and would cancel each other out in their conspiratorial nature, ridiculousness, and lack of evidence.
Poor Republicans, they have to make reality harder to see when what's visible starts hurting them. Soon they'll have to be blind to live.
I actually think the reason was simpler--and probably less sinister--than the earpiece theory.
Towards the latter part of the debate, Shrub was beginning to give up significant portions of his time. For several of the questions/rebuttals, he quit almost as soon as the yellow light came on (meaning he had up to 15 seconds left).
I think in this instance, he was close to running out of steam again. And had paused for a couple seconds, after making what to this CSPAN viewer thought sounded an awful like a concluding statement. And so Lehrer might very well have opened his mouth to move on--wish I had that particular piece of video to confirm it though. Anyway, I think Shrubbie thought he was about to be cut off.
In all though, the occupant of the White House truly and completely screwed the pooch on that debate. Thank goodness.
Did anyone else notice there were lots of shots of Bush's back during the debate? I could have sworn I saw the outline of a rectangular something sitting pretty much dead center on his back.
I didn't see an equivalent number of shots of Kerry's back which I thought was odd. Or was I not paying close enough attention?
At 60 seconds in, a green light goes off that warns them that they have 30 seconds left in their allotted time. Bush was reacting to that.
If Rove was on the other end of a wire, he was doing a crappy job. I think that bitter blinky chimpy mcbush, just lost track of what was going on for a moment, while his alcohol ravaged mind was trying to construct sentences. If he was wired, let's hope they continue this level of "performance".
Let me finish could become a W catchphrase. He can't stand going toe-to-toe with anyone - and hasn't had to with the current press corps.
I think that Bush's "array of debate-losing symptoms are due to him living a little too long within Uncle Rove's political bubble.
This is something that would not surprise me in the least bit. However, I just re-watched the entire debate. When Bush made that statement it seemed to me like he was looking at Lehrer.
It may be that Lehrer was getting ready to ask a question or making gestures that would suggest that. Although, hard to know, not having any video of Lehrer at the time.
Plus, one would think, he wouldn't have done so miserably if he had an ear piece. The split screens made it obvious to all that his facial contortions were not helpful. One would think someone would be shouting about that in his ear piece.
And, on a similar note, wbat is up with this new crap on Drudge's site about Kerry cheating. History has already told us that crap like this sticks no matter where the truth lies. Jeez Louise.
If he is wearing an earpiece, it should be easy enough to shut it down --- low power, encrypted transmissions, tiny tiny receiver, next to no antenna --- a bit of localized RF noise would be enough.
Clearly it was Aleksander Kwasniewski who had chimpy's ear. "Mr. President, quick, mention Poland. Please don't forget. Never forget Poland."
"Let me finish..."
But Backslider,
He did say "MOOLAH" and that was SO MUCH better.
Something nobody picks up on: The guy who only brought 30-minutes of material to a 90-minute debate has had four years to study for this exam.
I don't know how they guy even got a C at Harvard. If I'd presented an oral report that bad in college I would have been laughed out of the room and failed.
For those of us who are horse racing fans, we all remember the controversy over the "item" that appeared in Jorge Chavez's hand in pictures taken at the Kentucky Derby a few years ago. What did he have in his hand? Nothing. It was a shadow.
Oh pleeeeze let Ed Gillespie make the rounds claiming that Drudge is correct, Kerry cheated. Oh pleeeeeeze. I really coudn't imagine anything that would make Bush look even more ridiculous than to have Repugs going off on this idea.
Please. I'm dying. This would be the perfect capstone to last Thursday's debate.
I'd agree that it was just the usual quasi-imperious Bush, barking out a phrase that he uses on the press corps. I don't think (having watched that segment 2 or 3 times) he even considered the time remaining. Kind of weird, kind of non sequitor, but that's GWB.
I'm not suggesting that there is not a super cool, maximally encrypted spread-spectrum earpiece technology somewhere in the bowels of the NSA/CIA/whatever. But I don't think we saw a cyber-augmented Bush in the debate.
Todays new unsubstantiated Drudge attack (though check around the internet, as most all of these stories managed to surface within the past 12 hours I should be saying coordinated ROVE attack I guess) needs to be shot down NOW.
It's obviously not true, Kerry isn't that stupid, so we have nothing to lose unless we let this become FoxNewsified and people are convinced and then when it's later disproven they still have the impression of cheating, etc.
Erik:
It is common for people in the administration to say of critics that they have a 'September 10th mentality', or a 'pre-September 11th mentality'. Bush just accidentally combined the two catchphrases, as he frequently does when two of his preprogrammed catchphrases enter his mouth at the same time.
However it's also true that, had Kerry said this, Bush and his proxies would be plastering the press with the exactly spin you suggest--'he has no idea what day September 11th was! He's completley out of touch! He's insane!'
But a major turning point has been passed. Up to this point, when Bush has put words into Kerry's mouth, a lot of people took his word for it, sicne they hadn't seen Kerry for themselves. But people watched the debates, and saw what Kerry said, and found him reasonable and convincing. Now, when Bush and his people mischaracterize what Kerry said, a lot of people are thinking to themselves, 'wait, that's not what he said. Why would the President say that, when he clearly didn't say that?' People who never doubted him before are starting to doubt him, and we're seeing it in the polls. If Bush continues the same strategy, I think we'll see his popularity fade with surprising speed from here on.
- tome
If he is wearing an earpiece, it should be easy enough to shut it down
and easy to hijack, maybe? just start blurting words like "poopy" into his ear? i think i'd shit myself laughing...
The other day, I saw a homeless guy on the street saying, "let me finish!". He then went on to talk to the trash can and yelled, "shut up!, SHUT UP!".
it's a small thing, and it wasn't necessarily evident thurs. nite, but when he uses that line he does it to demean the press, i'm prexident see, hear me, bow to me, you are my chattel. and they always comply, except hellen thomas.
makes me want to break the tv. not a bad idea actually.
Haven't you guys ever ever heard of jazz scat?
Ba doomp-a.
I think I figured it out. He said, "Let me finish!" because Jim Lehrer, in response to whatever Bush was saying, was making jerk-off motions and smirking at him.
At least that's what I would have done.
Notice how he says that it has been circulating on the internet all weekend. Funny, I was slumming over at the freerepublic and the moron conspiracy theorists over there didn't even mention it. This is a new attack line that just came into Rove's head. Thing is that there is no way Fox can pick this up after two retracted stories. So he'll have to wait until tomorrow for Rush and the gang to help spread it in the echo chamber.
A man who can't think on his feet can't be president. It's like putting a narcoleptic behind the wheel of a school bus. Things may seem okay for a while, but there's going to be a disaster.
If he was reacting to the green light, and it's plausible he was, it's even worse than him having a wire. Having to attend simultaneously to two different messages isn't always easy.
But to see a small colored light at one side of your central visual field, (presumably) mistake it for the other, different-colored light at the other side of your central field of vision, and then angrily tell it to let you finish shows serious cognitive slippage.
Not that he had much to slip from. I'm just saying.
If he was talking to Lehrer, of course, then it just shows that he's impulsive, and a complete asshole who thinks the rules don't apply to him. But that, we knew already.
Hi. I'm new although I've been lurking for a while. I've never used Haloscan before and would appreciate some advice. Sometimes I come across a comment I think is really good and that I would like to send to someone but I can't copy it as when I click on "comments" the Haloscan window pops up without a tool bar. Is there any way around this? Obviously,that also bars me from copying part of a comment to paste onto my own comment if I want to refer to it.
Also, is there anyway to refresh (so as to follow the conversation) without closing the Haloscan window and clicking on "comments" again? I apologize for my ignorance here. Thanks.
Here's the pic's of Bush's back:
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=321
Here's another link:
http://bellaciao.org/en/
article....id_article=3562
Where was Rove during the debate???
If they did use a wireless earpiece, having a recording of that would be priceless - I hope sombody brings a scanner to the next debate.
Here's a link with a close-up shot of the thingy on Bush's back.
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=321
Is it paranoid to conclude that the Drudge Report item might be a way of deflecting questions about Bush's back bulge just as it's gaining steam on the Intenet?
PS Atrios's link doesn't work.
He was reacting as he probabaly did during the rehersals when his handlers would indicate he was blowing. No need for earphones - he got flustered (perhaps by theone minute light) and reacted as if he was in rehersal. I think he knew he was not doing well.
PeskyFly,
You must understand that Bush was a "legacy" at both Harvard and Yale. Legacy students never flunk out. Their degrees are bought for them, and guaranteed,no matter their classroom performance..
However, even the most complaisant employer might wonder to see a bunch of D's and F's on a transcript. The C- in this case is actually an F. He did fail.
I guess we can all see where the next "kerning and superscript" discussion is coming from. Yawn.
-
We'd better be dead to rights on this one if we are going to bring it up. I think a GWB as Milli Vanlli would be too good to be true. Last time we went this direction, we lost a week and a half. Bush, overall has been hurt by Swift Boat as well, becasue he's now forced to hold back the rest of his Willie Horton arsenal. Going negative now is a terrible mistake.
Tome,
You are exactly right about people getting to know Kerry through the debates. And the word-of-mouth from this first debate will ensure a higher viewership for the next one.
I remember when Bush choked on that pretzel and passed out. He may have had a few moments when no oxygen was getting to his brain thus suffering slight brain damage. During the debate he could not keep a consistent train of thought going and answered questions with non-seqiturs. I think Jim Leher noticed and made a face to that effect and that is why Bush said "Let me finish."
For someone who is considered a skillful debater Bush really was a disaster. I heard his debate against Ann Richards when he was running for Gov. of Texas and thought he handled himself much better.
"Its the brain damage"--a new campaign slogan?
Here's a link with a close-up shot of the thingy on Bush's back.
It's just a bra clasp, for God's sake. A man goes out in front of the cameras in his favorite lingerie, and suddenly that's a bad thing?
Yeah, surely to God if Karl Rove was talking to him, he would have told him to stop slumping and acting like a spoiled, petulant child.
Yeah, this is the best argument against the earpiece theory. Rove would have told him that networks were showing split screens, and he had to stop making faces while Kerry spoke.
I'm glad to read this--it immediately struck me as odd, but I haven't heard anybody else talking about it until now. I thought I had made it up or something...
Ellie, right-click and open in new window. You can refresh that way as well. Click on the # at the end of the comment to have a link directly to that comment.
HTH
Elle, highlight the text you want to copy and hit the control key and the "C" key at the same time. Then you can go to where you want to place the copied text and hit control and "V" at the same time. This is for PCs - not sure if Macs work the same way.
-
he wears an earpiece
for sure.
It's obvious:
Coke Bugs. The Chimperor's life is probably a perpetual late night repeat of "Joe's Apartment."
What the rest of you didn't see Harvey the 10 foot rabbit jump up on the stage next to Lehrer and start giving Bush the hand across the throat cut signal? Reports of it being a pink elephant are just not ture.
Knowing what an idiot the man is (and despite claims to the contrary, he IS an idiot) I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they gave him some high end spook technology earpiece to whisper helpful word triggers to him. Of course, if it worked on anything close to regular frequencies it would be easy to scan and detect exactly what it was set up for. At that point one could feed him a backwards tape of an Al Gore stump speech and completely freak him out...there'd be no way for him to concentrate and the expressions on his face would be.....well, very close to the expressions he wore the night of the debate. I'm amazed that he didn't call for a "time out", so they could suck the little bugger out of his ear canal...
caduceus
Of course I know this, I just hate to admit it because it sounds like so much blue-collar paranoia.
Like they say in the Air National Guard:
"Privlidge has its privlidges."
bush was probably wearing a bulletproof vest,
hence the bulge...if anyone was wondering.
his earpiece broadcast has been picked up electronically before.
What's going to be annoying about Friday night's debate is the Town Hall format thing. We're going to have to sit through really low-level questions from ill-informed so-called swing voters ( still a swing voter, really? = ill-informed and stupid at this point)
I doubt that any of the judges Edwards has contended with in the past, albeit unfair to his side, have had the measure of idiocy that some of these fine Town Hall types will exhibit.
It's going to try my patience. It's hard to reply to goofy questioners. And the right-leaning "swing" folks are going to be asking them... I think the questions to Cheney will be better and he will have more to work with. Though I guess Edwards will always have his response time. Whatever. He'll do fine. It's just going to be like chalk on a blackboard, I think.
*
OT
Why hasn't anyone pointed out this strange Bush statement during the first debate?
"Saddam Hussein had no intention of disarming. Why should he? He had 16 other resolutions and nothing took place. As a matter of fact, my opponent talks about inspectors. The facts are that he was systematically deceiving the inspectors. That wasn't going to work."
GWB
Excuse me, how could Saddam tell us where the WMDs were? He would need to actually have some to do that, wouldn't he??????
With high insight, inspectors were a very good idea!
Ending their work prematurely was not.
PeskyFly:
Something nobody picks up on: The guy who only brought 30-minutes of material to a 90-minute debate has had four years to study for this exam.
Bingo. Whatever there was to know about Kerry, or about his job, Bush should've known it and should've been able to say it. Kerry's got nothing to do with it.
As I said on another thread, look at the question about Kerry's character, and look at the lame, halting, incoherent way he answered it. And this after MONTHS of ignoring his job in order to trash Kerry in campaign speeches.
All this Drudge story proves is that when you back a Bushbot into a corner, he'll try to lie his way out of it. Which is not exactly a revelation for most of us.
cut some slack -he was interrupted in the very private process of soiling himself; he's grown tired of shitting on the rest of us...
REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA
>>>READ THE ARTICLE AT DAILYBLURB.BLOGSPOT.COM
Philalethes,
That about covers it.
I read in my Newspaper here in the UK that the next debate will be a town Hall type meeting.
Anyway, the article says that the questions have been submitted in Advance to both Bush and Kerry. Is this true?
I am sure that in all of Bush's press conferences the questions were given in advance. Remember when Bush said "I whish you had submitted that question sooner?"
He gets the questions in advance, and still gets the answers wrong!!!
Philalethes -
Yes. The only time during the debate that I froze up was at the onset of the "character" question. Bush even blew that one - I thought he would come out with a bunch of vile lies and innuendo about Kerry, parroting his campaign so far.. but nada.
Just goes to show he is truly empty and void. The man is just a nothing. He can't even go with the crap his people are spewing, day in and day out. He probably couldn't remember it...
*
Another weird moment was when he said to Kerry "I won't hold it against you that you went to Yale?"
What could he have possibly meant, since the chimp also went to Yale?
"Yeah, this is the best argument against the earpiece theory. Rove would have told him that networks were showing split screens, and he had to stop making faces while Kerry spoke."
-mary
But, what if the signal didn't work or was jammed? It could explain his TOTAL unpreparedness shown during the debate. I just think that if he needed Dick Cheney to testify with him during the 9-11 comission, that the idea that he would use an ear-piece isn't too crazy.
here is a picture of it
anyone can find the original? this was a google cache of the original, the original is expired.
Bush was probably talking to his own self. Or one of the multiples that wanted to go and play golf.
If he actually wears an earpiece, can it be spied on? It would be fun to have the audience on C-Span hear what the handlers whisper in his ear.
What could he have possibly meant, since the chimp also went to Yale?
But does he remember going to Yale? sniff.
something like this model
inductive loop under his coat, skin colored invisible earpiece in his ear.
Why the hell not? he'd do it, for sure.
AnonBitch!,
It was just a feeble joke. Nothing more, nothing less. It was a country club joke. Funny only to ol' boys at the dealmaking table.
A man who can't think on his feet can't be president. It's like putting a narcoleptic behind the wheel of a school bus. Things may seem okay for a while, but there's going to be a disaster.
PeskyFly | Email | Homepage | 10.03.04 - 3:31 pm | #
Yeah, we call it 9/11.
Mr. pResident, if you had four daughters instead of two, how many daughters would you have altogether?
Mr. President: if you had Lot's daughters instead of your own, how would your life be different?
The mysterious THING JFK pulled outa his pocket -- the Return of the Kerning!!!!! Now let's all chase that one down the rabbit hole while we forget what a disaster Dumbya was. Sheesh! Are WE really that dumb? This is serious, folks, Drudge ain't -- he has ZERO credibility, no matter what he and Gush Windbag thinks. Redirect your energy, don't let Rover boy call the shots.
>>Also, is there anyway to refresh (so as to follow the conversation) without closing the Haloscan window and clicking on "comments" again? I apologize for my ignorance here. Thanks.
Press F5 in MS Internet Explorer
What could he have possibly meant, since the chimp also went to Yale?
AnonBitch!
He trespassed on pure WASP land
without removing his shoes.
Mr. President: if you had Lot's daughters instead of your own, how would your life be different?
theodoric
He'd get laid a lot more often?
Many thanks to Pixie and Fielding for their help. Now I know how to negotiate Haloscan!
I agree with those who think it unlikely that Bush was wearing an earpiece because of the astonishing stupidity of his answers. But I do agree that his remark, "Let me finish," was decidedly odd. I'm not sure the man is at all rational. He's not only a sociopath, he's delusional. It's very scary.
since the chimp also went to Yale?
hell, even dick cheney went to yale.
for a while.
The Gadflyer nails it:
We have a new Nathan Thurm Award winner, and thanks to the readers who pointed this one out. As you might remember, Nathan Thurm was a character played by Martin Short in a 1980s Saturday Night Live parody of 60 Minutes, a sleazy lawyer defending corporate criminals. Sweating profusely and chain-smoking, Thurm would respond to questions with a defensive "I knew that," then make a ridiculous assertion and immediately deny he had said anything of the sort.
And our winner, of course, is George W. Bush. After yet another attempt to link Saddam Hussein to September 11 and posit the Iraq invasion as a response to the terrorist attacks, John Kerry observed that it was Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, not Saddam, who attacked us. Bush said this:
"Of course I know Osama bin Laden attacked us. I know that."
Positively Thurmian!
Mr. President: if you had Lot's daughters instead of your own, how would your life be different?
theodoric
He'd wake in a cave with a nasty hangoverand a sneaking suspician that something awful happened... something that wasn't his fault.
In short, everything would be the same.
"Let me finish. You can be President after I'm done."
I still spell like a freeper: it's my cyber-drawl.
I agree with those who think it unlikely that Bush was wearing an earpiece because of the astonishing stupidity of his answers.
Plus, no one who was close to Bush would dream of expecting him to "multi-task" like that. If they were going to put a earpiece on him, they would've tried it out in practice sessions. And they would've seen his eyes glaze over and his tongue stop working as his two-cylinder brain got overwhelmed.
IF kerry pulled out anything at all, he was probably pulling out his blank piece of paper to take notes on.
i mean come on, bush was in all likelyhood wearing a wire and these guys are complaining about kerry messing with his suit jacket?
Johno, that appears to be the ceramic plate in the back of a bullet-proof vest. They are also put into a non-bulky shirt much like a t-shirt with pockets front and back for the plates to slip into; that garment to be used in very low-risk situations such as this.
they should hurry up, they've only got a couple of weeks to get out the signs, t-shirts, buttons and bumperstickers:
bush/cheney '04
let me finish!
He was talking to his one of his "imaginary friends"
Th voices in his head.
The disembodied voice of his mother.
His guilty conscie... Nah. The other two.
>>Also, is there anyway to refresh (so as to follow the conversation) without closing the Haloscan window and clicking on "comments" again? I apologize for my ignorance here. Thanks.
Press F5 in MS Internet Explorer
He was talking to his one of his "imaginary friends"
He doesn't have any.
*
Many thanks to Pixie and Fielding for their help. Now I know how to negotiate Haloscan!
I agree with those who think it unlikely that Bush was wearing an earpiece because of the astonishing stupidity of his answers. But I do agree that his remark, "Let me finish," was decidedly odd. I'm not sure the man is at all rational. He's not only a sociopath, he's delusional. It's very scary.
I'm a dumbass. F5 will repost your comment... Ugh.
Anyone see Saturday Night Live last night?
They did a skit on the debate. Bush kept saying, "it is hard, it is hard work". Funny
Yeah...the whole earpiece theory is a bad idea. Running with it just lends credence to all the right-wingers who claim that we libruls are conspiracy nuts. It really doesn't matter, anyway, because there's plenty of stuff that was right out there in the open that we can pick apart (ie, stupid statements by Bush...not answering questions, etc).
As I remember, he made a similiar "let me finish" out of nowhere remark just before his "Bring it on" remark.
T-shirts?
How about...
Bush/Cheney
Leaders of the Free World...
And Don't Forget Poland!
Have a dose of pathetic: http://tinyurl.com/42pwt
Debra Saunders in the SF Chronile is just laughable as she explains how Bush won the debate.
Queen of the Straw Men once again tries to make the idiotic arguement that Kerry undermined his stance on Iraq by voting for it. Blythely ignores the fact that Bush misused his authority and presided over the stupidest invasion plan this side of the Childrens' Crusade.
Anyway, the article says that the questions have been submitted in Advance to both Bush and Kerry. Is this true?
I wouldn't be surprised. Even if it's not official, I expect that given the number of people that must be involved in collecting and prevetting the questions, that Bush will have at least one operative among them to pass him copies.
That bulge in the back of Bush's suit? That where O'Reilly has it head so far up Bush's ass that his nose... well you get the idea.
Riverbend's back today, sad and angry for all the killing in her homeland and ALL those responsible.
I never held much hope for the crusade to bring democracy to Iraq, but if you believe as I do that skepticism of authority is an absolute necessity for democracy, then perhaps we are making some progress.
"One wonders who it will be after it is discovered that Zarqawi has been dead for several months or that he never even existed. Whoever it is, you can bet his name will three syllables or less because that is Bush's limit."
Bush can't lead his ass. I'm having a effigy of shrubya made up and I'm going to burn it in the back yard on on election night.
Chronicle.
Chronile? Adjective applying to a slow running clock?
F5 will refresh, but you should only use it if you haven't just posted a comment or it will resubmit your post.
Anyone see Saturday Night Live last night?
They did a skit on the debate. Bush kept saying, "it is hard, it is hard work". Funny
The imaginary friends that threw flowers at us, perhaps?
OK, now I need help understanding how my comment was reposted. That was unintentional. I notice it seems to happen a lot on Haloscan.
"what did Kerry slip out of his pocket" is of less import than what's in Andrew Bretibart's pocket.
For those of you just joining us, Andrew Breitbart writes The Drudge Report, Drudge himself being "otherwise engaged."
Reports of La Drudge's seroconversion have been around for some time.
Could he in fact by now be dead ?
Zion, O Happy Zion!
The 32-page debate rules did specify that any pens, papers, etc. used by the candidates had to be 'placed on the podium' in advance by a commission official.
So, it does appear that Kerry broke the "rules", but there were other moments where both candidates and Lehrer bent the rules. No one really cared, it seemed.
But if the video shows both candidates pulling something out of their pockets then I think this is not anything to bother with.
Does anyone have video of Bush at the start of the debate? I'm on dialup.
Clearly it was Aleksander Kwasniewski who had chimpy's ear. "Mr. President, quick, mention Poland. Please don't forget. Never forget Poland."
"Let me finish..."
Or Victor Ashe.
Off topic but of note:
Check out the cover photo on the cover of Newsweek. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032.../site/newsweek/
Pres. Twitchy McPissed has GROWN a couple of extra inches. Amazingly the photo on the left shows the real story.
damn liberal media!!!
he didn't actually bark "let me finish", he mumbled it with infuriation, as if to a homonculus sitting on his shoulder.
What did Kerry pull out of his pocket? If you pay close attention to the split screen, you see him handling a long thin object. It could either be (1) a magical wand of confusion that was used to great effect on Chimpy, or (2) a pen.
Want a little retrospective of Chimpy under fire?
Jump into my wayback machine and watch the Irish RTE Carole Coleman interview with G.W. DeButcher from June of this year.
His debate meltdown was not unprecedented.
And he said the word -- and we ate it.
And what was the word?
"Hot Dog !"
Yes, a mighty Hot Dog is Our Lord.
The subdermal battery for the earpiece ran low, thus causing brain freeze.
Bush was thinking about his Brutally Honest Personal
I watched the CSPAN video with the transcript. He reacted to the 30 second green light, I think he was confused (surprise, surprise) and thought he was out of time. He didn't look like he was interrupted by something he heard, but by something he saw, probably the light.
By the way, a few of the behind-the-candidate shots show that they have large indicator green-yellow-red lights facing that stage, the ones on the podium are for the TV viewers.
since the link to the "earpiece" theory still doesn't work, I'm posting my links for those who are interested. Frankly, this is so delicious, I can't let it go.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en...10/
298647.shtml
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=321
http://www.theleftist.blog-city.com/
http://www.bushvskerry04.com/for....php/t-
774.html
I don't know how to embed the links, so sorry for that.
Make him deny it for the next 3 weeks.
He'd get laid a lot more often?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Might be worth asking.
The link is not working now.
Why doesn't someone just ask him point blank: Sir do you where a radio ear piece that tells you what to say and do during public appearences?
Then watch him bable. And it does'nt make a dif if he does or not, people will just add it to their internal list of his incompetance.
Tim, I agree! That's one of those "when did you quite beating your wife" questions! Sweeeeeet.
lovedog7, look at the Soros ad next to it, lol, lol.
As to what was coming over the earpiece, I have it on good authority it was a song:
Oh, blinding light,
Oh, light that blinds,
I cannot see,
Look out for me!
"Check out the cover photo on the cover of Newsweek."
-lovedog7
Everybody take a snapshot of that screen. We need to stuff that back in Newsweeks face.
We should write them some letters.
p.s. - the left photo looks like Bush is checking out Kerry's purdy lips.
Why no discussion of Bush straying into his Saddam fixation when on the subject of North Korea? just as weird as "let me finish" and no one's commenting. Are we all that used to his broken record?
I think more of this is being made than needs to be... That moment in the debate was pretty clear to me. Bush paused for a second, Leher thought he was done, started to go on, and Bush said "let me finish." This is the worst part of the blogospher to me, the absolute insistance from both sides to find a conspiracy against their candidate.
I'm a Kerry supporter, I'm just saying, that wasn't that big a deal.
Kerry fished a pen out of his pocket?
My gawd. Cheater. Just to make it even Jeb's gonna disenfranchise another 50,000 black democrats.
The ear piece would be useless. He wasn't allowed to take a deck of cards with him to the podium to pass the time playing a little solitaire.
Jenny:
"I doubt that any of the judges Edwards has contended with in the past, albeit unfair to his side, have had the measure of idiocy that some of these fine Town Hall types will exhibit."
Edwards speaks and made his fortune speaking for juries, not judges. He'll be fine.
Surely we have the technology to scan for the proper frequency and then jam it with a piercing squeal. But then again, he'd probably be using some state of the art billion dollar James Bond device.
In any event, I hope the dems are giving it a shot.
Perhaps that thing on his back is part of a bulletproof vest. That would fit his paranoia perfectly.
Debra Saunders in the SF Chronile is just laughable as she explains how Bush won the debate.
Queen of the Straw Men once again tries to make the idiotic arguement that Kerry undermined his stance on Iraq by voting for it. Blythely ignores the fact that Bush misused his authority and presided over the stupidest invasion plan this side of the Childrens' Crusade.
bo
-I read the article: Debra Saunders is an idiot.
Maybe he was begging the voters for a second term.
Richard Cranium - Aha! you just solved the mystery with that video link. Bush was having a flashback to that disastrous interview - that's why he said: "Let me finish." He said it about a dozen times during that interview.
I'd never seen it before, just read about it. Man, he was just terrible - lied and lied and lied some more.
Debra Saunders in the SF Chronile is just laughable as she explains how Bush won the debate.
Queen of the Straw Men once again tries to make the idiotic arguement that Kerry undermined his stance on Iraq by voting for it. Blythely ignores the fact that Bush misused his authority and presided over the stupidest invasion plan this side of the Childrens' Crusade.
bo
-I read the article: Debra Saunders is an idiot.
The ear piece would be useless. He wasn't allowed to take a deck of cards with him to the podium to pass the time playing a little solitaire.
i think i'm in the no earpiece camp. not that i don't put it past them to cheat, but from what i have read, his performance was so bad that if he did have one, it only confused him more...
and i agree with the previous poster about the questions for this debate. gallup is picking the audience and also which of them gets a question used, right? that xtian-fundie fake polling gallup, iirc. besides, we have plenty of proof that our media will never allow real, pertinent issues to be brought up in the public discourse. that's why we're all here all the time, n'est pas?
"let me finish the pretzel I keep choking on"
Newsweek said Bush was hurt by his own stifling rules. Rules that James A Baker put into place. I'm sure Baker knows what kind of idiot he works for.
Somehow her story was on
Google for 1 1/5 hours and it really pissed me off. Some of my e-mails:
To: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 09:22
Subject: Bush won? Check the facts, please
Just a quick update about another before-and-after debate poll conducted online last night by Knowledge Networks, this one on behalf of Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and guru James Carville for Democracy Corps. Both are serving as informal Kerry campaign advisors. They post a report and complete results that look mostly comparable to the public poll findings: No real change in the vote or in perceptions of Bush, but significant improvements in ratings of Kerry.
To: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com
Sent: Saturday, October 02, 2004 18:02
Subject: Bush won! Keep up the good work!
Race Tied: Offended Headlighted Deer Organize
by Tom Schaller
Sat Oct 2nd, 2004 at 21:56:38 GMT
Newsweek, which showed Bush +11 after the RNC and +5 as recently as two weeks ago, will be coming out with a post-debate poll showing the race tied. (According to story leaked to and reported on Drudge, with thanks to alert DKos reader "thirdparty" for noting in comment in earlier post.)
Sixty-one percent of Americans who watched the first presidential debate on September 30 say Sen. John Kerry won; 19 percent say President George W. Bush won and 16 percent say they tied, according to the latest Newsweek Poll which was conducted after the debate ended. Fifty-six percent say Kerry did better than they expected; 11 percent say so for Bush. Thirty-eight percent say Bush did worse than expected; 3 percent say so for Kerry, the poll shows.
Etc. etc.
Someone writes:
Does anyone know what the "what did Kerry slip out of his pocket" story Drudge has is all about?
Here's a question, what's the shiny thing Bush puts slips into his pocket at the end of the debate? I watched in again today on CNN and you can clearly see him take something from the podium and put it into his pocket.
But the thing we are missing from this is that if Kerry had said Let me finish in a weird akward way, the media would not have let up on it. We would have seen the clip played over and over and over again.
Look, my husband thinks it was weird for Bush to say it, I think it was downright bizarre. Atrios thinks it was weird and I have seen at least a dozen other people say it was strange.
But what is weirder is that no one in the media, NO ONE has played that clip over a news show and discussed it. That is the most bizarest thing of all.
Why doesn't someone just ask him point blank: Sir do you where a radio ear piece that tells you what to say and do during public appearences?
Then watch him bable. And it does'nt make a dif if he does or not, people will just add it to their internal list of his incompetance.
I'm not suggesting that there is not a super cool, maximally encrypted spread-spectrum earpiece technology somewhere in the bowels of the NSA/CIA/whatever.
that's pretty mature technology by now, FWIW.
chances are fair to middlin that it's in your cellphone.
Any "secret" comm gear that makes a bulge in your jacket is hardly worthy of a 21st century spy outfit.
You could probably do this with off-the-shelf technology; a bluetooth earpiece, and a small CDMA phone in the pocket.
Far more likely that we're talking about body armor, as the guy said.
I don't think there was anything in his ear -- precious little between them either.
Ive always maintained that Bush is a product of faulty potty training.The "Let me finish" was an unconscious appeal to his demanding mother not to inspect the "goods" in the bowl until he can falsify the evidence.The prisons are chock full of these "fast flush" kids.
Here's the video that they claim is Kerry cheating by pulling notes from his coat pocket. Watch the video and you see him pull something from his jacket. Then watch it again and watch the President. He too pulls something from his jacket!!!!! I'm telling you people .. we better get on top of this!!
Let them scream all they want about it. Nobidy cares if Kerry broke one of the more silly rules Bush demanded. If anything it will help Kerry.
"Let me finish." Probably just something he frequently hears Laura say.
Earpiece might also explain some of Bush's weird, seemingly unprovoked twitches.
Magnolia: Make him deny it for the next 3 weeks.
I think the earpiece story is good enough for the above, although it does defy logic since Bush's performance was such a disaster.
Still, it gives me pause that this theory coincides with the Re's making a big thing out of Kerry pulling something from his pocket. It's fit's the Rovian MO.
Also, I was channel surfing at some point this weekend and saw Bush on c-span sounding relatively coherent. Simplistic, yes, but he was "there". I thought perhaps he had recovered well from the debate until I noticed the date up in corner just as the camera panned back--it was from a debate with Gore in 2000.
I'm beginning to think there really is something degenerative going on with this guy.
Did anyone notice when Bush was flipping through his notes, they looked like huge magic marker writing. He turned the pages quickly, probably trying for purposes of distraction 'cause he didn't really seem to be looking at them, and they were hard to read upside down.
Can somebody with a recording of the debate, and Photoshop or something, make a vid cap, enhance, flip right side up, and enlarge? It will probably reveal nothing, but imagine if it does?
(I'm guessing they writing are simplistic reminders like "Smile", "Stop Blinking", "Pound Podium", "Don't Quasimodo", and "Work Hard".)
I loved when Joe Lockhart on Meet the Press today explained how over the campaign, the Bushies have built up this caricature of Kerry as a flipflopper, they have built up this strawman that just doesn't exist. Bush expected to debate the strawman, but you know what, he didn't show up for the debate, John Kerry did. And that's what screwed them.
Indeed.
actus -
great point. thanks!
*
As a person who is part Irish, I am offended by his treatment of the reporter.
oops, it wasn't Meet the Press, it was Face the Nation.
To add something else to this, I saw Bush pick up something off the podium when the debate was over and wondered what it was! OT SNL did a 3-4 minute clip at the end of the show last night that was fantasic. I urge everyone to try and find someone who Tivoed or taped the show.Try to find someone who saw it and ask them about it! OOT Today is the 79th Birthday of A Great American, Gore Vidal.
For all his pre-debate jokes about Kerry debating himself, the "let me finish" remark appears to be an internal dubya discussion, some kind of pathetic appeal for a completed thought that would always be just out of his cognition.
Degenerative indeed Anon.
I watched the same debate this morning. It's clear something has truly happened to his mind or motor function over the past 4 years. And it ain't good.
Why won't he take his exam? Because they know somethings wrong with him too. It's just like the Bushies to care more about keeping their power then on giving America a healthy leader.
I live about 150 yards from the Washington University Gymnasium where they have held debates in the past. Anyone want to forward to me either radio intercepting or radio jaming equipment I'd be glad to record or jam whatever's going on in side Bush's head.
I wouldn't mind telling him what to say either.
The earpiece theory would certainly explain why Bush would pause for five or so seconds before beginning to deliver his answer to some of the questions.
To add something else to this, I saw Bush pick up something off the podium when the debate was over and wondered what it was! -RL
It was the pen he was writing with. Don't be stupidly giddy at the cost of thinking through things for a couple microseconds.
I wouldn't mind telling him what to say either.
Now that could be funny.
Red Skelton used to do a character called Cauliflower McPug, an ex-prizefighter who'd been dinged too many times in the head. His signature move was to duck while imaginary birds swooped over his head -- "there goes another flock of 'em!" You'd probably get the same effect after decades of drink and drugs.
I live about 150 yards from the Washington University Gymnasium where they have held debates in the past. Anyone want to forward to me either radio intercepting or radio jaming equipment I'd be glad to record or jam whatever's going on in side Bush's head.
I wouldn't mind telling him what to say either.
"As a person who is part Irish, I am offended by his treatment of the reporter."
-magnolia
I agree. I bet the comment about the British dealing with terrorists went over well with the Irish viewers.
Perhaps he was just talking to the other voices in his head. You know, the ones that aren't Jesus and God and aren't coming form his ear-piece.
You know, Satan.
I loved when Joe Lockhart on Meet the Press today explained how over the campaign, the Bushies have built up this caricature of Kerry as a flipflopper, they have built up this strawman that just doesn't exist. Bush expected to debate the strawman, but you know what, he didn't show up for the debate, John Kerry did. And that's what screwed them.
That's part of it. The other part is that they've worked like crazy to make Kerry out to be a figure of derision, someone incompetent and untrustworthy. America's not stupid (or most of us aren't), they took a look at the real Kerry and said, "hey,wait a minute!"
All Kerry had to do was show up and be himself. That is, an intelligent, sober, thoughtful man who has command of the issues and who isn't (unlike chimpy) an asshole.
That blew a huge hole in their campaign of lies.
just ask him point blank
As easy as walking to the Bermudas, I'm afraid.
Happy Birthday to Gore Vidal, my fellow Libra and my fellow Burr descendant.
I have to agree that Bush has become increasingly incoherent over the last year and a half or so. He was never exactly coherent, but I think the pressure of being president is just overwhelming that little hamster whirling around on a wheel between his ears.
I like Yoshimi's conjecture.
He was depending on the wire, and it malfunctioned.
Or was jammed.
Did anyone see the freeper thread where they blame Kerry for intentionally holding on to Bush's hand when they shook hands at the top in order to muss his tie? Best laugh I've had in weeks.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1232859/
posts
A lot of people here are underestimating the possible impact that the video of Kerry reaching into his pocket may have on people. Just the headline on Drudge should be enough to scare you. If the right-wingers can trumpet this story enough to get it serious airplay on the cable channels, they can get people to think that Kerry is a cheater.
Whether or not it's true doesn't matter. The Kerry campaign needs to come out and say exactly what it was that he took out of his pocket-- a picture of his kids, a rabbit's foot, whatever. It doesn't matter that he violated the rules of the campaign if the object is deemed harmless. But if he makes a mistake and doesn't address this issue immediately, then he will suffer a bigger backlash than he did while awaiting to address the Swift Boat Veterans claims.
He'd better deal with this and deal with it now.
He did the same thing with that Canadian woman journalist. She asked follow-up questions that challenged him and he kept telling her to "let him finish."
Is Bush colorblind? Maybe he couldn't tell the colors of the lights apart....
though the position must have given him a hint.
Maybe it was just all the voices in his head.
I'd go with (day after her) birthday girl, Tena. Ever think maybe the guy's really come unglued and the whole darn thing's been a charade and cover-up? Chance the Gardener? Ronald Reagan?
I haven't gone through all the posts, but I think it was his way of trying to get the upper hand. After all, this is a technique he uses whenever he's backed in a corner. He tries to make it look like he's being attacked in order to look sympathetic.
Didn't work. He just looked like his meds wore off.
.
"Did anyone see the freeper thread where they blame Kerry for intentionally holding on to Bush's hand when they shook hands at the top in order to muss his tie?"
-Mushuweasel
I can imagine Carville giving Kerry a tip on how to do it effectively. 
Seriously, I think the strategy was to pull short-Bush close to tall-Kerry for a nice comparison.
the pressure of being president is just overwhelming that little hamster whirling around on a wheel between his ears.
Tena
What a pretty picture you've painted! I can almost hear the squeaking.
New take on the "Kerry cheated by pulling paper out of pocket at debate" scandal on drudge.
It's a handkerchief.
A flop-sweat zamboni that all debaters have on hand since Nixon in 1960.
Forget Double-Dip Dope Bush--Condi Rice is once again whooping up the Saddam boogey man thesis. She is either lying about what she knew about the real state of Iraq's nuclear program or she was too stupid or lazy to find out about the findings of the Energy Department on the issue. Either way--stupid or a liar--why does she still have a job?
When will some politician of prominence say what everyone in the world now knows: LIARS!!!
He used that phrase several times when he was interviewed by the Irish reporter who was clearly making unconfortable questions, and there is another press conference where he messed up on something he said and then corrected it and ended up saying "it' s all scripted" .
Well, since the Bush team has already broken the agreement they negotiated not to use footage from the debate in ads, how about this?
Clip of Bush saying, "let me finish".
Followed by footage of explosions in Iraq, people standing in unemployment lines, yadda yadda, with a voiceover saying, "uh, I don't think so. As bad as things are right now, we don't want to see what they will look like if you get a chance to "finish" them, Mr. President."
I can imagine Carville giving Kerry a tip on how to do it effectively
carville and begala were responsible for the prep package for kerry in debate-land; I'd say they did not only a great job with that, they also had the clintonistas doing the post-debate spin and the media coverage in the days since
The earpiece theory would certainly explain why Bush would pause for five or so seconds before beginning to deliver his answer to some of the questions.
They were overconfident--all they thought they had to do is laugh at Kerry's tan.
And I noticed that Kerry immediately pre-emted likely points of attack (giving the UN "veto power", for example)--Chimpy may have been rattled by that.
But there's something wrong with him.
If he doesn't pull it together by the next debate, it's going to be time to start asking serious questions about "The President's" health.
Erica wrote about current appearances confirming Bush's deterioration, and that the Repugs would want him elected anyway...
Could the plan be to declare him incompetent after Jan 20th?
Say hello to Pres. Cheney - noooooooooo!
I wish that Bush was finished.
Man, think of all the people that would be alive today if he'd finished in 2000.
Earpiece might also explain some of Bush's weird, seemingly unprovoked twitches.
Anonymous
Maybe. But not as well as a brain tumor, or incipient senile dementia, or heavy drug use would.
As for Kerry taking something out of his pocket, who cares? Next debate, Kerry takes nothing whatsoever out of his pocket, and STILL pulverises the Chimp. End of story.
"Who is he talking to? How does he make his voice do that?"
--Betty Jo Bialoski (aka Nancy)
A handkerchief.
So obvious.
I just peeked in over the asylum wall. "What has it got in it's pocketses precious?" is getting some air time over in Freeperville. Someone hose me off now please.
I've been writing about the 'debategate' Internet rumors, but I'm making sure to call them just that - rumors. Face it, what's more disturbing - that Bush bombed that badly at the debates on his own or that he had help? Drudge, on the other hand, makes it sound like he's gotten his hands on the Zapruder film.
Another interested piece of evidence to ponder.
Kerry was asked what was the greatest threat facing the nation. He said proliferation of nuclear materials.
Bush responded, but clearly wasn't prepared to be talking about the subject, yet he blurted out 35%, He had increased funding by 35% percent. Seemed like an odd fact to have been memorized.
Was watching cspan this am some book thing. Was about Iraq neocons ect. Audience person asks question: What if Iraq holds free elections and they come up with government that we still don't like.Do we reinvade till they get it right?
I remember him in the Ann Richards debate. She's a vantastic spokes person and debator and he held his own. Beating her is what got the repugs pulling for him - no mere pedestrian could beet Ann Richards.
Just compare a picture of Bush - say his post 9/11 speach and now. He has deteriorated significantly. You'd of thought all those vacations would have helped him out. His brain is fried.
http://musicalpeace.org/
Rattlebo...e_fsu_05_100204
a photo from outside Michael Moore's appearance at FSU...show's the true face of the young Republicans...
Could the plan be to declare him incompetent after Jan 20th?
Say hello to Pres. Cheney
Ugh. That's easily awful.
Better yet, they could stage an AQ attack that takes both of 'em out, and leaves us with Hastert.
Nah, on second thought, I think they'll just lose, and slink away dejectedly with their millions in taxpayer $$$$.
somebody tell those damned elephants to pack their trunks......the three ring circus is over
"Really awful," that is, not "easily awful." Obviously, thinking too much about Bush is turning me into him.
my personal theory is that non-sequitur "let me finish" was a device he had practiced as a verbal signifier that he was in control of the proceedings. he used it against mccain during the primaries to some effectiveness, and probably sought to use it again. to blurt it out mid-sentence when no one was interrupting him gives you and idea of how weakly and inaccurately the prez's synapses were firing as kerry handed him his ass.
Elle, highlight the text you want to copy and hit the control key and the "C" key at the same time. Then you can go to where you want to place the copied text and hit control and "V" at the same time. This is for PCs - not sure if Macs work the same way.
-
Fielding Mellish
For Macs - substitute the CMD key (or apple key or splat key) for the control key.
To open Haloscan with normal toolbars, right click (PCs) or control-click (Macs) the comments link and select "open link in new window" or equivalent.
The idea of voices in his head coupled with the first snl skit last night, where "bush" looks over at Kerry as says "..i don't know why my opponent would even want this job. it's haarrd."
Their campaign is loosing and the simpleton probably has too many people with "ideas" for him to parrot jammering in his ear.
They will have to find a super medication to prevent him from a complete meltdown in the next 2 debates.
"carville and begala were responsible for the prep package for kerry in debate-land; I'd say they did not only a great job with that, they also had the clintonistas doing the post-debate spin and the media coverage in the days since"
-syntallic
syntallic,
Did you notice that Kerry has started to use the Bill Clinton thumb of power fist? 
I think his a voice dropped at the end of a sentence and Lehrer must have made some sort of gesture off-screen that made Bush think he was going to start talking, so he did the "let me finish" thing.
That being said, when we've seen Bush on C-Span, I've remarked to my family a couple of times about how big his ears look -- really out of proportion. We've even joked that he was wearing cosmetic ears with earpieces hidden in them.
But could it be possible?
Re Drudge's assertions about forbidden items: It took you three days to come up with that, Karl? No wonder your boy is losing! No wonder his debate performance was so screwed up! If it took you this long to come up with this lameass shit, then you know your boy is gonna go down hard on Friday!
There.
Haven't they figured out a way to blame it on Clinton yet?
my personal theory is that non-sequitur "let me finish" was a device he had practiced as a verbal signifier that he was in control of the proceedings. he used it against mccain during the primaries to some effectiveness, and probably sought to use it again. to blurt it out mid-sentence when no one was interrupting him gives you and idea of how weakly and inaccurately the prez's synapses were firing as kerry handed him his ass.
dg_chitown
This is the same modus operandi Bush used when the Irish journalist began a new question when he paused too long after answering a question. He behaves similarly to my son who has an expressive language disorder and needs extra time to formulate his thoughts - he always gets irritated for being "interrupted" as if we could all read his thoughts and know that he is not done yet. The cause of this in Bush is debateable without psychological and/or neurological testing.
er, did Kerry use reading glasses at any point in the debate?
After months of ads by the Bush campaign and their allies telling me
that Kerry was unfit for high office, it was Bush who appeared unfit for
high office. He seemed to be totally disoriented and confused. By the
end of the debate I was left thinking that perhaps they pay someone to
tie the President's shoes every morning.
No wonder our foreign policy and Iraq is such a mess. It all reflected
in the President's overall debate performance. But then so does so much
of his personal history: failed businesses, alcoholism and "bubble boy" handling. Those chickens came home to roost Thursday night as Kerry took some truth to Bush's power.
At one point near the end, Bush answered a question on North Korea
talking about Saddam. What?! Now I understand why Britain might withdraw
their troops if Bush is reelected.
I agree with the idea that another bad performance will have people wondering whats wrong with him.
(I imagine him bursting out sudden little statements "Was that lightening? I like Ice Cream. Argyle socks! Does My what hurt? More tapioca pudding please, Panamma Red." What about the economy?
Well, it's been fun to ponder this on a sunny Sunday afternoon as we kill time between the debates.
But the place where this whole thing falls apart is that Bush had nothing to say and looked like an idiot. He doesn't need someone talking into his ear to help him do that. Let's just keep the focus on the fact that he lost the debate, that everyone saw him lose with their own eyes. Let's not complicate that issue with unprovable allegations of a failed conspiracy that nobody saw and that did Bush no good.
Next time I see Bush standing before a crowd, standing up straight and looking distinguished while explaining the historical context of the current situation on the Korean penninsula, and I see him break off mid-sentence and blurt out into the air 'shut up and let me finish, Karl!', I'll start to take the matter seriously.
But this week there are important matters that need our attention, and this is just a distraction from them.
- tome
As if Kerry pulled something out of his pocket that could have made Bush look like a blithering idiot - obviously, Bush did a great job of that all by himself last Thursday.
This is pure, unadulterated desperation. If this is all Drudge and the Rethuglicans have to defend Fearless Leader, break out the champagne and say hello to President Kerry.
"EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT CBS MEMO 'FRAUD' MAY HAVE BEEN A SET UP...
GENUINE MEMO WITHHELD BY WHITE HOUSE HAS SAME QUALITIES OF 'FAKES'... Story by 5pm EDT..."
http://www.rawstory.com/
Bush knows he's done. What he meant was "Let me finish.." my 2 terms before you destroy me like this.
kerry was writing...so he had to get the paper out of his pocket as well as a pen or pencil. everyone saw him scribbling while w was talking. as usual drudgery is pulling red herrings out of his ass.
Kerry had secreted a Tasp in his pocket. that is a device developed by the Pearson's Puppeteers, and alien race led by a potentate called The Hindmost who attains office by demonstrating that hesheit is the most cowardly among them. The Tasp remotely stimulates the medial forebrain bundle, causing the victim to be overwhelmed by euphoria. The effect is brief an immediately produces a rebound effect, during which the victim will do anything, and I do mean anything, to receive another Tasping. It is the most diabolical weapon ever.
It was not a pen. It was round, I watched it.
It was round, I think I know what a freaking pen looks like!!!
Damn.
er, did Kerry use reading glasses at any point in the debate?
2501
I'm sure C-SPAN is rerunning the debates in glorious split-screen color. Go to cspan.com or watch it on cable if you have it.
I seem to remember Kerry pulling out a pen early on. But no magical fairy dust to blow on Bush to make him look idiotic, like Drudge wants us to believe.
A lot of people here are underestimating the possible impact that the video of Kerry reaching into his pocket may have on people. Just the headline on Drudge should be enough to scare you. If the right-wingers can trumpet this story enough to get it serious airplay on the cable channels, they can get people to think that Kerry is a cheater.
Yes, I agree. Everyone watch the video. You can see that it is a goddamn PEN that Kerry is taking out of his jacket. He looks like he was holding it as if he is about to (duh) write with it. We need to squash this rumor fast before it becomes another silly made-up scandal by Rove and Co. You just know it will be breaking news on Fox at any time now. I'd love to see them get embarrassed by this.....
A lot of people here are underestimating the possible impact that the video of Kerry reaching into his pocket may have on people.
You bet. Tomorrow night, unfortunately, I got stuck going out to dinner with a couple of old buddies who became Fox obsessed wingnuts.
Guaranteed I'll be hearing about it from them, through cracks they'll make, or whatever.
They'll all be doing their best to make it part of the "conventioanl wisdom" about Kerry by then.
I despise hanging out with these guys, and managed to even avoid this year's Super Bowl party in order to avoid seeing them, but got hoodwinked into agreeing to go out with them tomorrow. I have spent the whole week dreading it, while my wife spent the week laughing at my dread. One of them needed a favor, though, and I'm not a person who says no to requests for help...Sorry, I got diverted from my point.
The wingnuts will be pounding away at this. Soon Wolfie will be talking about it. Killer Scarborough, too. This is not good.
I hate these people. All right. I'm done.
He was talking to his one of his "imaginary friends"
He doesn't have any.
*
Jenny from the Blog | Email | Homepage | 10.03.04 - 4:00 pm
[snort][chuckle][guffaw]
I just thought he was talking with Freddie, the guy who used to talk to himself on the busses around town. Always wondered who used to piss poor Fred off so bad....
Not sure if this theory has been expressed but I think it's just a ploy to make him sound as if everyone wants to shut him up, but by golly he's not going to be railroaded by the libruls, and he's going to get his message out to the amerikun people.
I'm sure they coached him to get in a "let me finish" at least once in the debate.
It looks to me as if Kerry is taking a pair of reading glasses out of his pocket or possibly a pen. I assume if he needs the glasses, he would get them out and put them on the podium in case he needed to read his notes. It does not look like he is holding notes.
When the debate started Kerry reached down and pulled something out of his socks, then right when it ended he stuffed something deep into his underwear.
Myself and a couple of others here wondered openly the morning after the debate if he had an ear piece. Beside his strange "let me finish" comment, the back of his jacket and shirt were creased and bunched. Someone should go over the debate frame by frame to see if there is evidence of an ear peice. He'd be screwed if someone could prove this.
"Let me finish"?
Shades of Ross Perot and his "can I finish" when no one else but him has been talking for the last twenty minutes.
As for Kerry's putting his hand in his pocket, a federal judge said that's an old attorney's trick. When a lawyer or a prosecutor slides his hand into his pocket, he's finding his stride.
On another note. my my neighbor's 85 year old grandmother LOVES John Kerry because, she says, he reminds her of FDR.
I think I saw what Kerry pulled out of his pocket. It looked like a can of whoop ass.
Anybody have footage?
Ok, Freepers, want to know what it was in Kerry's pocket?
It was his COCK! His ENORMOUS COCK that is at least 3 times the size of Chimpy's!
Kerry was reaching into his pocket and thinking to himself, "I got your MEXED MISSAGE right HERE, pal!"
So I guess your Freeper meme should be, "Kerry shouldn't be allowed to debate with his ENORMOUS COCK attached, because it's just not FAIR!"
Sorry for the outburst, the idiocy is getting to me.
he's finished.
praise the god of your chose.
It was not a pen. It was round, I watched it.
It was round, I think I know what a freaking pen looks like!!!
Damn.
Erica
I'm sure,/i> it was one of those super-secret thingies debaters use to zap their opponents with "stupid rays" so they make faces, anger quickly, repeat blithering, idiotic sound bites and fail to answer the moderator's questions.
Snicker.
Re Drudge "cheating" baloney--
I'm trying to think what Kerry could have had in his pockets that could have forced Bush to make idiotic chimp faces, ask for extra time and then stand their with his mouth open, keep offending the nation's deer with his lame impression of how they look in the headlights, and utter ludicrously feckless comebacks like "You fergot Poland!"
I'm not coming up with anything. You?
Buck up, Anon. It'll make 'em look petty and stupid. Tell 'em, "Yeah, Kerry had a secret Man From U.N.C.L.E. pen, and while Dubya was collecting his thoughts, he was whispering, 'Open Channel D! Kuriyakin, are you there...?' Psh-yeah, right."
Oh, and, don't order the veal.
It looks to me as if Kerry is taking a pair of reading glasses out of his pocket or possibly a pen. I assume if he needs the glasses, he would get them out and put them on the podium in case he needed to read his notes. It does not look like he is holding notes.
Matt Drudge? America is so Sophisticated.
"New take on the "Kerry cheated by pulling paper out of pocket at debate" scandal on drudge.
It's a handkerchief.
A flop-sweat zamboni that all debaters have on hand since Nixon in 1960.
Martina"
So WHY would JOHN need it? HE wasn't the one with the flop sweat!
If that was the case, BUSH needed a fucking bath towel!
I think I saw what Kerry pulled out of his pocket. It looked like a copy of his Innaugural Address
Anybody have footage?
Yoshimi
I think I saw what Kerry pulled out of his pocket. It looked like Bush's balls.
Anybody have footage?
Have faith people. Kerry doesn't need to cheat. He can think on his feet. When he said he doesn't wilt he wasnn't reading that. I hate republicans but love their tenacity. You can see their still trying to win the debate. Reminds me of Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke" when he got in a fight. If you saw the movie you know what I'm talking about. I am concerned about this "Kerry Doctrine" swivel that they're peddling now. That could potentially stick cause there's just too many rubes out there.
Kerry was reaching into his pocket and thinking to himself, "I got your MEXED MISSAGE right HERE, pal!"
HEY! Kerry is from JERSEY? He's a GOOMBAH? Maddon'!
I've watched as many clips showing the preznit from behind and checked out all the conspiracy links and listened over and over again.
My conclusion is that Shrub was coached to issue a Reaganesque line, ala "There you go again." When the opportunity did not arise, Bush went to the backup plan of sounding parental. When no one interrupted and Bush was becoming obviously flustered, he just blurted out the "let me finish". I wondered at the time if Lehrer hadn't made some motion off camera that Bush was responding to.
In the end it doesn't matter. The floor at U of Miami was mopped by Kerry using Bush to the point of abuse. Unless they can plant Rush, Condi, O'Reilly and Novak as "undecided" or "soft" voters in St. Louis, the Friday night event will resemble the Boston Red Sox playing a pretty good Texas high school team. It might be called a contest, but only for civilities sake.
Does anyone have a better looking electoral graph than this? It seems the last one I saw was a lot closer, but I cannot remember where I saw it. Can this be right? Any links to something better appreciated.
http://www.electoral-vote.com/fi...fin/
oct03p.html
I know, I know, I know! I know what it was, pick me, pick me!
It was a note with proportional spacing!
Those are illegal now, I heard.
RE: Flop sweat.
I wasn't insinuating that Kerry needed it. But there was some speculation that after seeing a little dampness on his upper lip during his convention speech, Rove thought he'd make sure the debate room was nice 'n warm. Kerry's team asked for a low 60s temp. Bush demanded 70 degrees or whatever, hoping Kerry would sweat and look bad.
Remember Nixon in 60?
Ever since then, all debaters arrive with a handkerchief neatly folded to dab their upper lip with if necessary. If not necessary, well fine. But a good president is prepared for things. Right?
Reminds me of Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke" when he got in a fight.
After Chimpy's performance, i am more reminded of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail....
Anyone seen bad naughty Zoot?
Justins (at 3:47) posted link to the pic of Bush's left side of his head, when enlarged (400%) in an image program clearly shows some object in his ear.
That isn't an artifact. Something was there. Is he wearing a hearing aid like Reagan, or is it a earpiece of a remote transmitter?
Check out the pic here:
google cache
Oh come on people - there are actually some of you trying to blow Drudge's bullshit up into something? I dearly wish that Ed Gillespie would go on every single talking barbie and ken's show and make that claim. Please Ed, for me.
You want to really see people laughing their asses off at George Bush, even more than they are now? Let the Repugs claim Kerry somehow cheated. Please. I'm begging. It really couldn't get much better than that. Please Ed.
Fer chrissakes. It's Drudge.
Sorry for the outburst, the idiocy is getting to me.
Jennifer
No need to apologize, Jennifer. I, for one, welcome the notion that a glimpse of Kerry's MASSIVE COCK scared the bejeebus out of El Chimpo.
Besides, it makes more sense than the idea that Bush would be reduced to stammering, redundant incoherence by Kerry's alleged "notes." Whether Kerry's answers might've been better through "cheating" has no bearing on why Bush's were so bad. That's a separate issue, it seems to me. But hey, you can't blame 'em for trying...if they didn't, they wouldn't be Bushbots and they'd inhabit the real world, like normal human beings.
Global Test = International Law - thats all. You can't just go willy nilly invading countries or you will be viewed as a hitlerite aggressor and the international community will be forced to stand against you.
This is the Test that Saddam failed when he invaded Kuwait in 1991. This is the test that the U.S. passed in going into Afghanistan. If the case is not obvious like those two, you need U.N. approval from the Security Council and an enourmous majority from the U.N. general assembly.
If you don't have that, members of the U.N. have a duty to rise up against you, as what happened to Saddam after he invaded Kuwait.
Bush's invasion of Iraq is certainly immoral and arguably illegal because he did not get explicitly the proper authority from the United Nations security council.
Bush faces possible war crime trials if he loses the election, which is one of many reasons to expect these guys to pull off all stops to getting re-elected including staging break in in their seattle hq, or a new terrorist threat. If Bush loses another debate I fully expect Secretary Ridge to take us to code Red.
Jennifer's right.
Here's what was in Kerry's pocket
my theory: sheer nervous panic. He saw Lehrer open his mouth, maybe stifling a yawn, and Bush went into his classic "don't you dare interrupt me" mode. He didn't have anything to say. It was just panic.
simple.
JD:
TTry this, and take note of the info on Senate races.
Happy Birthday to Gore Vidal, my fellow Libra and my fellow Burr descendant.
Hey Tena -- all the really great people
are Libras. John Lennon, Groucho Marx,
me...
And BTW, kudos to everyone here who
made a Firesign Theatre injoke above...
Is Bush colorblind? Maybe he couldn't tell the colors of the lights apart....
All that blinking suggests (to me, anyway) that he might have had some sort of eye irritation--possibly contact lenses for checking his notes? (And staying up past ten probably didn't help.)
I think the bulge in his back was a corset clasp. See, Bush has been gaining weight now that he's ruined his knee and can no longer indulge in his obsessive-compulsive jogging habit. And he just had to fit into his "lucky" suit; hence, the man-girdle, baby.
Good Lord, Ehrenstein, that story reminded me of the story of the woman who drove off a bridge because she wanted to re-enact something in Mel Gibson's "Pa$$ion". What the **** were these guys thinking?
Also, love your pic and shoutout to Gore Vidal. He's a national treasure.
You want to really see people laughing their asses off at George Bush, even more than they are now? Let the Repugs claim Kerry somehow cheated. Please. I'm begging. It really couldn't get much better than that. Please Ed.
As alwaysm Tena nails it. Christ, I can't believe people are worried about this. IT HELPS KERRY by making the Bushies look like the petty little chidren they are.
Everyone thought the debate rules were a joke and thos accusation feeds into the silliest rule of all--you can't bring pens or paper with you.
Let them whine about it all they want. It plays against Bush's percieved strength, "toughness." Could a bold, resolute, leader really be defeated by something Kerry pulled out of his pocket?
Oh brother -- just saw the Drudge nonsense -- I mean, come on, Kerry needs a cheat sheet because, uh, he wouldn't have enough facts otherwise? he wouldn't have enough messages?
Face it, the only "cheat" that Kerry really needed for this debate were the warning lights to keep him brief -- the very things the Rethugs insisted on!! BWAAH-HAA-HAA-HAA!!!!
Two things. No one has ever accused bush of having half a brain, we all know before he became the resident he screwed every business venture he ever went into, and left his fathers cronies to clean up his mess.
Second, I wouldn't put the earpiece past these bastards. Bush's performace is no indication for sure. I mean these are the same people responsible for the pathetic condition of our economy, the huge mess is Iraq. And that is just the tip if the iceburg. It's only obvious this administration collectively does not posses the brains god gave a rock.
David E - yeah, except the one in Kerry's pocket didn't have a cute little fairy riding on it.
But I thank you for once again finding an appropriate reason to link to your favorite photo!
New take on the "Kerry cheated by pulling paper out of pocket at debate" scandal on drudge.
It's a handkerchief.
What do you bet Dubya uses his sleeve when he thinks no one's looking?
Two things. No one has ever accused bush of having half a brain, we all know before he became the resident he screwed every business venture he ever went into, and left his fathers cronies to clean up his mess.
Second, I wouldn't put the earpiece past these bastards. Bush's performace is no indication for sure. I mean these are the same people responsible for the pathetic condition of our economy, the huge mess is Iraq. And that is just the tip if the iceburg. It's only obvious this administration collectively does not posses the brains god gave a rock.
"Haven't they figured out a way to blame it on Clinton yet?"
spearNmagicHelmet
That's it! Kerry pulled a miniature Clenis from his pocket -- it had batteries and when it vibrated it caused an electromagnetic field that cleverly shorted-out the Chimp's earpiece.
I think the bulge in his back was a corset clasp. See, Bush has been gaining weight now that he's ruined his knee and can no longer indulge in his obsessive-compulsive jogging habit. And he just had to fit into his "lucky" suit; hence, the man-girdle, baby.
still I'm bothered by the potential to get traction out of the GLOBAL TEST = KERRY DOCTRINE thing. I know what Kerry meant. Simply to try and get as many alliances as possible instead of being a swaggering dick who alianates everyone. But they wanna spin it into something that's a lie.
As regards taking something out of you pocket and putting it on the lectern, I've given timed speeches and participated in debates and what I put on the lectern is a watch.
so the freeps and drudge are admitting defeat and looking for an excuse, no?
I think I saw what Kerry pulled out of his pocket. It looked like a can of whoop ass.
So funny, I laughed all three times it posted!
steve simels - you left out my favorite fellow Oct. 2 Libra - Mahatma Gandhi.
And then there is Sting. Same day, same year - I ask you, why am I not a world famous and filthy rich rock star?
(and don't say "no talent" because I wouldn't be the only one...)
Molly, W doesn't use his sleeve, he uses the sweater of a nearby "little person". Saw it on Letterman once.
Bush is accustomed to the throngs of loyalty oathed minions and their silly cheering at every inconsequential thing he has said on the campaign trail.
He was was shaken by the quiet at the debate hall when using the same inane phrases, so much so, that he was simply responding to the echo of his own voice.
From Newsweek:
Kerry's aides were so confident that they had schooled him in concision that they used his reputation as a windbag to play—and win—an expectations game on debate day. They say they circulated a bogus rumor: they were upset about warning lights on the podiums, fearing their blabbermouth candidate would be bathed in flashing red. In the end, it was Bush—not Kerry—who ran afoul of the strict time limits and earned a blinking light.
That how you play the game. And Drudge bit, hook, line and sinker....
Yeah, Kerry cheated. The articulate intelligence he displayed? Cheated. Poise? Cheated there, too. Command of facts? Cheated like a motherfucker.
Is this really the best that the right wing can come up with to try to salvage the public humiliation of their boy-king last week? Admittedly, they don't have a lot to work with, but you'd think they'd be smart enough to slough if off with, "The President had an off night, that's all. He'll be back." and leave it at that. Goddamn, they're stupid.
Molly NYC - Nononononono - he uses the edge of the garment of the person nearest him - remember Letterman?
steve simels - you left out my favorite fellow Oct. 2 Libra - Mahatma Gandhi.
And then there is Sting. Same day, same year - I ask you, why am I not a world famous and filthy rich rock star?
Don't feel so bad, kiddo...you know what
pop star was born on my birthday?
Manfred Mann....
(not that there's anything wrong with
him)
In addition, having heard his own comments echoed back to him for the first time, he suddenly realized how empty his own rhetoric was and felt an overwhelming urge to actually interrupt himself.
And the truly funny thing is, even after that he had nothing else to say!
Lipreader and Tena: I sit corrected.
Why is y'all pickin' on my president?
Should you have any conversations about this with swing voters, or their less-intelligent brethren in the media, try to keep these simple answers to their simple questions in mind:
Q: Did you see Kerry take something out of his pocket at the end of the debate?
A: No, I was too busy watching Kerry beat Bush in the debate. Wasn't it amazing what a poor debater Bush was, and how smart and presidential Kerry was?
Q: Did you see the bump on Bush's back? He might have had a battery pack of some sort there, maybe connected to some kind of earpiece, don't you think?
A: I really don't know--I was too focused on Kerry, and on how easily he won the debate. Did you see how Kerry spoke in complete sentences, and spoke knowledgably about international policy issues? Wasn't that refreshing?
Q: Who do you think Bush was talking to when he said, 'let me finish'?
A: I honestly don't know; I didn't really think about it, since so little of what Mr. Bush said made any sense. It's so different with Mr. Kerry, who was so eloquent and intelligent. I wonder why anyone ever thought that Bush stood a chance against him.
The more we talk about earpieces and things pulled out of pockets, the more people who have trouble concentrating on things think that earpieces and things in pockets are the issue.
- tome
"Just who was he talking to"?
I once had a neighbor who would hold conversations with Mr. Thin Air if he neglected to take his medication.
From Newsweek:
Kerry's aides were so confident that they had schooled him in concision that they used his reputation as a windbag to play—and win—an expectations game on debate day. They say they circulated a bogus rumor: they were upset about warning lights on the podiums, fearing their blabbermouth candidate would be bathed in flashing red. In the end, it was Bush—not Kerry—who ran afoul of the strict time limits and earned a blinking light.
That how you play the game. And Drudge bit, hook, line and sinker....
Newsweek Poll which was conducted after the debate ended. Fifty-six percent say Kerry did better than they expected; 11 percent say so for Bush.
Guess that 11 percent are hard core dems who were expecting Bush to do even worse than he did Tuesday night.
... male hooker, line of coke and sphincter.
Here's another piece on the Bush earpiece question, from 3/11/03.
Apparantly, he may use an earpiece where he pre-records his speeches, because he has trouble reading the teleprompters due to dyslexia.
Click on the homepage for the link, or try this:
rense.com: Bush The Articulate - Hearing Voices
... male hooker, line of coke and sphincter.
McAdder - 5:52 pm
"These are a few of my favorite things..." as sung by Dubya
Good ol' Drudge - where would we be without her?
More on Earpiecegate: "It did not end here however, Bush was going to take a few questions from the press, everyone always notes how well the president is with names, well the voice in the earpiece is much better with names, beacuse he told Mr. Bush who to call by name, and without fail the earpiece had all the answers to the reporters questions as well. I was just in awe at this point, some clever techy in France had exposed one of Bush's puppet masters. This would be all over the press in no time. I was exstatic..." Source)
They keep making fun of him saying "aboot" - which I've only heard from one Canadian I've ever met, but...
HAHA, they ALL say it in the midwestern part of Canada. Make them say "dollar" too. That's really funny! Alomst as good as asking a Brit how to say aluminum and then asking them where they found that extra syllable.
Yes, I am an ugly American.
What do you bet Dubya uses his sleeve when he thinks no one's looking?
Bush has been reported to knowingly pick his nose on camera, for effect.
Bush may have had an earpiece for all I know, but I think this whole "Let me finish" deal is bogus. If you watch the debate replay at c-span.org (at about the 40:40 mark), it appears that when Bush says "Let me finish," his eyes snap to Jim Lehrer, and he gestures with his hand as if to say "hold on, don't interrupt." It looks to me like Lehrer did something -- looked up quickly perhaps -- that made Bush think he was about to be interrupted. Yes, the clock hadn't run out, but I think he was just responding to some movement on Lehrer's part. No smoking gun here, IMHO.
They don't say "aboot", they say "abo-t", with the long "o" instead of "ow" to rhyme with "cow."
I don't give much credence to the earpiece theory because it would just further confuse the muddled mind that sits inside the skull of the nitWit in chief.
Let me finish could become a W catchphrase.
No, he can't have that; Ross Perot used "Can I Finish" already. My favorite Dana Carvey Perot impression has him doing a be-bop "Can I finish" riff; it's fantasic!
they ALL say it in the midwestern part of Canada.
and in the west as well. Dunno about the atlantic provinces, never been there.
on the other hand, I was ridiculed the other day by a couple of Alabamians for pronouncing the "oo" in "root" identically to the "oo" in "book", the way we all do up in Indiana.
They don't say "aboot", they say "abo-t"
the Canadians I know say "aboot". YMMV.
Here's a question, what's the shiny thing Bush puts slips into his pocket at the end of the debate? I watched in again today on CNN and you can clearly see him take something from the podium and put it into his pocket.
Erica
I noticed it too. In fact, I wrote about it yesterday here. I thought it was the watch. He wanted to avoid the mistake his father committed - looking at the wrist watch. So he put it on the podium.
Somebody must have told him through his earpiece to quit saying how hard the work was and how hard he was working because he suddenly quit saying it after about 15 times.
Dickless Cheney - Yah, when you guys up in Indiana say root like that it does sound funny.
Of course, down here we have accents that could shatter glass, so we don't get to point fingers at other peoples' accents. Get someone from deep east Texas to say "oil" for you some time.
Regarding the Kerry took something out of his pocket game ---
So, let's play. What might it have been? An electronic device to befuddle Bush's brain? A ray-gun speech blocker? A hypnotic device for the audience?
Read the transcript of the debate. Read what Kerry said. I can't find anything in the content of what he said that would have benefited from notes on a crib-sheet --- almost everything he said he's spoken about before; there were no difficult-to-remember details one would need a crib-sheet for.
Maybe motivational notes to himself, like "remember to stand straight?"
I certainly don't think he smuggled anything in, but IF he did, does anyone really think a few notes would have made the difference in his performance --- and made any difference in the contrast between him and the Boy-King who barely managed to avoid pissing himself?
And then there is Sting.
"Do you mind, just for tonight, if we call you "'Stang"?"
- Vince Gill, at the Country Music Awards
According to Instapundit Drudge has video of Kerry cheating at the debate by taking something out of his pocket. Maybe we ought to ask him to check Bush's ear.
Defending the indefensible is hard work.
But I think drubuya wears a codpiece.
Maybe Condi was talking dirty to him.
"HAHA, they ALL say it in the midwestern part of Canada. Make them say "dollar" too. That's really funny! Alomst as good as asking a Brit how to say aluminum and then asking them where they found that extra syllable.
Yes, I am an ugly American.
joshowitz:
Yeah, you sure are.
At least up there, they can speak proper English and see Bush for the moron that he is!
Maybe Kerry had a jammer to mess up Bush's secret earpiece transmissions. 
Something went wrong with transmissions which made Bush unprepared, confused, and speechless. I think the secret prompter voice came back after initial problems and confused Bush into thinking someone on stage was interrupting him. Hence, "let me finish"
I only became a conspiracy nut after nearly four years of the Bush Administration.
According to Instapundit Drudge has video of Kerry cheating at the debate by taking something out of his pocket.
Ekim - 6:19 pm
There's something in my pocket
That belongs across my face.
...So I'll take it out and put it on.
It's a great big Brownie smile!
Just got back from a MoveOn Pac meeting where we signed up to contact registered voters who vote infrequently. I didn't know anyone there, but it was pretty cool to hear people say the same kinds of things we've been saying for months. Young and old, they want to get rid of Bush for all the same reasons.
I saw a new billboard on the interstate on the way in: One nation UNDER God Bush/Cheney
Nice to know which part of their base they're trying to attract.
Bush wasn't looking at Lehrer when he said "let me finish." He was looking at the audience, to his left. So either it was a weird tic/habit thing with him, or someone in the audience was giving him signs.
BTW, Laura was across the auditorium, to his right, so it wasn't her.
steve simels -
When is your birthday? I'm wondering if we have the same...
*
One woman there said she was always going to vote for Kerry, but was feeling pretty discouraged... until the debate. Kerry's performance pumped her up and gave her confidence. She said, "That's why I'm here. I now feel we can win this election."
Loverly.
Every since Thursday night, I've been trying to figure out what the hell a "mexed message" is?
Is Bush talking about advice he got from his gardener in Crawford?
Mexed missage.
It was not a pen. It was round, I watched it.
It was round, I think I know what a freaking pen looks like!!!
Damn.
Erica
He was palming a joy buzzer for the post-debate handshake.
Republicans have been using the phrase "let me finish" and other such statements for years. Has anyone not listened to Coulter, Bartlett, Novak and others? It is not surprising to me that when an argument is failing the only thing to do is blame the opposition for being rude. I saw it again today when Gillespie was up against McAuliffe and while Blitzer was finishing a question Gillespie stated would you let me finish Terry. What a joke.
pi - Good on you!
I've got to call the voting PAC I belong to tomorrow and see if they need help at headquarters.
Was it just me, or did Bush remind anyone else of those poor saps who go on Judge Judy or The People's Court or another court show...
"Let me finish, Your Honour. That was before my babydaddy went to prison..."
pie - sorry for the typo when I typed your name.
Tena, everyone said that they have never seen pDems so fired up, although one person did say she worked pretty hard in '72. Of course, we know how that turned out, and then what happened two years later. "I am not a crook." Heh.
Whatever.
Don't know if anyone mentioned this but the very fact that Drudge and the rest are trying to say Kerry cheated is because they have finally acknowledged Kerry won.
It took the whole weekend for them to come to terms with that fact.
That video clip shows that both men took things out of their pockets. So, if Drudge (and the site the video clip is on) expects for people to only look at Kerry's motions and ignores Bush's similar motions, well, like the heads of the GOP, they think people are stupid. Absolutely stupid. Or, it shows that Drudge and the rest have their blinders on and are still obviously in denial that there man can't hold his own in mixed company.
The W. bubble burst.....
Shorter wingnut blogs:
"What hassss it got in itsss pockets?"
"The Precioussss!"
Gollums, the lot of 'em.
Kerry took control of the debate with the handshake. By taking bushes hand and placing his hand on bushes back, kerry
took immediate control and made it look as if he were the president welcoming bush for stopping by.
It would be interesting to know if it was intentional or just lucky.
No one would be that stupid to take something out of his pocket ,in that way ,in front of the whole world,that was against the rules .Was he trying to conceal? NO....
A cheat sheet would have been taped to his wrist ,to be removed out of site,hands hidden by the podium.
Handkerchief or pen sounds right.
How can anyone support Bush at this point?
What desperation.
Latest CNN/USAT/Gallup post-debate poll:
LV 49-49 Bush-Kerry and RV 49-47 Bush-Kerry
What were last week's numbers for the same poll?
It's been a while since Poland has been mentioned. Did someone forget?
Can we create some buzz on newsweek's cover picture with Bush at the same ht as KErry? They photoshopped the pic.
If the liberal blogs push this to the front, it will run one or two newscycles bringing attention to Bush's real ht?
Besides, it is a journalistic no-no to photoshop real photos. It is fake news.
Oh come on people - there are actually some of you trying to blow Drudge's bullshit up into something? I dearly wish that Ed Gillespie would go on every single talking barbie and ken's show and make that claim. Please Ed, for me.
How quickly you forget. Gore won the first debate last election, and the right-wingers were able to spin it into a Bush win by talking about Gore excessively sighing and rolling his eyes. All it's going to take is Faux news to start legitimizing Drudge's crap by doing a story on it, and the rest of the media will follow suit, not wanting to be left behind or prove their inherent liberal bias by not reporting on this "important" new development in the debates. It doesn't matter that it's a totally bogus story. All people need to see are a few headlines asking the question "Did Kerry Cheat?" to come away thinking that he did.
It's what the media lives for.
I guess no one bought the style (Kerry)/substance (georgie) breakdown.
They reek of desperation.
Newsweek Poll which was conducted after the debate ended. Fifty-six percent say Kerry did better than they expected; 11 percent say so for Bush.
Guess that 11 percent are hard core dems who were expecting Bush to do even worse than he did Tuesday night.
""Oh come on people - there are actually some of you trying to blow Drudge's bullshit up into something? ""
It seems to me that out of desperation ,the freepers are trying to do that ,instead of acknowledging that Bush sucked.
I never realized that "This is God, Kent" from "Real genius" grew up to be George Bush. When do we get to see him buried in popcorn.
Don't forget Poland, Georgie!
History changed for the better when those split screen images of Bush were plainly seen by the world.
Bush ,without staging and unscripted ,was exposed as the incompetent fraud that he is.
If it wasn't an earpiece, he was talking to those voices in his head.
Actually, it was Poland.
Bush doesn't have an earpiece, he has a NOSE PIECE. To funnel in the white powder.
BottleinfrontofmeRuss - Move the bottle away, Russ. This is 2004 and things have changed. A lot. There is no way in hell that this little idiotic story does anything other than point out how truly desperate the Repugs are.
What I want to know is this: if Kerry had a cheat sheet that made George look like a moron last Thursday night, who has had the cheat sheet that has caused him to look like a moron for the last 4 years?
That's one of the major changes since 2000, MTBIFOMRuss.
Regardless of the questions asked in the upcoming debate ,Kerry can slip in any talking points he wants
The earpiece thing was solved long before the debate. No one says "peeance freeance" by themselves. The guy feeding Bush his lines obviously messed up, and Bush said "A peeance freeance" without even blinking, no stuttering, no backtracking. He was obviously fed his lines.
He may not have had an earpiece during the debate, but his majestic rise to "a great public speaker" after 9/11 was no doubt due to one. If he didn't have one in this debate, I can assure you he will have one in the next.
But if I took the bottle in front of me away, then I'd have to have a frontal labotomy.
Look, the more time that elapses from the debate, the more susceptible people become to having their memories of what they saw changed. And if the Repugnicans can get people thinking that Kerry won because he cheated, then it destroys the whole notion of Kerry winning. In such a close election, you don't have to influence very many people for it to have an effect.
Of course it shows how desperate the Repugnicans are. Of course it shows that they have nothing else to hang their hats on. But if we've learned anything over the past four years, it's that this country is filled with sheeple.
I think I saw what Kerry pulled out of his pocket. It looked like a can of whoop ass.
Anybody have footage?
Yoshimi | Email | Homepage | 10.03.04 - 5:10 pm | #
Yoshimi,
Not only did I laugh heartily, I plan to use that one on any Repug who dares to say something about Kerry cheating.
Well when your coke addled mind hears voices in your head, you've got to drown them out somehow.
there are pics of bush from behind the podium that show a small square shaped object under his coat that could be the transmitter pack for an earpiece.
Get someone from deep east Texas to say "oil" for you some time.
Tena
earl
I think the "let me finish' language is interesting but could at least have a few plausible explanations as discussed on this thread. But I dont think anyone can explain the "You know it's hard work to love her as best as i can, knowing full well that the decision i made caused her loved one to be in harms way." It is similar to the bizarre: "Too many OB-GYN's arent able to practice thier love with women all across the country." No earpiece can account for this. Are we seeing the beginning of dementia - - like Reagan?
That definitely looks like an earpiece transmitter to me....damn cheating Repubs
Bush cheated.
....
""beginning of dementia ""
that's why Bush won't take a physical now
..
Regarding the "earpiece theory," the day after the debate my wife--who'd heard nothing about the "theory"--asked me if I though Bush's right ear looked somewhat larger than his left. I then mentioned the blog discussions about a tiny ear-plug radio receiver.
"So that's how he got through Yale," she said.
There is one way to settle this debate. Bush drank a lot of water during the debate. During the next debate let's make sure Rove is drinking water when it is Bush's turn to talk.
CNN breaking story
WHY WON'T BUSH TAKE A PHYSICAL BEFORE THE ELECTION?
""Are we seeing the beginning of dementia?""
..
There is one way to settle this debate. Bush drank a lot of water during the debate. During the next debate let's make sure Rove is drinking water when it is Bush's turn to talk.
Someone over at dkos actually counted the number of times Kerry and Bush went for the water glass, by replaying the tape. Kerry - 2, Bush - 22. Someone else commented they saw Bush drank from an empty glass, put it down and drank from another glass.
Dailykos people actually do this kind of research. They are freeper than freeps.
Considering how Bush has managed NOT to listen to anyone sane, it is possible that he wears an earpiece because he's DEAF. From flying planes, I suppose
Hey JFTB --
October 21st.
Have we a match?
Plus you could hear the bang ,as Bush slammed down the glass a few times showing how out of control he was.
....
steve s.
the 20th! very close. i had a suspicion...
*
Dailykos people actually do this kind of research. They are freeper than freeps.
There is a hyper-geek, wonkish quality going on over there. Something about it...
*
I'm beginning to think there really is something degenerative going on with this guy.
I believe so too, but wouldn't the Republican establishment have made him retire in favor of McCain or Giuliani, or even Cheney? Would they risk allowing him to debate Kerry three times? The only possible explanation would be that Bush is resisting such a putsch and threatening to expose the party's numerous illegal activities. If he's really losing it he would be immune to any prosecution because of 'diminished capacity' or insanity.
Oh for God's sake, you CAN"T CHEAT IN A DEBATE! IIt isn't like an exam, or a game of cards. There is no right or wrong answer to a question (although there are bad ones and good ones), so you can't cheat.
Kerry could have pulled the entire NIE out of his pocket, and it still wouldn't have made his or Bush's answers any better.
Cheating in a debate is like rigging BINGO, it ain't possible unless you're the one calling the numbers.
Any trolls want to answer this question?
WHY WON'T BUSH TAKE A PHYSICAL BEFORE THE ELECTION?
....
Oh for God's sake, you CAN"T CHEAT IN A DEBATE!
Ha ha. It's truly the most laughable, pathetic excuse for a poor performance I think I've ever heard. Thank you, stevelaw...
*
I am not sure if anyone asked this up thread. I finally found the moment he said "Let me finish" on video. I noticed he brought his eyes up to the camera directly and then looked a little bit to his left. Anyone know who was where in relation to the cameras? Because it sure looked like he searched down and found someone he addressed with that line.
Here is a link to a site advertising miniaturized audio systems, just for example. http://www.endoacustica.com/
engl...obile_phone.htm
Hey Jenny:
So which pop star is your astrological
twin?
He did say "MOOLAH" and that was SO MUCH better.
According to Merriam-Webster, "moolah" is a correct pronunciation:
Click on the second audio link.
Nothing wrong with making fun of Bush when he makes stupid gaffes, but let's not make stupid ones ourselves.
steve -
I'm not sure... but don't you notice that every october all the cool people have birthdays? just sayin'...
(i hope it's albert einstein or marilyn monroe, though. from the sublime to the sublime...)
*
Here is a link to a site advertising miniaturized audio systems, just for example.
That locks it up.
Without a doubt BUSH CHEATED....
..
He missed light colors. Colorblind AND dyslexic. Perhaps his colorblindness prevented the effective quick indentification of particulr gear controls as a pilot, and aside from his aptitude and IQ limitations made him a dangerous pilot.
Red-green blindness could make for some hellacious tickets if you drive drunk
Then it triggered his "mexed missages" reply. The stress of the scene made him revert to mistakes gone over during debriefing.
Jenny:
Sorry, according to my research you
don't get Einstein or Monroe.
However, you do get (among others)
Snoop Dogg, Tom Petty, Bela Lugosi
Arthur Rimbaud, and Viggo Mortensen.
Not too shabby, I'd say....
East Texas oil="all"
A physical isn't likely to find dementia, unless there's a psychologist or neuropsychologist participating. Maybe for the Presidential players they do a mental status exam, though I doubt he'd tolerate it well. One of the first questions is "who is the President of the United States", and it might make him cry.
Bet he and his handlers don't want the physical because he's on a witches' brew of meds.
The guy has something wrong with him.
The Boston Globe explains it. I don't know why this didn't get more traction - but my mother and one of my wife's uncles had the same condition prior to them both passing away. It's like watching both of them in the early stages.
it would not surprise me to learn that bush was being controlled as if an automaton.
i am pretty certain that the outfit has very small, "in the ear" wireless receivers. these devices might resemble a hearing aid altho they might be even smaller. you might have to use an otoscope to see it, buried out of easy sight in the auditory channel.
it is even imaginable that his handlers had him subjected to a cochlear implant receiver. this would be impossible to discern without x-rays, mri, catscans. when could such an implant have been made? at any time when bush was goofing off on his ranchette. say, august 2001?
perhaps that is the real explanation for his deer in the headlights performance on 11/09/01 - there was no one manning the transmitter to give him instructions.
if the bush is receiving prompting via a wireless receiver fitted, implanted in his ear or brain - then he is toast.
because there are countermeasures. perhaps the kerry campaign deployed those measures during that bit of theater called a debate.
for instance, someone working a scanner knowledgeably early on in that bit of theater could have discovered the broadcast frequency. if the transmitter was outside of the theater, then anyone in-between the transmitter and the receiver could jam the signal.
of course, once the broadcast frequency was discovered, imagine the fun you could have if you had your own transmitter. you could tell georgie porgie that he was a stupid f*ck and that his empty suit was going to be revealed.
and that brings us to the hidden aspect of this election: the intell services wars. this goes undiscussed in the amerikan press, but it is really the salient aspect of post berlin wall collapse amerika.
the OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE[ONI] considers itself the real power. has always considered itself the real intell service.
once upon a time, the army's signal corps was a competitor to the oni, but that has changed over the years.
it is the air force that now contests with the oni for the control of the usa.
and george walker bush is the first air force-controlled president. the air force has seized real power during his regime, principally by means of an air force-orchestrated coup d'etat on 11/09/01.
the oni was caught napping in 2000. they thought that their old asset, bushdaddy[ex-navy], was running his son. they never figured that an awol tang bit of draft-dodging was going to become an air force asset. but the oni had become arrogant, it did not realize how seriously the air force owned georgie porgie. and how resolute the air force was to use that blackmail hold to achieve their goals...chief of staff, star wars, haarc, et al.
in addition, the navy establishment, the oni, has been of mixed minds. it failed to decide to defeat the air force candidate until just the last week or so. it was the shifties and their attack on the USN, with the approval of georgie porgie's handlers, that finally tipped the scales -
handlers, that finally tipped the scales - putting the oni into the kerry camp.
right now, the establishment navy is terrified that they waited too long to fight the air force for the ownership of the next president.
so, if georgie porgie is wirelessly connected to his handlers, if his responsiveness is governed by remote handlers, then he is toast. because i think that the oni is going to make sure that georgie porgie becomes incommunicado in his public, uncontrolled appearances.
you want to make a contribution to an organization that defends your liberties? send a check to the navy league.
semper fi
steve -
that's hysterical. okay, um, after careful consideration I'l take...
VIGGO~!
(who do you have?)
*
oh wait, let me finish!
if viggo's busy I'll take snoop.
*
Allright, can we focus please?
Can we talk about Cheney-Edwards debate?
For starters, from pudentilla.blogspot.com
People forget that Kerry was an assistant D.A. for seven years. That's a lot of cases, a lot of trials, a lot of witnesses. Most criminal cases settle, it is true, but most ADA's try a heck of a lot more cases than civil litigator - unless you're talking about plaintiffs' tort lawyers, like John Edwards.
Good trial lawyers - and the evidence suggests that both Kerry and Edwards were very good - know the record cold. They know everything every witness has said. They know their witness so well that they know whether or not the witness will lie in response to a question, even before the witness does, and they know the lie the witness will tell. As importantly, good trial lawyers know exactly how they will respond to any answer the witness gives long before they walk into court. They play the chess game six or seven moves deep.
CEO's, in contrast, - the good ones, and there is no evidence to suggest that Mr. Bush (DODO*) and Mr. Cheney (FOAL**) were particularly good CEOs - ask very good questions. They know they don't know the answers. They hire people to find out the answers. Then they ask those people smart questions to make sure the experts haven't made false assumptions in their analysis. Then they go with the experts' advice. CEOs don't answer questions. (This indeed, is how Karen Hughes portrays Mr. Bush (DODO*) in her book). Good CEOs, however, don't defend their record. And they don't often make good witnesses. They tend to take depositions as gun-fights at the OK corral. They turn them into pissing matches: the ego of the executive vs. the ego of the lawyer. And they usually lose (which is why corporations invented D&O insurance, but that's another story).
This is why Kerry was smiling on Thursday night and why that smile is giving Rove nightmares. They can prepare Messrs. Bush (DODO*) and Cheney (FOAL**) all they want. They can refine and adjust their performances to hell freezes over. It doesn't matter. Kerry and Edwards have already thought of every thing each of them can do, and they have their responses planned and ready to execute. So when Kerry (or Edwards smile) it is the smile of the master. "Ah, I see he's trying that gambit. Foolish man." Perhaps the very great wouldn't smile. But that smile is a human foible.
Some worry that Cheney (FOAL**) will present more of a challenge to Mr. Edwards than (DODO*) but not to a degree that is measurable. Mr. Edwards has made millions by eating CEO's far more successful than the likes of Dick Cheney (FOAL**) for lunch. Moreover, he is famous for taking his witnesses apart in a non-confrontational way that doesn't alienate the jury.
Never has the institution of presidential debates so inherently favored one party over another. Kerry's insistence on three debates was a stroke of genius. Whatever happens in the town hall (the debate forma
I can't believe these bozos--how lame is it to claim Kerry cheated?1?!
The classic refuge of the spoiled child.
btw: Tena, you and I and Sting share the Oct. 2 birthday--hope you had a good one!
You, too, Sting.
I knew you'd take Viggo, but Snoop's
cool too.
Me, music wise, I get the above mentioned
Manfred Mann, Elvin Bishop (neither of
whom I have a problem with), Sir Georg
Solti and Dizzy Gillespie.
I also get Ursula LeGuinn and Carrie
Fisher.
I was hoping for Rebecca Romijn, but it
was not to be.
ecoast -
yes. must focus. thanks for that info. makes a lot of sense. CEOs have yes-men surrounding them and are rarely challenged - they also have others take the brunt of the responsibility and blame when things go wrong... they are insulated to the hilt. I don't see how we can lose. We've got an extremely sharp, experienced, and tested team on our side...
*
Albert Champion-
All this time I thought it was a gop, Democrat thing.
steve -
sorry about rebecca.
but i'd definitely go for dizzy. very cool person to share your day with... thanks for doing the research... this was fun!
*
However, you do get (among others)
Snoop Dogg, Tom Petty, Bela Lugosi
Arthur Rimbaud, and Viggo Mortensen.
Jenny, forgot all those chumps; you've got Mickey Mantle.
Jenny:
My pleasure. BTW, If you can ever get on
the Rhino Records mailing list, they
have a great yearly calendar that lists hilarious
celeb birthdays and odd factoids.
Oops, that should say "forget all those chumps"
Steve, you got Whitey Ford. A pair of Yankee greats for the two of you.
Of course Kerry cheated. He pulled out a jamming device, which blew out the two-volt generator in Bush's brain.
The bulge in Bush's back is the flap where Cheney inserts his hand when they're doing their ventriloquist act.
Hey Dave in NYC:
Thanks for the heads up.
Hmm...Mantle and Ford...they must have
had some wild birthday bashes at Jack
Dempseys....
Dirty Politics Theory of the Day: Bush threw the debate to return debate expectations for the next two debates to his more comfortable "Bush wins if he doesn't choke on his own spit" level.
Story of Debate 2 will be, "Bush was actually able to answer a question Kerry brought up this time! He clearly won the debate!" Story of Debate 3 will be, "Bush answered three questions without making funny faces! What a long way he's come!"
Remember the Bush/Rove is the master of the soft bigotry of low expectations ...
linky no worky?
Let's be honest: the earpiece theory is about as dumb as Matt Drudge's latest on his site right now: suggesting that Kerry had cheat notes, etc. As someone who doesn't belong to a party I am truly sick of how each time the focus gets on issues some diversionary personality issue surfaces. I will put something on my blog later about Drudge's latest -- which strikes me as a new low in sour grapes (and I do not belong to either party).
Look at it this way: given Bush's performance, if he was wearing an earpiece and someone was advising him, that person should be tarred and feathered and not just fired. The truly deficient nature of his performance in itself negates that conspiracy theory. (I am still boiling over the Drudge "scoop" which will prove just as accurate as the one he ran about Hillary Clinton about "rock the political world" by being Kerry's running mate.
Anyway, if he had an earpiece it didn't do him much good, did it? The theory is senseless. And Drudge's latest is the worst case of apparent sour grapes I have ever seen in politics. That'll serve a purpose though: it might get talk show hosts going so they don't have to talk about Bush's performance this week (until the next debate - and Bush WILl be better) and it'll get bloggers going for more indigant posts.
If Smirky having an earpiece will guarantee the same result, let's make him wear one next time.
I hate to defend the man, but Bush wasn't confused when he mentioned September 10. He refers to a "September 10 mentality" as a way of underscoring how policies that worked prior to 9/11 are no longer appropriate.
Fuckin' funny but still god.
Bush will be better in second debate but Kerry will improve as well.
He can talk about the impending Bush draft, homeland security money"we don't want to talk about the money for securing America", then about how job losses in Ohio and Penn have damaged the personal security ordinary Americans "it hard work finding work in Bush's America".
Hell he can find out if someone in the audience has been made redundent and focus on a case study.
oh sweet Jesus how will bush respond "Ah know it's hard work loving Poland, I'm trying to put a leash on them."
Jet Tredmont, how many millions caught Bush on Thursday night?
There was a collective groan fron the republicans and the democrats were dancing on the grave of georgie's presidency.
He's not going to redeem himself.
He has held the fewest number of press conferences since that venue came into vogue. Why, on earth, do you think that's the case?
Well, you know. Everyone knows.
While I agree that Republicans are good at playing the expectations game, I refuse to say that Bush will be better in future debates just because we're afraid they'll 'win' the expectations game. If we censor ourselves based on what they might be planning or doing, we're only being reactive to their ploys. Bush has lost it, if he ever had it to begin with. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I'm not going to fluff up his chances in the next debates because he might do better and they might be playing an expectations game. Too bad for them if they did, I'm not going to say something other than what I believe and drown in their spin. We don't have to play their silly little games. This whole "they say that they think so that everyone else thinks so we should say the opposite because we think they think..." crap is insanity.
Screw the expectations game. Who's a bigger fool, the fool or the one who follows him?
Bush had an earpiece.
Bush Cheated.
Why won't Bush take a physical before the election?
....
Kerry can open up with the line
"For the last three years it has been hard work finding work in America. In ohio alone 40,000+ jobs have been lost."
"Don't forget, Americans have lost..."
Is it too cruel?
"Don't forget Marcel Duchamp."--Marcel Duchamp (Dadaist)
It's been hard work finding work since Bush was selected.
A way-way-back poster wrote:
----
"Another weird moment was when he said to Kerry "I won't hold it against you that you went to Yale?"
"What could he have possibly meant, since the chimp also went to Yale?"
----
GWB must have watched Ronald Reagan's debate tapes ("I refuse to make an issue of my opponent's youth...") and, as usual, just was a quart shy of a gallon.
Way upstream someone linked to the M-W pronunciation of Mullah and the second one still didn't sound, on my tinny little laptop speakers, like moo-lah, but more like moh-lah. But maybe Texans pronounce moh-lah as moo-la due to the Hereford influence... In any case, if any of them new cue lar mooolahs come acallin', Bush'll take 'em dead or alive. Unless some other bauble shows up to get his attention..
Bush didn't think anybody in the audience would know a Texas cowboy went to Yale too.
Bush imploded during the debate because for perhaps the first time in his life he's being held accountable for his record in order to keep a job. He never had to earn a place in college or the National Guard, his previous business ventures were bought/bailed out, he served a single term as governor of Texas, he's never run for RE-election before and is baffled about why he has to explain his actions as president to the electorate.
While the soundbite of Bush saying "let me finish" does give one pause, simpler explanations that earpieces seem more likely (like, say, drowning in his own mental flopsweat from being poorly prepared to debate?).
Frankly, I think someone has been watching too much of the TV series "24," during which a President running for re-election is wearing an earpiece while debating his opponent...
My pleasure. BTW, If you can ever get on
the Rhino Records mailing list, they
have a great yearly calendar that lists hilarious
celeb birthdays and odd factoids.
steve simels
Thanks, Steve
Mike
save it for the liberry....
Bush cheated
Bush wore an earpiece
Why won't Bush take a physical before the election?
The "Let me finish!" remark gave me final proof of a theory I have had about Bush for a long time.
He was not talking to his earpiece. He was not talking to Jesus. He was talking to Smeagol. "Let me finish, my precious! Nasty democratses! Filthy little thieves! We hates them, hates them forever!!"
Come to think of it, Bush even looks a little bit like Gollum. "Sneaking? SNEAKING?!"
Actually I thought this was the weirdest non sequitur. It was as though Bush didn't understand what
KERRY: "Osama bin Laden uses the invasion of Iraq in order to go out to people and say that America has declared war on Islam. We need to be smarter about how we wage a war on terror. We need to deny them the recruits. We need to deny them the safe havens. We need to rebuild our alliances."
"I believe that Ronald Reagan, John Kennedy, and others did that more effectively, and I'm going to try to follow in their footsteps."
MODERATOR: "Ninety-seconds, Mr. President."
PRESIDENT BUSH: "My opponent just said something amazing. He said, Osama bin Laden uses the invasion of Iraq as an excuse to spread hatred for America. Osama bin Laden isn't going to determine how we defend ourselves. Osama bin Laden doesn't get to decide. The American people decide. I decided. The right action was in Iraq."
So I guess we're obliged to follow stupid strategy to prove that we don't take Osama bin Laden's opinion into account. Even if bin Laden just happens to be recognizing reality, which is probably a rare occasion for him too.
The ’let me finish’ quip was clearly bush talking to someone (probably Rove) in his earpiece- saying ’let me finish’ (before you give me the next answer). He blows it 60 seconds into his 90 second reply- so no warning lights had gone off and the moderator had not motioned for him to end as there was plenty of time left.
If "Let me finish" was addressed either to Lehrer or to a blinking light, it's still a bizarre reaction. Lehrer had never interrupted anyone's response, and both Bush and Kerry had already been allowed to finish sentences after the red light went on, so there was no reason for Bush to jump in like that unless he was just BUGGING OUT.
Hey, is wÒÓ† on this thread?
I saw his comments on that INDC website. The one accusing Kerry of cheating. At least I saw some of his comments before they were removed.
Nice going wÒÓ†
Those were boobies of a nasty sort.
Shorter wingnut: What has it got in it's pocketsssssss!
If the ear pieces are being used as receivers then they can be jammed.
The only problem is that if he's listening in to a source from within the building the jamming would also have to be from inside the building.
And I doubt you will be able to get small electronic devices past the metal detectors.
But Kerry staff members could.
MYOB'
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Mr. pResident, if you had four daughters instead of two, how many daughters would you have altogether?
nattering nabob | Email | Homepage | 10.03.04 - 3:07 pm | #
I truly do believe this would stump him for long enough to have the people in the audence gasp at his stupidity.
He would probably look exactly like what he did when he was sitting in the classroom after being told about the second plane crash into the WTC.
MYOB'
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Here's a link with a close-up shot of the thingy on Bush's back.
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=321
OKAY....
Am I the only one who never saw Kerry's back...the cameraperson must have photo'd that little box on Bush's back at least 7 times by my count! WHY?
Telling us something, or trying to do so.
He can't really read, so they have to filter it thru.....really a sad ass drdruggie still. Doing cocaine while Daddy was in the White House. What yeyear was that?
That guy Bush used to be a dangerous, scary individual. But nowadays, he looks like a boozy, stoop-shouldered washed-up old punchy.
I can imagine him sitting in Moe's, mumbling into his beer about how he "coulda been a contendah".
It'd be kinda sad if it wasn't so richly deserved. He's an asshole, I reckon.
.
All people need to see are a few headlines asking the question "Did Kerry Cheat?" to come away thinking that he did.
Except the headline will be "Kerry Cheating Scandal". You have to be clear for those people who would never buy an entire newspaper.
Anyone else think that part of GW's permasmirk is a slackness in half of his face suggestive of a stroke? Is this why he's put off the physical?
Jeebus.
and remember, the retardican poobahs picked this little stoopid man to be their poster boy.
The thing about the box on Bush's back is that it makes no sense. I've worn radio mics, which would be probably similar to the setup people are suggesting in reverse (a receiver instead of a transmitter). They arre generally put at your waist becasue they arn't seen there as easily. Plus, more comfortable. Why make his ugly suit fit even more poorly if they didn't have to?
If pressed no doubt they will say its kevlar --which begs the question if our troops don't get body armor why does he -- but absent a good ear picture this seems fruitless.
As far as the "let me finish". He loves that phrase. He thinks it makes him look commanding in the face of hectoring bullies. Did anyone see that interview with the Irish journalist? He would pause so she would jump in with a followup and he would bark "let me finish" in that imperious way. He actually think that makes him look strong rather than psychotic.
You know, I don't watch any TV. None. AND I have heard John Kerry speak often. I am impressed with his ability to orate. Judging by some of the mistakes Bush has made, I've often thought : "Gee, I am intellectually competitive with the president of the United States of America!"
What surprised me, was not that Kerry did well, but that Bush did as well as he did. I was actually impressed with his ability to obfuscate, oversimplify, and create sound bites. I honestly don't think he's this capable. Even with the best training his party can afford. Unfounded conjecture is generally a bad thing, but I don't put anything past these assholes.
http://www.blah3.com/graymatter/...s/
00000942.html
Check out the following web site. It offers some pretty compelling evidence that Bush wears an earpiece during press interviews and conferences:
http://radiofreeusa.net/modules....rticle&
sid=2123
I'm not sure if he was wearing one during the debate, although it would explain the "Let Me Finish" remark perfectly.
Pansypoo:
As a Republican who supported McCain in 2000, because, well, because he wasn't the pampered twit son of a former president... I can testify to the slack-jawed horror with which I viewed my party nominating George W. My party's elite decided for whatever reason that W. was the reliable choice. Well, look what we got. Big partisan win in 2002, huge deficits, quagmire (that wasn't the Democrats' fault, thus taking away one of the enduring cheap shots used since at least Dole in '76).
And in 2004, complete implosion of the GOP. Which I heartily endorse. The Baptist mullahs must be forever cast out of the GOP, and the Confederate wingnuts too. And the neocons! When we can play "marching through Georgia" again at conventions, you'll know the job is done.
Argh.
stickler
You're talking like a republican I could respectfully disagree with in a rational way. What are you guys doing to reclaim your party?
Let Me Finish!
OK. Now I'm finished.
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An old debater's trick: when you're losing, pretend you're being interrupted.
Either that, or the voices in Dubya's head were chanting a little more loudly than usual.
Forget the earpiece thing, its a trivial distraction (or maybe an iPod). The horrific thing shown by Thursday's debate is that the President of the United States cannot think rationally when under a moderate amount of pressure. He regressed, got emotional, then paranoid and eventually incoherent. He was reduced to regurgitating fragments of dogma of which he clearly has no understanding. For his concluding statements, I was half expecting Bush to start singing, "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true..."
Now, thanks to a certain goat, we know that when under EXTREME pressure, Bush actually has a better reaction: complete paralysis. This is good, because it keeps him out of trouble. Of course, it also raises serious questions about his sanity. I would wager that a psychiatrist could make a case that Bush is not fit for office.
Imagine how the military would react to a captain of a ship or general of an army who reacted to stress in the way that George Bush does. The captain or general would be relieved of duty.
And yet...half the US population still supports this schlepper. Go figure.
I just went back and looked at the 'Let me finish' moment on the tape.
It is pretty obvious that Bush is looking down/over at Jim Lehrer as he's talking. Bush pauses for about two seconds, and Lehrer probably does something to make Bush think Lehrer is about to ask another question, which will be a question to Bush. So Bush says 'Let me finish'.
So no big mystery. No conspiracies. Except for the obvious, well documented ones, of course. (eg. WDMs, yellowcake, aluminum tubes, etc.)
Alabama: As a T-shirt slogan, "Let me finish" ...
"Let him finish ... and soon!"
You know, the idea that the handshake was a deliberate attempt to mess up his tie was funny....until I realized that these are normal people who believe this crud. They completely believe it and apparently recognize that type of behavior as "something a democrat would pull". It made me wonder how insanely paranoid a person could get. That is...until I finished reading the comments and seeing that some actually seemed to believe the earpiece theory. I could actually be misinterpreting their posts, but there are a few that seemed to completely embrace that theory. Then I remembered the whole Carl Rove theory. So, two opposing political parties are ascribing the same attributes to each other. It would seem that these stereotypes must have some sort of basis...somewhere..right? But then again, maybe it's not attributable to any particular party but merely politicians, the people we appoint to run our government, in general.
I'll be honest, politics has always scared me but the thought of Bush retaining the presidency startled me out of complacency. I was greatly heartened by the debate because Kerry completely changed my opinion. I'll no longer be voting "against Bush" but "for Kerry". I truly think Kerry won in all aspects, but I read about how he "doesn't connect" with voters. Does this really matter? If you want someone you can connect with to run the country, nominate your neighbor. I would rather have someone who has an IQ exponentially greater than mine running this country than someone I could imagine having to do the dishes after dinner on a Wednesday night. How in the world is it that Kerry's intelligence is a liability?
So, half of America wants to elect a politician to lead this country who, inherently, will not be completely honest and who is not obviously smarter than the majority of voters. Am I seriously missing something here? I really hope I am, because with what I've seen from this election, I'm not too impressed with America.
I haven't read the entire comment list, but I've seen only one person propose the "Is W colorblind?" theory.
I'd really like to know, is W colorblind? Because people with color perception deficiency AREN'T ALLOWED TO BE PILOTS.
Did anybody else hear him say "Be quiet, Lyle" in the middle of the debate?
Chris Matthews on NBC morning show. Thinks there will be a large turnout in November. Giving out what appears to me to be unbiased opinions and advice. Says Bush will do better on Friday when he has an audience to cheer him.
Stickler, I hope you're working hard to reclaim your party. Though I've never voted Republican in my life, this Democracy cannot survive without a good, sane strong Republican party.
After watching it again on the c-span link(foward to 40:1
, it looks like he pointed toward Lehrer when he said "let me finish". Most likely Lehrer made some face and he was just reacting to that. Even so, I think he's only a few strawberries away from going Captain Queeg.
I hate to defend the man, but Bush wasn't confused when he mentioned September 10. He refers to a "September 10 mentality" as a way of underscoring how policies that worked prior to 9/11 are no longer appropriate. - Susan
The ironic thing is that when neo-cons and BushCO use this phrase, they usually are justifying a policy that is very much 9/10, so to speak - for example, on 9/11 we learned the threat of terrorists who are not really state sponsored (unless you consider the Taliban "ran" failed state of Afghanistan a state-sponsor). And yet, the neo-cons say that those of us who are more concerned about stateless terrorists than, say, Iraq, are deemed to be the ones stuck with a pre-9/11 mentality? 'Course, we are the ones who were concerned with stateless terrorists from the get-go while the neo-con crowd remained obsessed with cold-war thinking. So maybe all this "pre-9/11" talk is really a backhanded compliment to those of us who "got it" pre-9/11?
Anyway, what GWB said was "pre-9/10". Probably was a slip-up ... he conflated "pre-9/11" with "so 9/10". Still, if you wear a tinfoil hat, you might question whether GWB learned that the 9/11 attacks would go down on 9/11 the day before - so that is why 9/10 was stuck in his head rather than 9/11.
i'm sure preznit "blotchy the drunk" here's those words, let me finish, from the lovely pickles "the pot head", if you know what i mean.
don't know if anyone else mentioned this but i think it's something he does to play to the public, his public that is. it's a ruse, and he's playing at being the tough guy who's hard done by. he wants your average Joe at home to think that that egghead pbs guy is trying to cut him off.
Check this out, for a good sample of times Bush has done this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=...t+me+finish!%
22
Saying, "let me finish" is clearly a way of making it sound to TV viewers as if he's being pressed by an incourteous interviewer, in order to justify his giving angry and/or inarticulate answers to straightforward questions about his policies.
His doing this was obviously only theater at Thursday's debate--when we could all see his timing lights--but he was counting on its not being obvious to TV viewers, since the camera was on his face and not Jim Lehrer's (which I would love to have been able to see at that moment).
It's rather like those congressmen who used to give 'speeches' on C-SPAN to the empty House chamber during 'special orders.' Bush is pretty tough, and eloquent, when there's no one there with him--or at least when all potential critics have been excluded or arrested, as with all his rallies.
I think it comes down to two possibilities:
1) The Shrub had an earpiece, contravening the agreed rules of the debate.
2) He has low-level Tourette's Syndrome and displayed a vocal tic.
...and no, I'm not joking. I seriously believe it's one or the other.
Why, George W. Bush was talking/listening to God, silly. And Bush was essentially telling God to shut up so he could finish his thought.
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