Home > The Bush Bulge, the Grossly Incompetent Media and the Complicit Kerry Campaign

The Bush Bulge, the Grossly Incompetent Media and the Complicit Kerry Campaign

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 23 October 2004
28 comments

Edito Elections-Elected

by Margaret Whitman

This is what I don’t understand. Doesn’t cheating in a debate warrant an investigation? Shouldn’t we be concerned that president might not be able to speak for himself? We have all seen the obvious bulge in Bush’s jacket at the debates by now and have heard the silly excuses from the white house and Bush campaign. To see Bush’s actions in the first debate only confirm what everyone was already thinking. The man is listening to someone and repeating afterward. No one in.... my life anyway...pauses at....weird times in.....the middle of a sentence. Can you imagine how irritated you would get at a dinner party if someone spoke like that?

Something seems to be missing though. Shouldn’t there be a follow up? Isn’t that the job of the media? Everyone has heard that Theresa Kerry said Laura Bush hasn’t had a real job, and John Kerry said Dick Cheney’s daughter is gay, but that seems more like gossip than news. How is it possible they can just laugh off a rectangular box in the presidents jacket and blatantly deny the obvious? Our president is wearing an earpiece and cannot speak for himself. The emperor has no clothes. This man is the leader of the free world and look at what he has done since he has been in office. Look at what he has done! The world is frightened of US. I am frightened of US. We have taken the moral low ground and are about to plunge of the cliff. The Bush admininistration could never have acomplished any of this without the complicity and incompetence of the media. By now everyone knows that our media has been lying, and now we are learning to what extent they will go to cover for Bush.

But what about the Kerry campaign? It seems if the situation were reversed, Karl Rove would be running ads with Kerry’s silly pauses and blank stares. Rove would have run an ad with Kerry saying ’I...I uh ...let me finish’ and pointed out the fact that no one was interrupting him. In other words, If Kerry were a bumbling idiot who couldn’t speak coherently even with a wire for help, would Rove let that go or would that be the deciding event of the election?

It is absurd that neither the incompetent media nor the complicit Kerry campaign is bothering to ask questions about the obvious. Shouldn’t the president cheating in the debate be of concern? We know that the media has been lying to support the Bush administration’s evil doings but now the Kerry campaign? How can they let this go with the polls being neck and neck? By now we have all felt that there is so much more Kerry could be saying to take down the Bush administration. It almost seems like John Kerry is protecting his ole fraternity brother. Why isn’t he as concerned about removing this administration from power as the rest of us?

It’s time for Americans to demand some answers.

Forum posts

  • I totally agree with the above assesment. I have been involved inthe campaign to pressure the media, and I am not going to let up even after this election is over. They are complicet in this cover-up.

  • Thank you for covering this...

    • We Americans are fearful of speaking out. This administration has literally taken away the freedom of speech through local bullies. Often driven out of small communities, the one who does not jump on the bandwagon is forced to move away. Various means of threats, and carry through, allow the base of supporters to use dirty tricks on the families. I t is against our ’Bill of Rights", a legal avenue to assure balance in society. Still the public closes its eyes, and ears. Thank You for your site.

  • Why should we trust the media about anything? Does anyone really trust the polls? How can we trust them to cover what might be another election theft?

    relevant earpiece audio and evidence here
    http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=3778

  • Of course, no one has figured out the real story: Bush has been using the earpiece and transponder essentially forever — maybe even since his days campaigning for TX governor. Someone out of view feeds him lines, which is why he has that characteristic speach, with a phrase, a pause, then another phrase.

    What happened in the first debate is that Bush’s crew was blind-sided. They had always hidden the transponder in the podium beforehand, but they discovered they couldn’t get away with that, so in a panic they stuck it to his back with tape. During the debate it felt like it was slipping, and it wouldn’t be good to have the thing fall out of your jacket during the debate, so Bush leaned forward and kept his coat tight to prevent it from slipping. Probably the transponder worked fine, but Bush was so flustered by the whole process that he had trouble following the lines he was being fed.

    In the later debate the transponder was either hidden in the podium or more effectively concealed on Bush’s person.

    • I think that in the first debate they only filled him in with names - and saw that that had catastrophic consequences...then with the second they fed him full sentences (probably as always) and he did a lot better. Maybe they, knowing that it is not acceptable to the rules, didn´t want to go full-force the first time, letting him "free-fall" and hoping that he´d do better than he did. Just a theory, we´ll probably never know what happened. But the longest pauses were for names and then suddenly he blurted out even the prime minister of Poland´s! Wow! What an accomplishment in itsself for George W. Bush!
      We´ve gotta keep on this. Shame on the media and shame on the campaign of John Kerry! And thank all who haven´t given up and keep us informed so that we can keep others informed.

    • The bulge was obvious in the other debate

  • In the press conference with Chirac (http://philbrittin.com/news/news.php) the voice preceding Bush’s says, says “I look forward to working with President Chirac” while Bush repeats, “I look working...look forward to working with President Chirac.” This proves it was not some sort of technical echo. So, Bush has used an audio prompter in the past. Not a problem for a speech but it is a problem for a debate. It’s called cheating. By the way, maybe Bush’s poor performance in the first debate was due to a malfunction of the audio (static?). That might explain his frowns!

  • This man leader of the so-called free world? Oh dear, poor "free" world of such an idiot tries to speak for it (but he cannot, exccept for his redneck lovers)

  • LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD!!!!!!

    FREE FOR EVERYONE TO USE AS A CAMPAIGN POSTER FOR OUR CAUSE...

    http://img33.exs.cx/img33/3244/Bulge_poster.jpg

    If you want a bigger / smaller version, just let me know and I’ll post it.

  • I am amazed at how many "liberals" are willing to write off Kerry’s mention during the debate that Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian. A cheap, tatseless attempt to win points with the voters. As Margaret herself says, it is really gossip. So why’s it being brought up in a debate.

    Go Ralph!
    Vote Nader!

    Greg Stricherz

    • Uh.....What’s that got to do with an object strapped to the president’s back?

    • Cheney himself has talked about his daughter’s sexual orientation publicly. Edwards mentioned it in the debate and Cheney thanked him. If they really accepted her they wouldn’t be embarassed. They just used this as another excuse to attack John Kerry. Actually, more people are talking about her sexual orientation as a result of the fuss they made, so who’s really to blame for subjecting her sex life to public exposure?

  • Haha this is the funniest thing I have heard in a while. Don’t agree with the man? Say it...but lets not accuse him of stupid stunts like this. Geezus, I have heard some out there stories...but never any this far gone.

    As a friend of mine said : "Next thing we will hear is that he was being fed lines from Space Aliens!" LOL Come on now...

    • Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

      You are the only one who is actually making sense so far.

      People often blame media for telling lies but never take the time to look at what they are saying themselves. We speak what felt right for us or what we believe in, but not often support our statements through facts.

      You can’t just go off blaming Bush because you think he is cheating, there is nothing supporting that!!!! Again, you are only saying this because you don’t like Bush.
      As citizens, our job is to look at both side equally, not being a hard head who support just one group.

      My theory: Go Neutralism!!!

    • So, if Bush isn’t cheating, just what do you think that is on his back? If you say a wrinkle you’d better look again. That’s no wrinkle in 20 different photos.

    • I beg to disagree with your misleading and innaccurate statement:

      First of all, this is not a pro-Kerry / anti-Bush issue. It is, rather, an issue about upholding the concept of "transparency" in American democracy.

      Here are the FACTS:

      1. The President was clearly wearing a rectangular object strapped to his back on multiple occasions during the PAST YEAR. He wore it in all three debates and he wore it before these debates took place.

      2. They have denied that it exists. The official response, after initially brushing the questions off with jokes, is that it was a "wrinkle". Judge for yourself whether you think that this was a "wrinkle":

      http://img33.exs.cx/img33/3244/Bulge_poster.jpg
      or
      http://img81.exs.cx/img81/606/Debunk_vs_Real.jpg

      3. The media will not continue to ask the basic question: "What is it?"

      THESE ARE FACTS.

      Now, our statement is this:

      Because of the facts above, there are 2 possiblilities which may be serious issues for the U.S. electorate to consider:

      A. The president may have a serious health problem (fuelled by his postponement of his August medical until after the election) (also, fuelled by the existence of portable "defibrillator")

      B. The president of the free world may be a cheat. The most powerful man in the world may not be able to hold his own when discussing his own policies, when faced with opposition — one on one.

      If you have any other CREDIBLE theories — PLEASE — post them here. And yes, these are "theories". We are aware of that. Noone is suggesting that either A or B is 100% conclusive (another myth being spread by the mainstream media).

      These are RELEVANT issues which should now be discussed by the U.S. electorate — Democrat, Republican or Undecided.

      BTW, check out a straw poll at:
      http://cgi.doonesbury.com/cgi-bin/view_poll.cgi

      Yeah, really looks like an issue pushed by just one group. Democrats, Republicans, & "Others" ALL feel that something is rotten.

      You are simply wrong to assert that this is being pushed by biased individuals. These issues ARE SUPPORTED BY FACTS.

      I, myself, have been very active in discussing this important issue with others. Guess what?! I am not even a U.S. Citizen. American democracy is becoming a joke, and I, as a citizen in a free country, am not happy about that.

    • I am not from America either.

      According to what you said: The most powerful man in the world = The President
      This would mean that Bush have nothing to loose, along as you are president or formally president, you are set for life, why would anyone want to cheat when they have nothing to loose? Certainly, Bush have nothing to loose, he could retire right now and still go down in the history book with honor. I mean come on, why do he have to cheat, and if he did cheat, people could still get the rights to search him, like choice B had stated, if Bush had done this more than once before, how come it was never reported before untill now.
      I believe it would have been obvious to media if someone was cheating, that someone is on national television for millions to see after all. A person have to smart enough to know that and know not to cheat to be running for president.
      Again, there might be million of possibility of what that thing was on his back. But a device use for cheating is not one of them, no one is dumb enough to do that.

      Sorry if I had sounded misleading, but many people in America do have issues about being a die hard fan for each side.

  • I would not disagree about the media being too reticent and not asking harder questions.
    However, where was the outrage and accusations of not doing a proper job when the reporters were "imbedded" in the invasion? The complete so-called "coverage" was an absence of "reporting" and could be compared with soviet press coverage of the second world war.
    Neither the public or critical institutions criticized this most questionable practice. When a journalist depends on the subject he is reporting about to provide for his safety and preserve his life, you can be sure objectivity goes out the window. The media also swallowed many propoganda stories from the Pentagon hook, line and sinker. Now we hear about stockpiles of weapons that have disappeared in Iraq.
    That this president depends on others to speak for him should not at this point surprise anyone. A button in one´s ear is not really news. All the other aspects of this presidency however, are news. No one from the media has directly and continually asked the former president Bush his views on his son´s presidency, the man would simply not be able to speak the truth. There are many unanswered questions, the box on Bush´s back should be one of them. One day, a retired sound technican will probably clear it up.

    • I agree. The U.S. media did not do it’s job in the run up to the war. 1000’s of lives have been lost due to this failure.

      The "bulge" story is simply more evidence that the U.S. media will not change their ways. It is a travesty, really. What’s so disheartening is the fact that so many Americans are indifferent about their "democracy" becoming the joke of the world. When this has global implications, noone seems to laugh, though.

      The "bulge" story was a special case.

      It was an unambiguous litmus test for the state of U.S. journalism. Never was the evidence so clear for them to go after — it wasn’t a partisan issue; there was no "big picture" to think about. All you needed were 2 eyes, a microphone and a question, "WHAT IS IT? What was that rectangular object on the President’s back?"

      Tim Russert was the only one I noticed that asked a follow-up question when the Republican campaign spokesperson brushed the question off with a joke. He wasn’t tough on the follow-up, though. He let it slide.

      U.S. Journalists blew it . They blew the easiest of stories to cover. How can you as Americans ever trust them again.

      It’s time to subscribe to broadband ASAP. If you already have it, do a search on Google the next time the journalist fail to do their job. You’ll find some interesting facts that you weren’t aware of. Facts from people who actually care to get at the truth — without having a paycheck as motivation.

  • This is America, if one candidate doesn’t cheat the other will. Kennedy cheated, Johnson cheated, George H Bush stole Jimmy carters notes before the debate with Reagan so Reagan cheated, Clinton Cheated, he had a soul and was running for office that just isn’t fair. Bush cheated in oh so many ways in 2000. His brother is Governor of Florida, the head of his Campaign was the vote counter for florida and his cousin runs fox news who Declared him Winner!

    He’s the best cheater of all.

    Just a hint for the rest of the world. America’s a HUGE lie.

    Us Citizens don’t run dick anymore.

    Can I move in with you?

  • http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6198935/#041011c

    • The RSBB Society - Don’t be ashamed! It happens all the time!!!

      Thanks to the President of the United States, this secretive, rarely talked-about issue has come to the forefront. A problem only fringe, underground dry-cleaners knew about.

      The rectangular shirt back-bulge (a.k.a. RSBB)

      "I don’t know what that is," Bush said. "I mean, it is — I’m embarrassed to say it’s a poorly tailored shirt."

      – President Bush, Good Morning America - October 27, 2004.

      http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/102604-campaign2004-bushbulge.html

      Rectangular shirt bulge wearers UNITE!!!! We now have a world leader as a spokesperson!!!

      Discuss the issue HERE!!! Don’t be "embarrassed" anymore!

      – voice support for Bush coming out on this subject.
      – Do YOU have a name for your rectangular shirt back-bulge?
      – How can we help those with RSBB?

      Let the world know your story.