Ohio Voters: Pay Attention!

For a few months now, you can see my dear home state is shaping up to be worse than anything we saw in the 2000 elections. Here is a list of bullshit the GOP is pulling on Ohio voters. Most of the tricks reside in my district, Franklin County.

Twelve ways Bush is now stealing the Ohio vote
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
October 27, 2004

The Republican "November Surprise" to steal the 2004 election is in full force here in Ohio. With polls showing a dead heat, the GOP is staging an all-out attack on a fair vote count in the Buckeye State.

Here are a dozen ways they're doing it:

* Under an archaic Ohio law, both the Republican and Democratic Parties, or any slate of five candidates, may embed official election challengers inside polling places. The New York Times reported on Oct. 23 that the Republican Party intends to place thousands of lawyers and other GOP faithfuls inside the polls to challenge voters. Republican insiders confide here that the key goal is to jam lines and frustrate new voters. The GOP apparently figures many voters in key Democratic precincts won't wait in line more than 15 minutes to vote. This is certain to be a major tactic in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County and other Democratic strongholds. The GOP is not planning to challenge voters in Republican districts.

* The Republican party has sent letters challenging thousands of Franklin County students who are registered to vote absentee. Franklin County is home to Columbus, the state's largest city and its capitol. Though it is also home to Ohio State University, thousands of local students go to schools outside the county or state. The GOP apparently does not want their votes counted. This unprecedented mass challenge has prompted the Franklin County Board of Elections, whose director is a conservative Republican, to reserve the large Veterans Memorial Auditorium downtown to process the challenges this Thursday, as John Kerry comes to town with Bruce Springsteen. The County has told thousands of students that if they don't appear in Columbus to answer the GOP challenges, they may lose their right to vote.

* The Franklin County Board of Elections has called or written an undetermined number of voters who obtained absentee ballots, challenging their addresses. In at least one case, after a series of angry phone calls, the Board admitted there was nothing wrong with the address in question and re-instated voting rights. The voter in question was a registered Democrat. His wife, an independent at the same address, was not challenged. It is unclear how many others have been wrongly knocked out.

* Even if they are counted, Franklin County's absentee ballot forms are rigged in ways strikingly reminiscent of those in Florida 2000. On many absentee forms, Kerry is listed third on the list of presidential candidates. But the actual number you punch for Kerry is "4." If you punch "3" you've just voted for Bush. Sound familiar?

* Franklin County's right wing Elections Director is insisting on e-voting machines which have malfunctioned in at least two Congressional elections, and which have no paper trail. The November issues of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics Magazines ran the following headlines on their covers, respectively: "E-vote emergency: And you thought dimpled chads were bad'" and "Could hackers tilt the election?" Vigorous protests against the paperless machines have been staged here, but many will be used, rendering a meaningful recount impossible.

* In four other Ohio counties, the notorious Diebold company, whose CEO Wally O'Dell has pledged to deliver Ohio's votes to Bush, will provide the e-voting machines to count votes without any paper trail while using proprietary "secret" software. O'Dell lives in the wealthy Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington and is a major Bush donor.

* Twenty GOP-dominated Ohio counties have given wrong information to former felons about their voter eligibility. In Hamilton County, home of Cincinnati and the Republican Taft family, officials told numerous former felons that a judge had to sign off before they could vote, which is blatantly false.

* Franklin County, which normally cancels 2-300 registered voters a year for felony convictions, has sent at least 3500 cancellation letters to both current felons and ex-felons whose convictions date back to 1998. The list includes numerous citizens who were charged with felonies but convicted only of misdemeanors.

* Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has reversed a long-standing Ohio practice and is barring voters from casting provisional ballots within their county if they are registered to vote but there's been a mistake about where they are expected to cast their ballot. In this year's spring primaries, Blackwell allowed voters to cast provisional ballots by county, even if they were in the wrong precinct. But this fall, such voters will have to leave the wrong precinct and find their way to the right one. Blackwell hopes to succeed Republican Bob Taft as governor, and has labored hard to install e-voting machines with no paper trail, to give the statewide contract to Diebold, and to take a long series of steps apparently designed to help hand Ohio to George W. Bush. Blackwell is being widely compared to the infamous Katherine Harris, who handed Florida to George W. Bush in 2000 and was rewarded with a safe Congressional seat.

* The Columbus Dispatch (which has endorsed Bush) and WVKO Radio have both documented phone calls from people impersonating Board of Elections workers and directing registered voters to different and incorrect polling sites. One individual was falsely told not to vote at the polling station across the street from his house, but at a "new" site, four miles away. Under Blackwell's new rules, such a vote would not be counted.

* In Cincinnati, some 150,000 voters were moved from active to inactive status within the last four years for not voting in the last two federal elections. This is not required under Ohio law, but is an option allowed and exercised by the Republican-dominated Hamilton County Board of Elections.

* Secretary of State Blackwell ruled that any voter registration form on other than 80-pound weight bond paper would not be accepted. This is an old law left over from pre-scanning days. Many voters who had registered on lighter paper, had their registration returned, even though the forms had been officially sanctioned by local election boards.

No Republican has ever won the presidency without carrying Ohio. This year the GOP seems determined to win it, no matter what they have do to the electoral process.

The Free Press

9/11 Widow Shares Her Story

October 19, 2004
9/11 Widow Shares Her Story in Latest Kerry Ad
For Immediate Release

Watch the Ad: "Ever Since"

Washington, DC - 9/11 widow Kristen Breitweiser is featured in the latest Kerry-Edwards television ad. Titled “Ever Since,” the ad shows Breitweiser talking about the reasons she is supporting John Kerry for president over her 2000 choice, George W. Bush.

AD SCRIPT
Narrator: My husband, Ron, was killed on September 11th. I’ve spent the last three years trying to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again. I fought for the 9/11 Commission, something George W. Bush, the man my husband Ron and I voted for, didn’t think was necessary. And during the Commission hearings we learned the truth, we are no safer today. I want to look in my daughter’s eyes and know that she is safe, and that is why I am voting for John Kerry.

John Kerry: I’m John Kerry and I approve this message.

JUST THE FACTS
Kristen Breitweiser: My husband, Ron, was killed on September 11th. I’ve spent the last three years trying to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again.

Kristen Breitweiser, Like Her Husband Ron, Voted For George W. Bush in 2000. Far from being any kind of activist, she didn't know her Congressman's name before Sept. 11, 2001, the day her husband died on the 92th floor of the World Trade Center's Tower 2. But she knows her way around politics now…. As she has on countless talk shows, she described her fight to get the White House to appoint a commission to investigate the 9/11 attacks. Bush, she said, agreed only after the Senate voted 90 to 8 in favor of it. "We gave every opportunity to President Bush to do the right thing," said Breitweiser, a high-profile widow whose presence on the campaign trail is designed to project the message that women can count on Democrats to protect their kids. [TIME, 10/11/04]

Kristen Breitweiser: I fought for the 9/11 Commission, something George W. Bush, the man my husband Ron and I voted for, didn’t think was necessary.

Bush Stonewalled The Independent 9-11 Commission At Every Possible Turn. Bush opposed an independent inquiry into 9/11, arguing it would duplicate a probe conducted by Congress. He finally agreed to support an independent investigation into the 9/11 attacks after “the congressional committees unearthed more and more examples of intelligence lapses.” Bush then fought the extension of the 9-11 Commission, and refused to provide it with the funding it needed. He subsequently tried to limit amount of time the commission would have to testimony from himself, and tried to prevent Condelezza Rice from having to testify under oath. [Statement of Administration Policy, Executive Office of the President, 7/24/02; Los Angeles Times, 11/28/02; Los Angeles Times, 11/28/02; [New York Times, 1/28/04; White House Press Briefing, 1/27/04, emphasis added; Washington Post, 3/27/03; Associated Press, 2/28/04; 3/9/04; Washington Post, 3/26/04]

Pressure From Democrats, 9-11 Families Forced Bush To Change Position on 9-11 Commission. On September 21, 2002, the New York Times reported, “The White House gave in today to growing Congressional demands for an independent investigation of last year’s terrorist attacks, setting the stage for a comprehensive inquiry into the failures and vulnerabilities that made the hijackings possible. The reversal surprised some Republican lawmakers because the White House had opposed such a panel for months…” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the reversal was due to pressure from 9-11 families: “The administration has met with some of the families of the 9/11 groups who have talked about the need for a commission to look into a host of issues, and they have made compelling arguments.” [NYT, 9/21/02]

9-11 Widows “Fought Hard” For An Independent Commission. “They are known as the "Jersey Girls" - widows who lost their husbands on Sept. 11 and found a mission. "I don't want anyone to know what it's like to watch your husband burn alive on television," Kristen Breitweiser told CBS News Correspondent Mika Brzezinski. After the attacks they fought hard for an independent investigation, showing up in Washington on a regular basis. They wanted to know why so many government agencies failed to stop the 9/11 hijackers. "Two years out and there still seems to be a shroud of secrecy," she said.” [CBS, 7/24/03]
Kristen Breitweiser: And during the Commission hearings we learned the truth, we are no safer today.

Commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton: “A critical theme that emerged throughout our inquiry was the difficulty of answering the question: Who is in charge?” “Who oversees the massive integration and unity of effort necessary to keep America safe? … Too often, the answer is no one.” [New York Times, 7/23/2004]

Bush Has Failed To Produce An Integrated Terrorist Watchlist, The “Most Basic Tool” Of Efforts To Catch Terrorists And “Vital For Protecting The Country.” “The Inspector General of the Homeland Security Department, in the sometimes scathing report, cites poor cooperation among many agencies and says his own agency failed "to play a lead role" in oversight. Compiling a viable, unified list of terrorist suspects was mandated by Congress and ordered by President Bush after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Such a list is considered by law-enforcement agents as the most basic tool in their arsenal and vital for protecting the country. …[F]rom the Federal Aviation Administration to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, continue to use different lists that sometimes contain outdated or incorrect information and even contradict each other. That can hamper the sharing of vital data and identifying of suspects -- and make it easier for terrorists to slip through cracks in the system, officials say.” [Wall Street Journal, 10/1/04]

Our Borders Porous: 9/11 Commission Report Found That US-VISIT Only Tracks Small Percentage Of Non-Citizen Border Crossers. The 9/11 commission's report found that the Department of Homeland Security’s current traveler screening system - known as US VISIT - covers only 12 percent of all noncitizens crossing U.S. borders and may not be fully installed before 2010. [National Journal, 7/30/04]

9-11 Commission: Bush Administration Has Failed To Combat Terrorist Financing And Coordinate Counterterrorism Efforts. “The report reserved the bulk of its criticism for the government's performance before Sept. 11, 2001. But it was also critical of several high-profile Bush initiatives adopted since the attacks to try to combat terrorist financing and to coordinate counterterrorism. Specifically, it questioned the effectiveness of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, a repository of specialists from the FBI, CIA and Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The report found the center and counterterrorism units of each of the agencies were duplicating work and spreading such assets as analysts and translators too thin. The report also criticizes U.S. efforts to halt terrorist financing since the attacks. The commission found that efforts to designate terrorist financiers and freeze their assets, in the United States and through the United Nations, have been ineffective. The intelligence agencies have had trouble linking individuals directly to terrorist groups, and the administration has had difficulty persuading foreign countries to fully cooperate, it said.” [The Baltimore Sun July 23, 2004]

Bush Has Left U.S. Ports Under-funded, Un-inspected, And Susceptible To Terrorism. For the first three fiscal years following 9/11, Bush requested $0 for port security. His Fiscal Year 2005 request was only $46 million, far short of the $150 million Congress has just appropriated, and vastly short of what is necessary to secure our ports. Nearly seven million cargo containers arrive in America’s 361 ports each year and only 5 percent of those containers are screened. Even a minor attack on America’s ports could shut down commerce for a month, yet Bush’s 2005 budget calls for a 63 percent reduction in port security grant funds. The 9/11 Commission highlighted port security as one area that needs more federal support. [Senate Democrat Policy Committee, 9/14/04; Boston Globe, 6/21/03; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 8/01/04; www.omb.gov; House Select Committee on Homeland Security Democrats, America at Risk, pg. 10; Traffic World, 9/27/04]

Bio-Terror Attack Likely Yet America Still “Woefully Ill-Equipped.” “Scientists and biotechnology specialists still think the nation is woefully ill-equipped to handle a more sophisticated…terrorist attack using newer bioengineered germs or other unanticipated pathogens, according to the report by the Baltimore-based Center for Biosecurity…The lack of vaccines for SARS and the West Nile virus as well as the nation's difficulty in manufacturing large quantities of flu vaccine are seen as early signs of the potential problem. A major contributing factor is that the nation's system for developing drugs and vaccines operates on a peace-time pace, requiring 10 years on average to produce new products, the report states. The survey found nearly unanimous agreement that a biological terrorist attack is likely in the United States.” [Baltimore Sun, 10/13/04]

Recent Evaluation Of Airport Security-Undercover Investigators Able To Sneak Explosives and Weapons Past Security Screeners at 15 Major Airports. Undercover investigators were able to sneak explosives and weapons past security screeners at 15 airports nationwide, according to a government report on aviation security. The government watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security, Clark Kent Ervin, delivered the results of the tests in a classified report to members of Congress. "The performance was poor," said Ervin, the department's inspector general, in releasing a less detailed version Wednesday. [USA TODAY, 9/23/04]

The Nation’s Airports Are Short On Funds To Improve Baggage Screening. The National Journal reports “the overwhelming majority of airports nationwide need more federal funding to install advanced baggage screening systems, and almost two dozen still fail to meet a congressional mandate to electronically screen all baggage. At this pace, only 18 of the nation's 440 commercial airports will have installed in-line baggage screening systems by 2006. [National Journal, 7/14/04]

Bush Has Bowed To Special Interests And Has Failed to Secure Chemical Plants. There are over a 100 chemical plants that could threaten more than one million nearby residents, and 7,728 chemical plants where an attack could endanger more than 1,000 – yet Bush decided in 2002 to drop chemical plant security regulations, a major victory for chemical manufacturers. Three years after 9/11, there are still no federally required security measures for chemical facilities; any security measures are taken on a strictly voluntary basis. [www.govexec.com; Senate Democrats Homeland Security Committee; http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-doc.cfm?doc_name=fs-108-2-240; GAO, 01-3233, 2/03; Wall Street Journal, 8/20/04; Senate Testimony of Frank Libutti 3/04; Washington Post, 8/5/02; House Testimony by Ridge on 9/21/04]

Nuclear Regulatory Official Found That Nuclear Plans Exhibited “Significant Weakness” In 46% Of Mock Attacks, Yet 3 Years After 9/11, Congress Acted To Reduce Threat At Nuclear Power Plants. The NRC security official who conducted these tests found “a significant weakness” in armed response during 37 out of 81 mock attacks, or 46 percent of the time. He also found that mock attackers were able to take actions “which would lead to core damage and in many cases, to a probable radioactive release.” Three years after 9/11, Congress still has not enacted any legislation to reduce the terrorist threat at nuclear power plants, and the Bush appointees at the NRC have teamed up with the nuclear industry to resist stronger safety standards. [Public Citizen, “Homeland Unsecured,” 10/18/04]

Kristen Breitweiser: I want to look in my daughter’s eyes and know that she is safe, and that is why I am voting for John Kerry.

John Kerry Will More Effectively Secure The Homeland

John Kerry and John Edwards Have A Plan To Win The War On Terror By:

Transforming America’s Military and Intelligence Capabilities to Win the War on Terror. John Kerry will ensure that our military is fully prepared to meet the new security challenges by expanding our active duty forces by 40,000 soldiers so that we have enough troops to take the fight to the terrorists wherever they are; and doubling America’s Special Forces capability and increasing other specialized personnel who are trained and equipped to destroy terrorists. He will act immediately on the 9-11 Commission recommendations and reform our intelligence services to better prevent terrorist attacks, including: creating a National Intelligence Director with real control over personnel and budgets throughout the intelligence community; reorganizing the intelligence community around issue-oriented task forces to maximize coordination and efficiency in addressing the greatest threats we face; strengthening human intelligence by doubling the CIA’s overseas clandestine personnel; and ensuring an independent domestic intelligence capability within the FBI. [Kerry-Edwards Plan to Win the War on Terror, press release, 9/24/04]

Stepping Up Aviation Security By Improving Screening of Cargo and Passengers for Explosives. Instead of the current “Known Shipper” program, which screens a tiny fraction of the cargo on passenger planes, the Kerry-Edwards plan will significantly improve the screening of cargo carried on passenger planes by installing the equipment to check passengers for explosives and to screen cargo just like we screen baggage. The plan will also undertake additional security improvements that experts have called for, such as tightening background checks for employees of carriers.
Defending against Bio-Terrorism. Kerry-Edwards will: (1) make the investments America’s public health system needs to detect bioterrorist threats to our communities, and that our hospitals and emergency rooms need to respond to bioterrorism; (2) improve the capability for our health system to develop and implement distribution plans for vaccines; (3) lead efforts to increase and improve our stockpiles of medicines; and (4) expedite development of new vaccines.[ http://www.johnkerry.com/pdf/pr_2004_0924_2.pdf]

Securing America’s Ports and Borders. John Kerry will work with allies in Canada and Mexico as well as other trade partners to make commerce security measures more effective in order to keep commerce flowing while keeping terrorists out. He will make sure America has the Customs and Border agents and inspectors necessary to secure the over 7 million containers sent to the US annually. Kerry will ensure our borders have the trained personnel and vital equipment to increase security of our frontiers. And a Kerry administration will ensure that we create an effective and integrated terrorist watch list accessible to everyone who needs it, including agents along our borders and cops on our streets.

Implementing Strong, Mandatory Protections for Chemical Security. As president, John Kerry will identify high-priority chemical plants where a terrorist attack could cause massive loss of life and require measures to beef up security. Kerry would require adequate physical security around these plants, such as security forces, fencing, vehicle barriers, and surveillance equipment and the use of less dangerous chemicals and technologies whenever practicable.

Ensuring That Our First Responders Are Equipped To Respond to Any Attack. The Kerry-Edwards plan will provide direct assistance to our police officers and firefighters to ensure that they have the communications systems, protective gear, and manpower they need to protect our communities. It will also modernize our emergency warning system to provide localized warnings, treat the fighters on the frontlines as partners, and provide all Americans with the information they need.

Stepping Up Rail and Subway Security. As president, John Kerry will lead DHS in developing and implementing security guidelines in partnership with local and regional transit systems. John Kerry will make new investments of more than $2 billion to protect our mass transit systems and improve the security of our rail systems, including the purchase of more surveillance equipment, security personnel, chemical and biological detectors, and necessary measures for high-threat areas around vital bridges and tunnels.

Keeping Terrorists From Acquiring Nuclear Materials. Kerry will safeguard nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union within four years by making the effort a cornerstone of U.S.-Russian relations. He will lead an international coalition for a verifiable global ban on production of material for new nuclear weapons, and stop the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons and accelerate reductions in the US and Russian nuclear arsenals. [John Kerry, 6/1/04]


Paid for and authorized by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.

Kerry/Bush Debate: Round Three!

The candidates enter round three in Tempe, Arizona.



Kerry scores yet again, in another bruising round!

Bush's Bulge Pt 4

The bulge returns
As this screen shot from the Wednesday night debate indicates, the Bush mystery will not disappear
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Farhad Manjoo

Oct. 13, 2004 | Salon looked hard for evidence of the president's mystery bulge this evening, but for much of the debate, on the ABC feed we screened, Bush's back remained out of view. At the end, though, as the president crossed the stage to thank his opponent, we caught this glimpse of something strange pushing out of the commander-in-chief's tailored coat. Is it part of an in-ear prompting device? Is it a back brace? Body armor? Confirmation that Bush is an an alien? The mystery deepens....


salon.com

Bush's Bulge Pt 3

Left: President Bush drives his pickup truck at his Crawford, Texas, ranch in August 2002. Right: Bush gestures toward John Kerry during the presidential debate in St. Louis last Friday.

Technical expert: Bush was wired
A Bush spokesman tells Salon there is nothing to the story. But as the final presidential debate looms, speculation grows about the mysterious bulge.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Dave Lindorff

Oct. 13, 2004 | Speculation continues to run wild about President Bush's mystery bulge. Since Friday, when Salon first raised questions about the rectangular bulge that was visible under Bush's suit coat during the presidential debates, many observers in the press and on the Internet have wondered aloud whether the verbally and factually challenged president might be receiving coaching via a hidden electronic device.

Now a technical expert who designs and makes such devices for the U.S. military and private industry tells Salon that he believes the bulge is indeed a transceiver designed to receive electronic signals and transmit them to a hidden earpiece lodged in Bush's ear canal.

"There's no question about it. It's a pretty obvious one -- larger than most because it probably has descrambling capability," said Alex Darbut, technical and business development vice president for Resistance Technology in Arden Hills, Minn. Darbut examined photographs of the president's back taken from the Fox News video feed at the first presidential debate in Coral Gables, Fla., as well as 2002 photos of the president driving and working in a T-shirt on his Crawford ranch, which were posted on the White House Web site.

Darbut speculates that the device the president wears is provided by the Secret Service, noting, "They're not going to have him driving around the countryside on his ranch without being in instant contact with him."

No one in the White House or Bush campaign, however, has offered such an explanation. In fact, the Bush camp has shed little light on the mysterious protuberance, turning aside questions with dismissive humor or rising tones of exasperation. The president is "a regular guy," White House chief of staff Andy Card told Salon before the second debate last week. "Maybe his suit had a little lump in it or something." Campaign spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish took the same line with the New York Times on Saturday: "It was most likely a rumpling of that portion of his suit jacket, or a wrinkle in the fabric." But Devenish, the Times dryly noted, "could not say why the 'rumpling' was rectangular." Campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel brushed aside a questioner in a Washington Post chat session by saying, "I think you've been spending a little too much time on conspiracy Web sites."

On Tuesday, in response to repeated questions from Salon, the Bush camp finally issued a flat denial. Campaign spokesman Reed Dickens denied that Bush has ever used an electronic device to aid his public speaking, insisting the president was wearing "nothing during the debates." When asked about the pictures taken at the Bush ranch, Dickens said the president has never used any devices except for cutting tools and earplugs to protect his ears from the high-decibel chainsaw. Nor has the Secret Service outfitted Bush with a hidden communications device, according to Dickens: "He doesn't need something like that because the Secret Service is always with him. They ride in the truck in the back. Wherever he goes, they're with him."
Despite the official denials, the bulge brouhaha is still ballooning. On Tuesday, the New York Daily News produced a master tailor named Frank Shattuck who, after viewing photos from both debates, confirmed, "There's definitely something there, in between the shoulder blades. I can't say what it is, but it's not hidden very well. They should have come to me. I can hide a pistol under the breast."

In Orlando, Florida, TV station WFTV polled its viewers, asking, “Do you believe the accusations that President George W. Bush was wired during the presidential debate?” Of 35,000 respondents, only 42 percent answered no, while 36 percent replied yes, and 22 percent said possibly.

Meanwhile, blogs, chat rooms, bulletin boards -- and Salon's letters pages -- continue to buzz with discussion about Bush's possible electronic enhancement. Reports are flying around the Web about earlier televised events where audio glitches allegedly permitted TV viewers to hear someone directing what Bush to say, including his public remarks at the Sea Island G-8 summit meeting in June, his D-day anniversary speech in France, and a New York speech following 9/11.

One thing is certain: During the final presidential debate in Tempe, Ariz., on Wednesday night, all eyes will be on Bush's back.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

Letterman: Bush bulge was a flask

David Letterman can't get enough of Bush's bulge. Here's a quick riff from his opening monologue Wednesday night:

"How many folks tonight saw the third and final deabate? I thought George Bush looked great. He was wearing his three-piece bulge. ... It turned out, tonight, the first thing George W. did was show everybody that the bulge in the back of his jacket ... was just his flask. That's all it is ... I'll tell ya, I watched the debates and frankly Bush did look confused. At one point he tried to buy a vowel." UPDATE: Letterman went on to do a "Top 10 President Bush Explanations For The Bulge In His Jacket:"

10. "It's connected to an earpiece so Cheney can feed me answers--crap, I wasn't supposed to say that."

9. "It's a device that shocks me every time I mispronounce a word."

8. "Just a bunch of intelligence memos I haven't gotten around to reading yet." 7. "Mmm, delicious Muenster cheese."

6. "John Kerry initially voted for the bulge in my jacket, then voted against it."

5. "I'll tell you exactly what it is--it's a clear sign this econonmy is moving again."

4. "Halliburton is drilling my back for oil."

3. "Oh like you've never cheated in a presidential debate.

2. "Accidentally took some of Governor Schwarzenegger's 'roids."

1. "If Kerry's gonna look like a horse, then I'm gonna look like a camel."

Kerry/Bush Debate: Round Two

Kerry puts whammy spell on Bush for debate two in St Louis.



Bill Frist and collegue help Bush find new direction in debate strategy.

Bush's Bulge Pt 2

Bush's mystery bulge
The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president wired during the first debate?

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Dave Lindorff

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

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

Bloggers are burning up their keyboards with speculation. Check out the president's peculiar behavior during the debate, they say. On several occasions, the president simply stopped speaking for an uncomfortably long time and stared ahead with an odd _expression on his face. Was he listening to someone helping him with his response to a question? Even weirder was the president's strange outburst. In a peeved rejoinder to Kerry, he said, "As the politics change, his positions change. And that's not how a commander in chief acts. I, I, uh -- Let me finish -- The intelligence I looked at was the same intelligence my opponent looked at." It must be said that Bush pointed toward Lehrer as he declared "Let me finish." The green warning light was lit, signaling he had 30 seconds to, well, finish.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

salon.com

Kerry/Bush Debate: Round One

A smirking George W Bush enters the debate in Coral Gables, Florida.




John Kerry wipes smirk from GW's face after 90 minutes!

Bush's Bulge Pt 1

The rumor is flying around the globe. Was the president stuffing
socks in his groin area?