# Big surprise. Video of soldiers with Iraq explosives found days before the election. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 29, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817 "2004-10-29T07:16:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/21 "2004-10-30T14:07:29Z")
What’s the matter **Bricker** , cat got your tongue? Buk-Buk-Bu_GAAWWKK!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/22 "2004-10-30T21:39:10Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > > [@duffer](#): > > > > Isn’t this footage now released from a Twin Cities station? I’ve always seen the area as just a shade less liberal than Boston, San Jose and San Francisco. Why would they sit on it to help Bush? What am I missing in this argument? > > 5 isn’t really seen as a liberal station locally. Quite the opposite. The owner, Stanley Hubbard, is a big donater to the Republican party. Locally, 5 has been really trying to make a name for itself as a News channel, not fluffy non news as the other stations. And to Stanley’s credit, they have been a bit better at reporting news than the other locals. > > 5 wasn’t sitting on anything. The Al Qaaqaa story had been out a couple days prior to their report. All that happened at 5 is that the 2 reporters that were embedded recalled that they were in the vacinity, then went back and looked at their tape. Sure enough, the tape, photos, and GPS records confirmed their recollections. In addition to what NurseCarmen said, KSTP radio is home to the far-right screech boxes who infect our airwaves. The lone anchor of the TV newscast is the former spokesperson for Republican Governor Carlson and the newscasts have taken a decidedly conservative slant in the last few months. You would have to look far and wide to find a station with more impeccable right-wing credentials than KSTP. I don’t get what duffer is saying. Is the city a story originates from now relevant to it’s credibility? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/23 "2004-10-30T23:13:15Z")
That seems to be the favorite meme of the Bush-voting apologists these days – _anyone_ which paints a less-than-flattering portrait of George W. Bush is _obviously_ a part of the Vasat Liberal Conspiracy and has the credibility of a drunken wino muttering to his hallucinations. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/24 "2004-10-31T00:19:08Z")
> [@Captain Lance Murdoch](#): > > I don’t get what duffer is saying. Is the city a story originates from now relevant to it’s credibility? He’s saying that if it’s from the wrong city, it’s actually not real footage, but some sort of Disney production. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/25 "2004-10-31T01:49:09Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > What’s the matter **Bricker** , cat got your tongue? > > Buk-Buk-Bu_GAAWWKK!!!_ I don’t know why **Bricker** hasn’t responded. But it’s not for want of courage. He’s not at all afraid to back his convictions, either in debate or with cash, as is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/26 "2004-10-31T02:40:54Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > 1/20/05 is acceptable. I would include statements made by featured speakers at official campaign events. If that is acceptable to you, we have a bet. Done. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/27 "2004-10-31T02:43:48Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > What’s the matter **Bricker** , cat got your tongue? > > Buk-Buk-Bu_GAAWWKK!!!_ I was away from the boards all day, on a shopping trip to let Mrs. Bricker burn holes in the credit card at Rehoboth’s outlet stores. I trust my return and subsequent response is satisfactory. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/28 "2004-10-31T13:05:16Z")
I’m not sure; does this mean you agree to my terms, and we have a wager? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/29 "2004-10-31T13:21:45Z")
Sorry, didn’t see the preceding “Done”. Well, [looky here](http://slate.com/id/2108852/): > [@](#): > > _For_ \*\*Slate \*\* _by By Chris Suellentrop > Updated Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004, at 10:44 PM PT > PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla_ > > Because I’ve been traveling “outside the bubble” of the campaign planes for the past week, I arrived at a \*\*Thursday rally for Laura Bush \*\* before it began, and I sat with the local press. For only the second time, I witnessed \*\*a Bush campaign event \*\* in full. > > [snip] > > But the second-most memorable event was a remarkably mendacious **speech given by U.S. Rep. Mark Foley** , a Republican from Florida’s 16th District. > > [snip] > > The main target of Foley’s attack was Kerry’s criticism of the president for allowing the al-Qaqaa weapons dump to be looted, presumably by terrorists, during a war that was designed precisely to prevent such an event from occurring. “The senator from Massachusetts immediately grabbed onto that without doing any checking, any fact-checking. He didn’t even call Dan Rather,” Foley said. But “NBC News followed up saying, oh-ho, not so fast. We don’t have all the facts yet. Yet he went on national TV and announced, with reckless disregard for the facts, that somehow during George Bush’s administration, these weapons were stolen.” > > [snip] > > Foley continued, “Well, folks, one thing it does prove: **There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before we went there.** ” > > _Chris Suellentrop is Slate’s deputy Washington bureau chief_. I take PayPal. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/30 "2004-10-31T15:50:24Z")
**Fear Itself:** > [@](#): > > 1/20/05 is acceptable. I would include statements made by featured speakers at official campaign events. If that is acceptable to you, we have a bet. My first reaction was: Whattayou, !@#$% nuts? 🙂 I don’t know why in the Hell _anyone_ would agree to this. It’s hard enough to anticipate what a mere hadfull of damnfool ijits (let lone one known as GeeDubya) will say; but toss in the whole gaggle of damnfool ijits your conditions allow? I say **Bricker** can beg off on temporary insanity, brought about by his rapidly diminishing credit line from a day of retail shopping with the wife. 😛 Though to be fair, Foley isn’t actually claiming that they found WMD based on the presence of the explosives; just that they indicate that Iraq ihad\* WMD prior to our arrival. It’s a fine hair, to be sure, and I don’t know how many ways that it can be split. But you can be sure that _someone_ is going to try. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/31 "2004-10-31T17:01:19Z")
That was foolish of me. When I read “featured speakers at Bush campaign events,” in response to my requirement that **someone in a public-speaking or policy-making role for the administration publicly makes this statement** , I somehow imagined this as featured speakers at events at which BUSH appears, not every single Republican rally anywhere in the country. However, that’s not what the plain text says, and I agree I lost the bet - send me your Pay-pal info. I do NOT agree that merely because of my incautious acceptance of much broader terms than I wanted, that I have lost the POINT: that the administration itself is making this claim. I lost the bet because some GOP congresscritter took it on himself to make the calim, on a stage, stumping for Bush. This is not what I intended to disprove. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/32 "2004-10-31T17:33:57Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > That was foolish of me. And _that_ was gentlemanly of you. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/33 "2004-10-31T17:50:26Z")
Haha, that was quick. I say **Rick** gets another chance, that was sort of tricky. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/34 "2004-10-31T21:08:31Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > However, that’s not what the plain text says, and I agree I lost the bet - send me your Pay-pal info. Aw gee, why’d you have to go and ruin everything by getting all _honorable_, and simultaneously make me look like the heel because I somehow took advantage of you? Ruined a perfectly good pit rant I had prepared for any whining or welshing. Damn the luck! I suppose in order to maintain my own honor, I must offer you a chance to redeem yourself. What say, double or nothing on the outcome of the election? I warn you, you’d better be clear on the terms this time, I’m not likely to so forebearing twice. I pick Kerry… Or you could just make a donation to [my favorite charity](https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html?dsc=NETA250) right now… ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/35 "2004-10-31T21:25:19Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > Aw gee, why’d you have to go and ruin everything by getting all _honorable_, and simultaneously make me look like the heel because I somehow took advantage of you? Ruined a perfectly good pit rant I had prepared for any whining or welshing. Damn the luck! I’m not a whiner or a welsher. 😃 > [@](#): > > I suppose in order to maintain my own honor, I must offer you a chance to redeem yourself. What say, double or nothing on the outcome of the election? I warn you, you’d better be clear on the terms this time, I’m not likely to so forebearing twice. I pick Kerry… > > Or you could just make a donation to [my favorite charity](https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html?dsc=NETA250) right now… I was considering the charity option, until I clicked it. _shudder_ Yes, I’ll take you up on your double-or-nothing bet. $200 to you if Kerry wins, zero balance if Bush wins. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/36 "2004-10-31T21:31:47Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I’m not a whiner or a welsher. 😃 > > I was considering the charity option, until I clicked it. _shudder_ > > Yes, I’ll take you up on your double-or-nothing bet. $200 to you if Kerry wins, zero balance if Bush wins. Wins the Presidency. We’re not talking popular vote. If the EC ties and Bush wins in the House, then Bush wins. Etc. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/37 "2004-10-31T21:46:22Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Wins the Presidency. We’re not talking popular vote. If the EC ties and Bush wins in the House, then Bush wins. Etc. What happens if he loses the popular vote and gets appointed by the SC? Not that something as outrageous as that could happen outside of a Banana Republic of course, just playing Devil’s Advocate… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/38 "2004-10-31T22:03:54Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Wins the Presidency. We’re not talking popular vote. If the EC ties and Bush wins in the House, then Bush wins. Etc. What ever you say, but it sounds like you don’t have a lot of confidence in your man. It would be like me including the option to call the whole thing off if Bush suspends the Constitution, declares himself King for Life and refuses to leave the White House. Which… is… just… ridiculous? Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817/39 "2004-11-01T07:55:13Z")
So what about if John Edwards becomes acting President? Not as far fetched as it seems in the present electoral situation. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-surprise-video-of-soldiers-with-iraq-explosives-found-days-before-the-election/271817.md?page=1)