I voted for Bush and even I am convinced that he was wearing something during that debate. I just ran accross a story that discussed how the NYT spiked a story on the issue. It seems that simple, expert photo analysis could have proved that he was wearing something. If nothing else why didn’t Kerry make an issue of this? For that matter Bush wasn’t much better than he was against Gore in 2000 (actually I think he may have been a little worse) so why bother with cheating? Can this thing be definitively proven or disproven?
There was some (rather meaningless) coverage of this in the mainstream media, though I can’t imagine to what end. Since Bush looked just as bad in the second debate as he did in the others, it’s not as if any “cheating” helped him any. It certainly didn’t make any sense for Kerry to waste precious campaign air time on the silly topic.
A bigger question is, why didn’t any serious press ever report on the aircraft-carrier-sized holes in the Administration’s claims of Iraqi WMD? And the answer is: because they’re all a pack of spineless jellyfish whose sole talent today is regurgitating White House press releases…
As seen in the “Rathergate” fiasco, the mainstream media needs more to base a story on than a couple of blurry stills of an amorphous bulge that could be anything from a pacemaker to a microphone to the alien brain slug that took control of our CinC’s motor functions after attaching itself to his spinal cord.
I’ve seen the same photos as you and I’m not “convinced” he was wearing anything. It could have been, as has been speculated:
bunched up fabric in his jacket
a bulletproof vest
some sort of transceiver, although across the shoulders is an odd place to put one
“Simple, expert photo analysis” didn’t definitively establish anything, either.
Why didn’t any serious press ever report on Bush cheating during the second debate?
What cheating? There was a lot of speculation that he might have been wearing something under his clothes, but…that speculation was based on a photo that did not make anything crystal clear, even with “simple, expert photo analysis.” The overwhelming majority of those who pressed the point had a non-sympathetic view of Bush and could hardly be considered objective (or open-minded). There was absolutely no corroborating evidence. There was a plausible explanation proffered by his tailor (it was the way the fabric bunched up when he had his arms in a certain position). There was a fair amount of debunking of the notion that it was anything but what his tailor suggested.
The serious press (usually) take their job seriously, and don’t go about reporting on something when there’s no real evidence that there’s anything to report on.
Stories get spiked every day. The most common reasons: the writing sucks, the reporting isn’t balanced, the “news” is old, the sources aren’t good enough, the premise is flimsy, the story will tip off the competition that we’re working on a bigger issue.
In my years on the senior staff of a Big Fat Daily Newspaper, I’ve seen a story killed only once because of pressure from an administration. The story would have done serious – and legitimate – damage. That it never ran is a black mark on the particular editors who made the call. They’ll have to live with it.
I don’t think I buy that, and even if he was wearing something, they wouldn’t have been able to say what just from photo analysis. You would’ve had nothing but speculation over a photo. Too much potential to be embarrassingly wrong there.
As I remember it, Bush’s alleged “wire” received the same amount of airtime Kerry’s alleged crib-notes received. Both stories were in the news.
I thought it was settled, right here on The Dope. It was his Keeper 
I wonder how many people got that one? 
But Bush doesn’t drink, so he must be under its control all the time.
Or does he?
I like the wireless transceiver theories, but the more recent one I heard was that his health is much worse than we are lead to believe and the bulge was a portable, wearable defibrillator (sic). Time will tell.
I thought Bill Bryson’s additional observations were interesting.
Of course!!! That makes perfect sense. Frankly, it would explain a LOT of his behavior. Does that mean Karl Rove works for the Shadows?
Tinfoil hats! Get your tinfoil hats! Right here!
Here is a link to relevent story http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2012 . Keep in mind that I am a Bush supporter. My biggest problems with Bush to the extent that I have any are his reluctance to protect the border from massive illegal immigration, excessive spending, and his backing off on educational (school choice) reform. However, I still voted for the guy twice and donated about $400.00 to his campaign.
My guess is that the rectangular bulge was the electrode and wire of a TENS unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation), for pain management. There is another photo of him at his ranch in Texas, with a nearly identical bulge under his T-shirt.
He used to drink, rather heavily according to some claims. Maybe it was a failed attempt to take back control. :eek:
SOME claims?!?!
It’s obvious that Dick Cheney is the Drakkh…
Does this make Saddam Hussein Sheridan? :eek:
I’m afraid the Secret Service might come after me if I mention what G’Kar is supposed to do…