Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

George Stephanopoulous noticed it, too, on his Sunday morning talkie show and he showed video. Mind you, George S., wouldn't go one way or the other on his opinion about what George W.B. had under his jacket. And the video they showed on the show was from the first debate -- the one Bush was embarrassed in.

I am a court interpreter. It is sometimes very confusing for a client who has a good understanding of English to hear proceedings directly in one ear, and in their own language (with a lag of a word or two) in the other.

What does this have to do with the Bush bulge? Perhaps his poor performance in the first debate was caused by variance between what was arriving from the Bush brain and information that (I suspect) more closely adhered to the real world, arriving via the wire.

In the second debate, he elected to discard the receiver and go entirely with the alternate reality of his own convictions. Hence he sounded more convincing, particularly to those who trust that the chief executive has access to wisdom that is denied the rest of us.

If I am right, I suppose the president could take his improved performance in the second debate as another sign of the irrelevance of expert opinion, and his support from the Almighty.

Surely after the debate onstage there must have been some backslapping of Bush. Any footage of that? Reporters could go after those who might have had tactile evidence.

My comment was intended to be tongue-in-cheek (they wouldn't be so dumb; wouldn't it be like invading, say, Iraq, after being struck by Al Qaeda?). But on Salon.com an expert says it's technically feasible. And my electronics engineer pal says simply, "I wondered if anyone would try that...."

Speaking of it becoming a thing: it made the Letterman Top Ten list (I only remember a few of them):

Top Ten Answers Bush Gives When Asked What That Thing is on his Back:

10. It's a transmitter so that Cheney can feed me answers during the debate - oh crap, I wasn't supposed to say that.

7. My opponent voted for the thing on my back, then he voted against it.

6. It's a clear sign that the economy is growing.

1. If Kerry can look like a horse, I can look like a camel.

You know whats so fascinating about this, bush was quoted saying on a live interview with Peter Jennings, that he did not know what it was. He states it probably was a bad wrinkle in the shirt. I couldn't bbelive how dumb he thinks America and the news media are. One more thing to note. His camp says he's not a good debater. Am i missing something here or is this really the president of the United States? I dont recall us ever having a president who couldn't debate or for that matter speak intelligently.