Remember all the stuff about whether Bush was wired for the debates?
My brother's column yesterday, The Second Memo, closes with this little jem:
The folks over at isbushwired.com would like you to take a look at this clip from Bush's April 28 press conference, when Bush looks down, pauses in the middle of a sentence, mutters, “in a minute,” then resumes his answer.
Just who is he talking to?
Given that it’s Bush, he could well believe he’s talking to God…
I’ve watched the clip several times, and while I would love to hear a legitimate explanation for what the heck that very visible bulge was, I don’t think Bush is saying “in a minute” or “hold on” or “OK.” He’s clearly trying to buy time with conversational filler, and whether that’s so he can collect his own thoughts, read a cheat sheet in front of him, or get the voice in his ear to catch up is still open to debate, but here’s what I heard:
“Yeah, we have, uh . . . the first, uh . . . just in a broader . . . kind of in a broader sense, uh . . . I had a long talk with Vladimir there in, uh, Slovakia . . . .”
What is purported to be “in a minute” is, I think, the “kind of in a” filler.
I believe the “bulge story” arose after the first presidential debate, which was held in September 2004. Here’s a passage from “Ambling Into History” by Frank Bruni, copyright 2002, page 73:
“[Karen Hughes] knew [Bush’s] mind and manner of speaking so well that when he answered questions, her mouth would sometimes move silently in concert with his, like a ventriloquist without enough stealth.”
i remember this bit from live tv, thinking, “that’s odd”
if you download the wmv clip, and use windows media player 10, you can click
on view/enhancements/show enhancements/play speed setting,
and slow it down to .5 original speed. you will be able to hear the voice clearly,
not charlie-brown-adult pitch, but normal pitch.
it’s very difficult to tell if bush is saying “in a minute…broader sense” or “in ah-ah-ah…broader sense.”
but he certainly suddenly looks confused and distracted. (perhaps he’s always wired?)
try slowing down the speed and listening to it that way.
over and over and over.
I’m no fan of Bush, but this is what I saw and heard: first a pause, then a look down, then a hurried rephrasing — specifically: “on a broader…. [pause] … kind of in a broader sense…” He rushed the words “kind of in a…”
Was he wired? Was he being prompted? Dunno. But I did NOT hear anything remotely like “hold on” or “OK, or “in a minute”. He was simply backing up and rephrasing what he had started to say. He probably realized that he was about to cause the grammatical car wreck, “on a broader sense…”, so he rephrased it: “kind of in a broader sense…”
Sorry guys, no clear evidence of a wire or a prompt. Maybe some day we’ll get that evidence, but this wasn’t it.
I think he gets coached through the ear piece
I still think the most plausible explanation for all this is detox tremens.