A Milli Vanilli President

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http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/1331/

 

 

Features > October 8, 2004

A Milli Vanilli President

By Dave Lindorff

 

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Video of Bush saying " Let me finish… " is available at Boston.com.

 

President George W. Bush has claimed that that God speaks to him. More

worldly voices, it now appears, may also be speaking to him at key

moments.

 

Viewers and journalists watching Bush in his first debate with

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have commented on his odd

behavior in Miami. To some he seemed peevish and antsy-almost wired.

 

Now there is evidence that he may have been—in an electronic way—by

having cues and lines fed to him through a hidden high-tech earpiece.

 

Several things about the first debate have led to this speculation.

 

Many people who watched the debate remarked on Bush's

sometimes-bizarre comments and behavior during the evening. At one

point he angrily blurted " Now, let me finish! " midway through a long,

timed answer and well before he would have received a warning light to

wrap up his comments. Compounding the strangeness was that he didn't

seem to be addressing his remark to either moderator Jim Lehrer or

Kerry and no one had spoken or even hinted at interrupting him.

 

A voice coming through a hidden hearing device also would explain

several long silences occurring at odd points in the president's

answers and his odd expressions and eye movements.

 

Alert viewers also raised questions about the square object situated

between President Bush's shoulder blades, clearly visible pressing

through his jacket during rear-view camera shots as he was leaning

over the lectern. According to the debate rules, the Democrats and the

Republicans agreed that neither candidate would be shot from behind.

According to a source familiar with the debate negotiations who

refused to speak on the record, it was Republicans, lead by debate

negotiator Jim Baker, the former secretary of state, who insisted on

this odd condition.

 

Experts familiar with spyware suggest this bulge in the jacket could

have been an " inductor " for receiving signals sent from someone

offstage feeding the president answers through a hidden, wireless

earpiece. The advantage of using such a device, rather than simply a

micro-radio receiver in the president's ear canal, is that an inductor

can broadcast any scrambled or unscrambled message to an ear receiver

at extremely low power-so low that the signal would be undetectable

beyond a few feet.

 

Speculation that the president may have been getting help with his

answers is supported by evidence that he has been using an earpiece

for some time. According to a number of viewers, news reports on CNN,

Fox and MSNBC of Bush's D-Day commemoration speech in France, for

instance, picked up a voice feeding the president his lines just

before he spoke them and broadcast them. A clip of a CNN broadcast of

the president's D-day address in France clearly includes the sound of

another voice leading the president through his lines.

 

This technique is familiar to television correspondents, some of who

tape their remote reports and play them back through earpieces to

broadcast their remarks smoothly on camera.

 

Repeated calls to the White House and the Bush campaign for comment on

whether Bush uses an earpiece and for an explanation of the obvious

bulge under his tailored jacket have been ignored.

 

The Kerry camp also refuses to comment.

 

Americans ought not be surprised should it turn out their president is

having lines fed to him. Ronald Reagan was provided cue cards for

every occasion by his staff and sometimes his wife, even one reminding

him to say " Good Afternoon " when meeting heads of state. And most

presidents give speeches written and honed by professional

speechwriters. But receiving answers during a presidential debate

clearly violates established rules.

 

In 1990, Milli Vanilli was forced to return their award for Best Vocal

Group after it was revealed that the pop duo hadn't sung the songs on

their album and that they routinely lip-synched performances.

 

It remains to be seen how Americans will react should they discover

they have a Milli Vanilli president.

 

Meanwhile, if the Kerry campaign is smart, they'll either ask that the

candidates agree to be frisked before tonight's St. Louis debate, or

Kerry himself, instead of shaking hands with the president, should

give him a manly pat on the back. Another possibility: in this less

formal, town-hall setting, Kerry could begin by doffing his jacket,

leaving Bush the choice of exposing his wire of looking like a stuffed

shirt all evening.