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radio receiver?

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Bush Talks to Rove in Earpiece

This is weird. One of the comments had a link to this page. It claims that Bush may have had an earpiece in at the time of the debates so he could get cues.

I would normally think that this is nonsense but it does explain a few things, especially if you have ever used an IFB while doing live TV. It does explain his mysterious comment “Let me finish” which appeared to have been said to no one.

It would also explain his seeming demeanor. Unless you are used to having someone yakking in your ear, it’s quite distracting. It would be particularly bad if the person doing the yakking was a chatterbox. On TV, when you wear one of these you can simply jerk it out of your ear if it develops problems. Often the wrong feed is sent to the thing, or you hear your own voice. If you watch enough TV you’ll see news folks pull out their IFB once in a while. Since this device would be a CIA-type device that would be in the ear and unseen, there would be no way Bush could have removed it. He would have to have a code word for them to turn it off. I have not seen an analysis of the transcript where any code words were discovered. But it’s possible.

Anyway this theory, that Bush had an earpiece, is beginning to run rampant on the blogs. We’ll see where it goes. In the meantime read these links.

RENSE.com claims the device may have been in use longer

As I watched Bush give his recent speech I realized that his eyes wandered from right to left and from left to right. It was obvious that he was not reading from a TelePrompTer. Also I noticed that there were long pauses between his sentences. On queue he would look left and then right before beginning his next sentence. It soon became apparent to me what was going on and why President Bush had suddenly become erudite.

As a Film Director I recognized immediately what was happening. After making many documentaries, in all sorts of conditions, it is sometimes impossible to use a TelePrompTer to assist the narrator. For instance, sometimes the glare of the sun will blank out the words on the TelePrompTer screen, or there may be a number of other technical glitches that get in the way of using it properly. On these rare occasions when the TelePrompTer cannot be used, I, and others, have used, instead, another device to help the narrator remember his dialogue.

Using a small earpiece a FM signal is broadcast into the ear of the narrator. Another voice reads the dialogue and the signal is sent to the earpiece. The narrator hears the words in his ear and uses this as his prompt.

There are several problems with this technique, which is why it is used only rarely in films and documentaries: First, it should be said that the earpiece prompt is usually a last ditch effort to prompt the narrator, or actor, while shooting a film. Technical glitches aside, when a Director resorts to an earpiece prompt it usually means that the narrator, or actor, has trouble reading or remembering their lines. Secondly, long pauses have to be built into the prompt and the script. These pauses take place in between sentences so that the prompt does not get too far ahead of the person speaking. Thirdly the script must be rewritten for the earpiece prompt. The sentences must stay short and concise so that the narrator, or actor, does not get confused.

related comments

Daily Kos
Indy Media
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  1. A lot of good it did him, too! What was Rove telling him?

    Don’t smirk.
    Don’t stammer.

    ~bgr

  2. Anonymously says:

    Interestingly, in light of the fact that GOPers, via their conduit Drudge, are claiming that Kerry brought something unauthorized to the debate (Kerry camp said it was a pen), comes evidence that Bush was using a cheat sheet as one can see from this shot: http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/fwd/20041001/capt.fwd101b20041001jpg.jpg

    For those that have seen the video that allegedly shows Kerry pulling something unauthorized out of his jacket, at the very same moment, Bush was as well.

    This photograph posted above shows that it indeed was a piece of paper. What was on it? We may never know: http://www.thetalentshow.org/images/bushnotes.jpg

  3. John C. Dvorak says:

    LOL…hilarious

  4. David says:

    Maybe it’s body armor…..

  5. Thomas says:

    Next time we’ll know to clip the strings above the candidates shoulders.

  6. Sterling says:

    Well, it’s interesting to read on Rense this piece that argues that Bush’s horrible performance is because he wasn’t wearing a piece, though he says watch out for the next debate in case Bush becomes miraculously eloquent. He may be wearing a piece then.

  7. Tal Rotbart says:

    I’m far from being a Bush supporter (quite the other end of the political map) but this seems to me like what he had on his back was the battery pack for the wireless microphone. As for the delays, he is just dumb as a doorknob.

  8. me says:

    sheesh!!!! That’s a cross on his back…looks like he’s got a cruicifix taped to his shirt…when he says “Jesus is with me” he MEANS IT.

  9. John C. Dvorak says:

    I contacted the president of one of the top bullet-proof vest companies and he said that was not from a vest unless it was a botched fitting. Not likely.

  10. Mike Voice says:

    For Tal

    Why would he need a battery-pack for a wireless microphone? Isn’t there a microphone on the podium? 🙂

    Anyway, the thing I find “fishy” about this: Why is it between his shoulder-blades?

    Why not on his belt, where the suit is not so form-fitting? The Secret Service people couldn’t give them tips on concealment?

    They would have had to have checked that it was discrete. Is it not noticeable when he is standing straight-up, but obvious when he has his shoulders forward (arms on podium)?

  11. David says:

    Then question becomes even weirder. Is the earpiece bluetooth? RF wireless? Encrypted? Could we have some sort of decrytption prize? Hmmmm. I think it would be pretty cool to have a Prez using cutting edge tech like that. It would seem to me that you, high tech press guy, would be very interested in finding out what he could be using. I smell a column.
    I’m putting on my tinfoil hat!

  12. John C. Dvorak says:

    I cracked up when someone told the real scandal. The thing on the jacket is a bra-strap!!!!

  13. Mike Voice says:

    Why hasn’t Dan Rather picked-up on this story?

  14. Steve says:

    Amazing how far this nonsense has gone. People sure can be fools when they want to be. Both Bush and Kerry were wearing cordless mics. Anyone who has worked in sound knows that desk mics so far from the speaker are not of much use as a source for the main feed and are only there as a backup. Also, to believe this garbage you have to believe that the President of the United States does not have access to high enough technology to get a concealable transmitter. I had one ten years ago that was slightly larger than a quarter and had a mic/earpiece the size of a pencil eraser. I guess I have more pull than the President does. If you all would stop paying attention to all of this brainless nonsense and start spending your time paying attention to what is really going on in the country you would realize that no matter what problems you have with Bush, voting for Kerry (whichever Kerry it is at the moment) is an act of incompetence staggering enough that it should bar you from ever voting again.

  15. dvorak says:

    Steve, cheer up

  16. Sandy S. says:

    Whomever was talking to Bush via ear peice, someone should have told the idiot to stop winking at people. He looks like a chimp already and that didn’t help. Really gave me the creeps! If I wanted to see that, I would visit the zoo…oh wait, I mean the White House! GO KERRY!!

  17. chuck says:

    Steve (that needs cheeering up) should consider things like range and reliability of those smaller and less conspicuous devices. If Karl Rove was sitting in a van, say 100+ yards from the site, then he would have needed a more powerful unit to insure that the pinhead-in-chief would get a clear signal. Those micro-small fully contained in the ear units don’t have the range – and probably not the reliability – required, especially considering the massive levels of EMI in that must have existed in that venue.

  18. jess says:

    Isn’t this a development. On Bellacio [ http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=3562 ] IndyMedia NYC were hosting a video of the debate, that criticises George ‘dubya’ Bush on this matter of cheating with an earpiece. This was posted on the 2nd Oct.

    Fast forward to the 8th Oct. and it seems that the US Secret Service has shutdown Rackspace the service provider for IndyMedia and their affialtes. Citing their involvment with WTO protest, which of course I don’t dispute. But doesn’t it just seem a little too suspicous? 😉
    [ http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/08/1097089554894.html ]

  19. John C. Dvorak says:

    Just so you know. I discussed this with the CEO of a bullet proof jacket distributor and he said it wasn’t a jacket unless it was fitted wrong (unlikely).

  20. siniklaas says:

    It’s one of them “dry bones” : a reinforcing T-bone connected to the back bone ! Ezekiel 37 : 1-7. I hear the word of the Lord !

  21. mama2000 says:

    my husband just suggested that perhaps the bulge under Bush’s jacket is his tail.

    ;-]

  22. trock15227 says:

    The thing you all think is a reciever is Dubya’s Bullet Proof Vest he is required to wear.

    Who the hell would take credit for anything Dubya says??

  23. John C. Dvorak says:

    read the posts..experts say it is NOT a vest..

    and exactly WHO is this boss who would “require” it?
    Cheney?

  24. Chuck says:

    Not a bulletproof vest, according to the White House. The New York Times ran a story (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/09/politics/campaign/09bulge.html) in which they said “Nor was the bulge from a bulletproof vest, according to campaign and White House officials; they said Mr. Bush was not wearing one.” So if the White House is denying that it is a bulletproof vest, why shouldn’t we believe them?

    Besides, how many bulletproof vests have rectangular shapes in the back like the one we see in the photos? That doesn’t make any sense at all.

    Chuck

  25. monty says:

    what about the debate on the 8th any evidence he was using an ear piece then?

  26. P. T. Barnum says:

    This is without a doubt a vest. I used to have one just like it. It was a little too big and would bulge in the back just like the president’s. My new vest fits like a glove (no bulge). Trust me, if half of the country wanted to take you out you would where a vest too (whether it fit of not).

  27. Gerry says:

    Sandy S. noted Bush’s winking in her comment. I had wondered if anyone else picked up on the rapid-fire blinking by Bush when he was speaking. During his closing remarks in last night’s 3rd debate he blinked approximately 34 times in the last 25 seconds. It was difficult to get an accurate count due to all the very rapid double and sometimes triple blinks. Try blinking that rapidly yourself. It makes almost impossible to think clearly, like some sort of strobe effect from hell on your vision. It was going on throughout the 3rd debate and during the parts of the 1st debate I saw. [missed the 2nd debate] What’s up with that? Some sort of secret primitive morse-type code being used to communicate with the core GOP voter base? LOL

  28. chuck says:

    P.T. Barnum must be drinking the bong water again. First of all, if the President WERE wearing a vest, wouldn’t he of all people have been fitted properly? Second, that still does not explain the perfect rectangular shape of the bulge. It’s hard to imagine that an ill-fitting vest would produce that shape. Finally, I’ll say it again, the White House is denying that he wore a vest.

  29. Levi Johnson says:

    have you heard that iowa didnt finsh counting the vote untill kerry quiti thinks thats a little odd you might want to check it out email me

  30. порно says:

    порно…

    порно …


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