From All Angles

[Dolly Llama]

Listening to Bush in Minneapolis yesterday I couldn't help but notice the pregnant pauses in his speech again. It really is odd sometimes. I mean, we're used to a president who can't complete a sentence, but sometimes I swear it's more than that. It's one thing to pause in the middle of a sentence to collect your thoughts, but in the middle of a title? Yesterday he paused in, "the United States of....... uh......... America", and then he proceeded with the next thought. And as usual, when he paused, he tilted his head to the side, as if listening to someone. Honestly, sometimes I think he is listening to someone. I think he has his lines fed to him through an earpiece. And in a close-up shot yesterday I thought I saw something in his ear.

And then there's the famous "bulge" on his back. Remember it from the Bush-Kerry presidential debate? Through his jacket could be seen a bulge with the shape of a box with a wire attached, and it got so much media attention that the White House had to issue a cover story, claiming it was caused by a badly laundered shirt. But they didn't explain why Bush suddenly stopped talking during that debate, appeared inexplicably annoyed, and said, "No, I want to talk about this!" He said that, even though nobody had interrupted him. At the time some claimed that he was being fed his lines, which explained why he did so unexpectedly well in the debate against Kerry.


From the 2004 Bush-Kerry presidential debate.

The White House claimed the bulge was caused by a badly laundered shirt. But here it is again:



I know it all sounds very conspiratorial, but honestly sometimes it seems the most logical explanation. There are all kinds of websites dedicated to the "Bush hump" and "Bush earpiece", etc. And you can find all kinds of examples of moments when he appeared to be given cues, like this one:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2005/050505bushearpiece.htm