Bush Tackles the 'Bulge'
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, October 26, 2004; 2:48 PM
Well, someone finally wasn't afraid to ask President Bush about the bulge.
But if you were hoping for resolution, no such luck.
As you recall, the bulge, most clearly photographed during Bush's first debate, raised conspiracy theories that Bush was possibly getting audio cues over some sort of wireless device.
This morning, in part two of his interview with Bush on ABC's "Good Morning America," Charlie Gibson spit it out. Brandishing a copy of the photo, he asked: "Final question. What the hell was that on your back, in the first debate?"
Bush chuckled.
Bush: "Well, you know, Karen Hughes and Dan Bartlett have rigged up a sound system -- "
Gibson: "You're getting in trouble -- "
Bush: "I don't know what that is. I mean, it is, uh, it is, it's a -- I'm embarrassed to say it's a poorly tailored shirt."
Gibson: "It was the shirt?"
Bush: "Yeah, absolutely."
Gibson: "There was no sound system, there was no electrical signal? There was --"
Bush: "How does an electrical -- please explain to me how it works so maybe if I were ever to debate again I could figure it out. I guess the assumption was that if I was straying off course they would, kind of like a hunting dog, they would punch a buzzer and I would jerk back into place. I -- it's just absurd."
So it's the shirt? Sure doesn't look like a shirt. |
