that accusation is a little weird, but on the other side of the coin, kerry may have broken debate rules himself. He clearly takes something out of his pocket at the beginning of the debate and places it on the podium, and while im not saying it was a cheat sheet, the debate rules say that even blank paper and pen for taking notes must be placed on the podium by debate staff before hand. Its pretty clear in the video and pictures, maybe kerry isn't that smart of a guy after all. Oh, by the way, this info is from the drudge report, so its a little sketch, but the facts look straight [link]

One of the rules was that neither candidate was supposed to address the other directly. Bush broke this in a couple of occasions when he was rattled by Kerry and starting whining.

I was wondering why he seemed to pause as if he needed to collect his thoughts every 3 words.

He always wanted to be in the Secret Service, but being President is as close as he can get to them.

He's just wearing the ear piece to fit in, be part of the team... poor guy... give him a break...

Is it possible he was speaking to someone that was not heard on the audio? An audience member, perhaps?

I haven't looked at the video (Real Player is the spawn of satan, and that's the only format I saw it in), but that's a possibility.

Does anyone have a link to the video in another format, something that hasn't been too "edited"? I'd like to look at it.

He also interrupted the moderator and Sen. Kerry to ask them if he could respond. Is that good procedure?

Other media outets are picking up this story as well. Salon ran a big piece [link] on it just today. And, because this is a Webbed world, the topic even has it's own blog. [link] An exerpt: (the original text includes links to other mostly lefty-leaning sites which provide more grist for their claims)

"Television viewers have sometimes heard another voice speaking Bush's words before he says them. When Bush spoke at D-Day ceremonies in France last June, for example, viewers watching on CNN, Fox and MSNBC, including mediachannel.org's Danny Schechter, were startled to hear another voice speaking Bush's words as if to prompt him. Some said this continued into a q & a. And on the night of 9/11, when Bush appeared on television to address the nation, viewers of one television station in Quincy, Massachusetts heard another voice speaking, slowly and carefully, a few words at a time -- words which were then recited by the president. The voice was nondescript, male, definitely not the president's voice..."

For a real debate yes it is polite. This however was the strangest "Debate" I have ever seen.

I hope the future debates don't end up going with such a format.

Yeah I hope so too. They were rather odd, the veep debates especially.

I'm skeptical that it was a reciever, it's size is rather large. Although if they wanted to keep the RF communications hidden, larger receiver would be necessary. It's placement is very strange also. There are much better places on the body to hide such a device.

Maybe it was something like this [link] .

Maybe is was THIS [link] .

Maybe this is how God talks to George in the white house...a God receiver.

I'm with Rev on this one.

In no way shape or form was this a "debate."

We could get down to the nitty grtitty of what a debate is, but even the most watered down definition doesn't come close to this.

At least with a real debate, you are awarded real points and someone is the winner.

I'm with Rev on this one.

And, suddenly, the earth exploded...

You know Rev and I are the same person... check our IPs.

Are you sure you just aren't one of his D&D characters?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with D&D. I used to play and had a lot of fun doing so.

We could poke fun at your hobbies, but I don't think polygamy or riding a bike around the states bothing people are hobbies.

The key word is "used"

You used to play D&D, I think ChePibe was commenting not on D&D itself but the practices of 42 year old unemployed men playing D&D.

Hey.. if i had the opportunity to play D&D I would. Takes a lot more creative skill than a First person shooter. You actually have human contact rather than electronic false relationships.

I work on the stupid things all day... all day... so many... annoying customers... and never-ending papers....

When it comes down to actual entertainment, I get out and GO OUTSIDE. I will say that D&D is probably better than an obsessive video game attachment - it at least allows for and encourages interaction with live human beings.

I had some customer the other day go entirely nuts after he found out he couldn't install Counter-Strike on our lab machines. It was like watching a guy go through all of the symptoms of withdrawal in one agonizing moment. He just kept saying, "but you could last weekend!" (we've since installed patches that prevent things like that from being installed for various software-related reasons). He then practically begged me to log in as an administrator (certainly not allowed) and do it for him. It was so sad.

All I could think was, "dude, it's a Saturday, and it's beautiful outside. Get OUT of this cave of a computer lab and GO OUT AND DO SOMETHING."

My hobby to be mocked for the moment - photography. I go out, and I take random shots of things around town and campus in an attempt to be somewhat artistic, but mostly just to get ready to travel to Paris. It's fun, it gets me out, and I like it, so long as it isn't raining.

Of course, right now, I'm putting off getting ready for a computer-related training class on Excel I have to teach tonight. The irony.

Even though I'm a hard-core computer geek, I still love the outdoors myself. I'd take a good game of football or baseball over sitting inside playing it or and FPS on my computer. Still love videogames, but its nice to go outside and enjoy the outdoors.

A God receiver.... hehehe...

Also [link] makes an intresting read

it was a pen, jackass. everyone knows that.

Probably 'cause he needed to pause and collect his thoughts every 3 words.

Cheney doesn't need an ear piece for his puppet, he needs strings. :)

Ba Zing....... good one Grizzly.