FOXNEWS broadcast of Bush at Elysee Palace

Did anyone else catch it?  FOX NEWS carried live...

Bush and Chirac in prepared statements with Q&A at the Elysee Palace.
Here is the odd thing: while I was listening, suddenly there ws an audio bleed thru while BushBaby gave his prepared words in advance of throwing to reporters.

The bleed thru was in advance of his words, not his voice - at first I thought it was the bleed thru of both original transmission and delay but no different voice - but his words.  

Then he would track, repeat the words with tiny differences, breaths taken at different times.

I really realised what was happening as he threw it to reporters and the voice spoke the name of the first American reporter he took a question from, and Bush called on that reporter by name.

As it moved into Q&A, the "prompting" disappeared.

Here is the interesting thing... I turned on CNN a bit later and in a clip recapping (CNN did not cover live the other two did...) the presser,
and damn if their clip did not include the "prompts". Still there in the taped replay. I wonder if having bled thru, it is stuck in the audio, until it is electronically scrubbed.

Anyway ti was fascinating.  I quickly popped it into a post I was making in a thread at the time, but I think it went unread...

It was stellar TV.  It surely appeared to be prompts.

•  The second voice

  Did it sound like Cheney? Rove? The Wizard of Oz?

  by KeithH on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 11:46:43 AM PDT

  •  No it was

    an older male voice, a bit husky voice, almost a regional locus heard in the voice, vaguely western vaguely southern but slight on both counts.

    FWIW, I threw it out.

    by Marisacat on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 11:57:51 AM PDT

    •  Awwww

      by johnmorris on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 11:58:35 AM PDT

    •  Was it

      IMUS?

      by wozzle on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 02:00:35 PM PDT

  •  My Bet?

    A smarmy young man with a slight Ivy League twang. God I wish I had cought that.

    by johnmorris on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 11:57:55 AM PDT

•  This is Our President. Sigh.

  
  Yes, I always thought the the reason Bush insisted on having the 9/11 committee hearings in the Oval Office was that he could bug the room and be fed answers.

  Damn these people.  

  by CTDem2 on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 11:59:51 AM PDT

  •  And

    if you recall his several interviews in the oval office (such as with Russert on MTP), he is ALWAYS filmed from his left profile, his head slightly turned to his right (as though to possibly hide an earpiece in his right ear...)

    by Jsea on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:05:57 PM PDT

•  It's..

  unclear what you're trying to describe here.  Are you saying that a pre-recorded tape of Bush's comments were fed to Bush (perhaps through an earpiece or some device), and he basically just tracked the taped comments orally?

  by Jsea on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:01:57 PM PDT

  •  Short phrases

    were audible, in a voice not Bush's, apparently live delivery of the words, then Bush would speak the words, with minute differences, i.e. breaths, slight additions (such as "well"), which I had just heard.  Frankly "the reader", or "prompter"  sounded a tad bored.  

    Then I heard it again in the video played about 20 mins later on CNN, still with the ''prompts''.

    I mean this is a world of teleprompters and one may certainly have text of prepared words, etc., in hand, but this is another level.  Really, it is.

    by Marisacat on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:08:30 PM PDT

    •  teleprompter v. prompter

      Maybe Bush can't read after all?

      by emptywheel on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:44:30 PM PDT

    •  dyslexic?

      that idea has been going around for a while. maybe reading is difficult enough for him to require a 'reader.'

      if he is dyslexic, and in denial about it... it would explain so much about his personal style. his inability to admit mistakes.

      here's an interesting link about Bush, dyslexia and his behavior and work habits.

      http://www.bushnews.com/dyslexia.htm

      by kiw on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:04:01 PM PDT

•  I caught your comment

  in the other thread and was hoping you would post a diary.

  File this one with the many times I have heard him say at press conferences:  "You're next on the list," or "It's not your turn," or fumbling with a name on an obviously written list.

  It was infuriating to hear people screaming about the "tough treatment" he received from the press in his last big press conference, because it seemed so obviously scripted to me-- just a chance to give pre-written answers to deflect seemingly tough questions.

  And how completely surreal were his haulting, time-lag comments on Tenet's resignation?

  by For Dean in Dixie on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:02:09 PM PDT

  •  Geez.

    Halting.

    by For Dean in Dixie on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:08:14 PM PDT

•  Strange

  Did Bush have a device in his ear carrying these prompts?  (And did you notice any strings going upward from his head and limbs?)

  by ScientistMom in NY on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:04:36 PM PDT

  •  Well I think the bleed thru

    may have happened becasue of different feeds (Help, I am not technological)... he wore a standard wired earpiece for the translation feed when Chirac spoke.  But that left his other ear.

    I assume the bleed was confusion of some sort in the different audio feeds going on.  Bush receiving the incoming "prompt" would be yet again another feed on top of translation...

    BTW, he really really hated the questions from the French.  He had pat answers and apparently no feed, or none audible.  If he gets fatigued on this trip as he ahs on past European trips (um spring of 02 was it?, he was testy in Paris) he will have a small melt down.  Because it is all critism all the time on this trip.

    by Marisacat on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:15:27 PM PDT

    •  We can only hope.

      "The New Churchill" my ass.

      by For Dean in Dixie on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:21:15 PM PDT

•  Maybe it was

  Jesus.

  by madetoorder on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:04:47 PM PDT

  •  That explains

    That explains the southern accent.

    by emptywheel on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:46:13 PM PDT

  •  LMAO

    "George, you are an imbicile. This is Jesus. Give up. Leave office."

    by CoolHandLuc on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:51:16 PM PDT

    •  "And For Chrissakes

      George, don't go makin' any cracker jokes about freedom fries."

      by lightiris on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:20:37 PM PDT

•  invisible earpiece

  I've long suspected that Bush receives audio prompts during press conferences and interviews.

  Google "invisible earpiece, or spy earpiece for examples of available technology.

  by rlm on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:05:37 PM PDT

•  I hate to detour

  from denigrating Bush, but this does remind me of the time I heard Christiane Amanpour from Iraq, not realizing they had thrown to her, say loud and clear:

  "Jesus Christ!  Get that goddamn light set up!"

  by For Dean in Dixie on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:07:04 PM PDT

•  My Theory

  Perhaps the English text was being read to a translator as Bush was speaking and it was being picked up by the live feed. The reason it was slightly ahead of where Bush was in his text was to give the translator(s) time to translate it into other languages.

  by Rp on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:15:54 PM PDT

  •  Yeah, my hunch is that it's translation-related

    But it sure is fun to speculate on other reasons. :-)

    by Swopa on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:24:27 PM PDT

  •  I honestly don't know...

    well how could I anyway. One thing that got me was (and I'd love to see and hear it again) he did not refer to notes during his prepared words, not even when he called on the reporter....Normally in a presser he needs to look down very often.  He needs his written prompts.

    The other single thing htat makes me at least consider this, I think due to boredom and disinterest in the daily reality of serving as president, things have to be made as effortless as possible for BushBaby.  Which would be audio feed.  But I don't know.

    by Marisacat on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:24:55 PM PDT

  •  Why not just hand the translator a script?

    So-called "simultaneous" translation is often done that way -- the translator has a written copy of the speech to work from, but also listens to the speaker live in case there are last-minute changes.

    It makes no sense to have someone else read the transcript out loud. Simultaneous translation is challenging enough -- I've done it before and found it one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my entire life -- without having two different simultaneous voices to handle.

    This explanation doesn't make sense.

    by matt n nyc on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:46:10 PM PDT

  •  This is way more plausible

    ...than Bush trying to make sense of someone talking in his ear and him trying to repeat.  I seriously doubt he can chew gum and walk at the same time, let alone stand in front of people at a mic, speak from a teleprompter, listen to an audio prompter, and add his own stupid "uh"s and "well"s.
    

    by CoolHandLuc on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:50:21 PM PDT

•  Send this

  to "Reliable Sources" and see if they dare look into it.

  Son of Sam received messages, too.

  by For Dean in Dixie on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 12:24:29 PM PDT

•  Bush remarks at Elysee

  This footage was just broadcast on CNN (although I didn't catch all of it), and the voice of the prompter could be heard even more clearly than Bush himself, reading each phrase before he repeated it - incredible!  I wonder how they'll explain this one?!

  by old scrivener on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:03:34 PM PDT

  •  That is the second time....

    as I heard CNN run a clip earlier, video of the presser, the part with Bush delivering his prepared remarks.  They left it in that time too.... I could not believe it really.  
    Well this is interesting.

    by Marisacat on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:09:03 PM PDT

    •  Did anyone tape it?

      Because, by tomorrow the "official" CNN version won't contain the voiceover ...

      by Jon Meltzer on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:38:45 PM PDT

      •  I did not...

        the first lasted, hmm, maybe 8 minutes and it took that to fully grasp what might be going on.  I assumed it would be scrubbed from later clips, so was surprised when about 20 mins later I happened on the first CNN run of it with the extra "feed" still there.

        Both FOX and MSGOP carried the presser live and both had the extra feed.  CNN did not carry it live.  (That crowd really demands weekends off).

        by Marisacat on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:45:35 PM PDT

•  Switching ears with translation earpiece

  Just saw video on CNN where Bush starts to put the earpiece in his right ear and then stops and holds it for a second before putting it in his left ear.  Maybe the right ear already had something in it?

  by Kels on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 01:32:00 PM PDT

•  When will someone jam the earpiece?

  The idea that Bush uses an earpiece has come up repeatedly, and has the advantage of explaining strange pauses during his performances. As mentioned on dailykos before, it explains why he had that interview in the Oval Office and not in Russert's studio.

  What I want to know is - when will someone attempt to jam the device? It seems to me that these things use known frequency bands, and sending out white noise would not be hard. That would be priceless!

  by mindgeek on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 02:00:27 PM PDT

•  SOMEONE HAS GOT TO HAVE TIVO!

  Someone must've Tivo'd this.  Email everyone you know. Let's get up on someone's blog with a link ASAP!

  by CoolHandLuc on Sat Jun 05, 2004 at 04:46:55 PM PDT

•  It's Deanja vu all over again

  Shall we expect to see and hear this clip 697 times over the next week?

  by GOTV on Sun Jun 06, 2004 at 09:59:50 AM PDT