Kerry with back to audience goes for his right hand coat pocket with left hand.
Left Hand retrieves notes from right pocket.,Back is still to audience.
Kerry turns with notes in left hand.
Kerry places notes on lectern
Posted on 10/03/2004 11:56:26 PM PDT by kattracks
October 4, 2004 -- Was John Kerry trying to pull something at the debate last week?That question was burning up the Internet yesterday after a slo-mo review of the footage showed the Massachusetts senator taking an object out of his right pocket before the first question.
Was it a cheat sheet — as some conservative bloggers claimed — or was it something innocuous?
Either way, it would violate the debate rules agreed to by both campaigns: "No props, notes . . . or other tangible things may be brought into the debate."
Many blogs offered links to the "Pocket-gate" footage. One, INDC Journal, even posted frame-by-frame stills purporting to show Kerry pulling out a notecard and placing it onto the podium.
But the mystery was solved when The Post reviewed a Fox News Channel feed from Thursday's debate: Kerry pulled out . . . a black pen.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Kerry is infamous for his nuances, yet his answers were timed perfectly to fit into the 2 minute time frame allowed. There was no hesitation when he answered. Not just once, but time and again. When anyone hears a question for the first time it takes time to process the information received and then to formulate an answer. Kerry answered almost immediately after hearing the questions. Again, not just once, but almost every time.
Here's my (tin foil hat?) theory. Kerry did get the questions, long before the debate. Long enough before the debate to generally memorize his answers. The questions were numbered and so were his responses. The black pen he removed from his jacket pocket was actually a small bunch of cards with a short synopsis of his "spontaneous" answers (just a reminder) with each card having the corresponding number to the question that would be asked. As each question was asked all he would have to do would be to glance at the card to remind him of the "lines" he had memorized. Perhaps just some sort of shorthand reminder. Next question, next card.
He knew there would be no followup from the moderator and anything President Bush said as a followup could be met with a feint (read lie).
Keep in mind that when senators give speeches on the senate floor they generally have them memorized, and just glance at their notes occasionally.
It should but I don't think it's going anywhere. Kerry obviously broke the rules but it can't be proven he actually cheated. We don't know what was written on the paper or whatever it was in his pocket. It stinks really. He did well in the debate on style points only, Bush had the better grasp of reality in dealing with foreign policy. But to listen to the spin, especially as more time passes, the spin is all "Kerry won the debate" even though immediately following the talking heads were saying it was a draw.
This story would put the debate ball back in Bush's hands.
I'm not so sure this is tin foil. Your theory makes a lot of sense.
If so, why does the article not say so, and why doesn't the NY Post page have a link to the feed showing this.
Even though the NY Post as a whole is fairly conservative, this particular reporter is a anti war pro Kerry left wing nut.
Unlike this reporter, FNC has not asserted that it was a pen. They may be researching the story, or they not, but I don't consider that "blowing it".
Too much risk for the reputation of PBS and the DNC to have either party approach the other, and not enough upside. The specific questions wouldn't matter that much anyway. The main subject was going to be Iraq, and both canidates had their talking points.
1) No real evidence.
2) Too big a risk for a limited upside for both DNC and PBS.
3) Kerry's lack of hesitation has alternate explanations, such as simply practicing his Iraq war talking points, and not being slowed down by concern over the accuracy and sense of his comments.
I know, that's why I called it a theory
2) Too big a risk for a limited upside for both DNC and PBS.
Why, who was going to tell, plus the fact the Dims are desperate as witnessed by the CBS forged documents. Kerry making a bad showing would have sunk him immediately.
3) Kerry's lack of hesitation has alternate explanations, such as simply practicing his Iraq war talking points, and not being slowed down by concern over the accuracy and sense of his comments.
True, but his answers matched each question to a T. Coincidence?
I changed my mind when another poster pointed out that Kerry was already carrying a pen in his right hand before reaching in his pocket.
thanks for the ping. I'm going back to read the entire thread.
Left Hand retrieves notes from right pocket.,Back is still to audience.
Kerry turns with notes in left hand.
Kerry places notes on lectern
Yep, sure is a white pen he wrote with...why 2 pens???
It seemed like a regular black fixed pen, but it seems like he is messing with it more than one would need to...perhaps nothing, but folks, keep digging! How often does he look down at the notes he wrote? He couldn't have written that much!
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