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Kerry Aide Threatens to Remove 'Time Up' Lights for Debate
NEWSMAX.COM ^ | Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 1:19 p.m. EDT | With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on 09/30/2004 11:10:39 AM PDT by sr4402

Democratic candidate John Kerry's campaign demanded Thursday that the lights signaling when a speaker's time has expired during debates with President Bush be removed from the lecterns because they are distracting, but the commission hosting the debates refused.

An angry exchange between representatives of the Kerry campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates took place just hours before the candidates were to meet at the University of Miami for the first of three debates, The Associated Press learned.

Story Continues Below

Kerry's team threatened to remove the lights when they visit the debate site with Kerry later in the day.

``We'll bring a screwdriver,'' said a Kerry aide familiar with what several people called an angry exchange. The commission did not return a call seeking comment.

The commission placed the lights on the lecterns in clear view of the television audience and those in the auditorium.

An agreement between the Kerry and Bush campaigns specified that timing lights ``shall be placed such that they are visible to the debate audiences and television viewers.''

However, Kerry's team contended that the agreement doesn't specifically say where the lights should be placed, and it said putting them on the lecterns creates a distraction.

The Bush team pushed for the lights in negotiations with Kerry advisers.

The commission is a nonprofit and nonpartisan corporation that has sponsored all the presidential debates since 1988.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: debate; debates; firstdebate; flipflop; kerry; kerrylies
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To: sr4402

sigh. Okay. Kerry campaign obviously knows Kerry can't listen to his hidden ear-mike (from his coaches) while simultaneously wondering if the blinking light is a supercoded message from his UN pals. No problem. Place the light on Kerry's tie pin.


21 posted on 09/30/2004 11:14:55 AM PDT by Alia
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To: epluribus_2

One of the things he insisted on was that Bush NOT use a riser; now when has Bush ever done that?

It just goes to show how fixated he is on appearance.

And the other thing he insisted on was that HIS dressing room be the same SIZE and QUALITY as the president of the United States.


22 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:07 AM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: sr4402
We'll bring a screwdriver

Go ahead. That won't distract attention from the screwball you're bringing.

23 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:11 AM PDT by LibWhacker (It is the black heart of Islam, not its black face, to which millions object)
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To: sr4402

Evidently during debate practice Kerry could not keep his yammering down or clearly frame his positions in the time alloted. Heh Heh!! This is a very good sign.


24 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:11 AM PDT by DestroytheDemocrats
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To: sr4402
This is very, very good news.

This means that John F'n has not been able to limit his answers to less than two minutes in the practice debates.

This means that John F'n is going to try to rush his answers and will not be able to use his charactersitic fog o' nuance technique to avoid answering questions.

This means that John F'n will be facially paralyzed, orange, and off his game.

I'm smellin' a blowout, here...

25 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:14 AM PDT by gridlock (BARKEEP: Why the long face? HORSE: Ha ha, old joke. BARKEEP: Not you, I was talking to JF'n Kerry!)
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To: sr4402

sigh. Okay. Kerry campaign obviously knows Kerry can't listen to his hidden ear-mike (from his coaches) while simultaneously wondering if the blinking light is a supercoded message from his UN pals. No problem. Place the light on Kerry's tie pin.


26 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:23 AM PDT by Alia
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To: sr4402

Let them. Then Bush should mention it tonight at every opportunity.

As I suggested on another thread, he should go way overtime on his first answer, and when Lehrer stops him, look around in mock surprise and say "Sorry Jim, I thought we were supposed to have timing lights. Someone steal 'em?"


27 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:34 AM PDT by ScottFromSpokane (Re-elect President Bush: http://spokanegop.org/bush.html)
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To: sr4402
Headline I'd like to see:

"Commission on Presidential Debates cancels debate due to Kerry's unwillingness to follow simple rules.
Kerry agreed to the rules, before he didn't."

28 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:37 AM PDT by ASA Vet (Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference.)
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To: sr4402

Kerry makes a good point here...probably the point he's made clearly during the entire campaign.

The problem with the lights is that he knows we are keeping score, so every tiem he speaks over the limit, it will look bad because everyone else will know he's over time.


29 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:44 AM PDT by Heff ("Liberty is not America's gift to the world, it's the Almighty's gift to humanity" GW Bush 4/12/04)
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To: Howlin

They've done nothing but whine about the rules all day long. Maybe yesterday too, but I wasn't home most of the day, so I didn't hear. Someone needs to bring a diaper bag for the crybaby(s).


30 posted on 09/30/2004 11:15:52 AM PDT by MizSterious (First, the journalists, THEN the lawyers.)
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To: Conspiracy Guy

"Why don't they mount Kerry's light on top of his head. When it comes on, it will appear that he actually has an idea!"

LMAO!! That would be the first time he ever had an idea of his own!!


31 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:08 AM PDT by Jersey Republican Biker Chick
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To: Howlin
He AGREED to the lights!

But that was before he disagreed with them.

32 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:12 AM PDT by ClintonBeGone (Take the first step in the war on terror - defeat John Kerry)
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To: sr4402

This is a strategy of some kind . . . I can't put my finger on what the Kerry camp is trying to do . . . perhaps just create a chaotic/disrupted micro-environment in the hours before the debate . . . but I guarantee there is something intentional going on here . . . it may also be a precursor, setting the stage for planned chaos/disruption in the election itself . . .


33 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:31 AM PDT by LikeLight (__________________________)
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To: sr4402

If Kerry and his team don't want to follow the rules they agreed to, replace him with Nader. Democrats need to lose something they value whenever they cheat, otherwise they will never stop doing it.


34 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:35 AM PDT by hyperpoly8 (Illegitimati Non Carborundum)
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To: sr4402

I was wondering what the FIRST rule was that the Kerry folks would break. It won't be the last.


35 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:38 AM PDT by waldorf
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To: ambrose

I agree with you; and that team he has behind him now is so politically tin-eared, they just might go for the gold, something dramatic.

The problem is that everybody KNOWS the rules now....and if he breaks them, people will see he's coloring outside the lines.

I frankly PRAY he does something like this.


36 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:55 AM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: sr4402
FLIP-FLOP
37 posted on 09/30/2004 11:16:56 AM PDT by Thrusher (The timing of this post is suspicious.)
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To: Howlin

another flip-flop


38 posted on 09/30/2004 11:17:10 AM PDT by go star go
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To: sr4402
Just turn a red spotlight on him at the proper time. Punkinboy will glow like a streetlight.

39 posted on 09/30/2004 11:17:41 AM PDT by atomicpossum (If there are two Americas, John Edwards isn't qualified to lead either of them.©)
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To: DestroytheDemocrats

Yep. That's going to be a biiiiiiig problem for him. I don't think he can do it, frankly. Or do it frankly. (ha ha - get it?) Even if he manages the time thing, no one will understand his big words & long drawn out sentences. I think Bush will win handily, like he won the Gore debates (well, I only saw two of those I think; I think Bush won both of those).


40 posted on 09/30/2004 11:17:47 AM PDT by TexasBud
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