Interesting bulge stuff...

The latest from David Lindorff includes this eye-opener:

The latest dodge and obfuscation has been to cite an article in the pro-Bush Moonie paper, the Washington Times (long known for its penchant for misinformation) claiming on no evidence whatsoever that, the Kerry camp was behind planted stories about Bush wearing a wire for the debates.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Neither I nor any of the alert people who first called attention to this story after seeing the rectangular bulge in the jacket during the first debate had any help or even contact from the Kerry camp.

Well, I was frantically pushing the meme even before Lindorff brought his fine journalistic skills to the issue. No-one in the Kerry camp spoke to me about it -- unless by "Kerry camp" you include any and all Kerry voters. My girlfriend, a Kerry supporter, first noticed the bulge during debate number one; her observation prodded me down the path I've taken.

I went searching for the Moonie Times story to which Lindorff makes reference. He may have referred to this squib in a story about potential "October Surprises":

One such rumor has it that the Kerry campaign is about to spring evidence that Mr. Bush somehow was "wired," so aides could instruct him during the debates.

Well, Big John did give W a pat on the back after the second debate...

Doonesbury is one of the few media voices to give this story some coverage. The result is one of Trudeau's more hilarious offerings...

On related fronts:

Shrub scrubs. We mentioned that the White House has scrubbed its website clean of embarrassing photos, videos and text. Turns out all such efforts are not just ethically dubious, but potentially illegal. Check out this report, by a blogger who happens to be a fellow Los Angeleno.

Left eye open; right eye blind. A couple of days ago, we told you about Charlie Booker's piece for the U.K. Guardian. Booker finally managed to get Matt Drudge to link to a promptergate story -- no small trick, since Drudge has avoided this issue the way W avoids admission of error. Drudge made a huge deal out of Booker's final paragraph, which spoke wistfully of Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkes Booth and John Hinckley Jr.

An obvious joke. Poor taste? You bet. If I were Booker's editor, I'd have crossed out that text faster than a dart reaches the target.

Some did not take those words as humor, however. According to this piece, the Secret Service has been looking into the matter.

Funny, innit? When Ann Coulter called for the assassination of Bill Clinton, in terms even less oblique than those employed by Mr. Booker, the Secret Service did not pounce. Some writers have standards -- and some have double standards.