Paul -V- has the scoop, with a photo assist from jbnow of DemocraticUnderground.

"I'm not into conspiracy theories, but I suspect Bush may have been wearing a receiver during his press conference earlier this week.  (a.k.a. "Bush Bulge".)

Watching President Bush on Monday as he attempted to justify warrantless wiretaps of Americans, I was struck with a  massive case of deja-vu when he made this statement:

"We will, under current law, if we have to. We will monitor those calls. And that's why there is a FISA law. We will apply for the right to do so. And there's a difference -- let me finish -- there is a difference between detecting so we can prevent, and monitoring. And it's important to know the distinction between the two."  (Emphasis added)

That "let me finish" phrase, made to a reporter who was not interrupting him, reminded me of Bush's September 2004 debate with Kerry during the presidential election when said the same thing...

When Bush made that "Let me finish" comment in the debate he has 30 seconds left to speak, no one was interrupting him then either."

Way to go, Paul -V-!

Let me add one more dimension to this: last Friday the NY Times reported that Bush's NSA was illegally wiretapping hundreds or thousands of Americans. But the Times had the story more than a year ago - possibly before the 2004 election - but kept its readers ignorant.

There was another story the Times had before the 2004 election that it also chose to hide from its readers - the proof that Bush was wired for the Presidential debates against John Kerry. Dave Lindorff blew the whistle on the Times this past February:

How the New York Times Killed the Bush Bulge Story
By DAVE LINDORFF

Almost as astonishing as the likelihood that President Bush cheated and wore a device--most likely a wireless magnetic induction hearing device--during his three presidential debate appearances-and definitely lied about what was under his jacket--is the fact that the nation's two leading newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post, had the story but failed to report it in any serious way.

When NY Times readers complained to Public Editor Daniel Okrent (now gone but not missed), Okrent replied with nothing but disinformation. Lindorff shredded Okrent's response for FAIR:

Okrent Charges Extra! With "Distortion"

... whether it was a cueing device, an atrial defibrillator or a back brace, the public had and continues to have a right to know what it was. Any one of these things would indicate a profound disability on the part of the president-- either intellectual, medical or skeletal.

Equally important, and a point that Okrent conveniently ignores, is the fact that Nelson's photos prove without a scintilla of doubt--as reporter Andy Revkin courageously observes in his initial published comment to Okrent-- that the president, the White House and the Bush/Cheney campaign lied, blatantly and repeatedly, regarding the object under the president's back, which they alternately described as "Internet conspiracies," "grassy knoll" thinking, a wrinkle in the jacket or a wrinkle in the underlying shirt.

The Times let a year pass before publishing the NSA wiretapping story. So why doesn't the Times publish the story it killed about Bush's bulge? Email the new Public Editor Byron Calame, Editor Bill Keller, and reporter John Schwartz: public@nytimes.com, keller@nytimes.com, jswatz@nytimes.com - and cc: your favorite bloggers, who have not paid enough attention to Bush's Bulge.