Eavesdropping on the Rich and Powerful (708 hits)
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Submitted by FelizJBirth (View user info) at 2005-02-14 14:48:30 EST
The following is not fiction, it is actual conversations between people such as George Bush Sr,
Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Larry King, Pat Robertson - all when they thought they were off camera. I
decided to actually transcribe a few of the interesting exchanges from an excellent
documentary called "Spin".(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114512/)
The maker of the film, apparently with a lot of time on his hands, taped over 400 hours of raw
satellite feed footage and made the documentary "Spin" with particular focus on the role of the
media in the 1992 election. Much of the film is simply watching powerful people talking
amongst eachother without putting on their political/public face. If you can find the film, I highly recommend it, regardless of political belief. Or better yet, buy an old, big satellite and record some new feeds.
Here's a quick description of exactly what a satellite feed is. A live show broadcasts only the
"on-air" segments of the show from the networks, but the raw feed of what is happening during
the commercial break is still out there, ready to be picked up by someone with the right
equipment. When this footage was made, I doubt many knew just how easy it was.
Anyway, without further ado, here are a few great moments from the movie:
Warning: This is pretty long:
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George Bush Sr. on Larry King Live circa 1991
LK: You feeling well by the way?
GB: Huh?
LK: Are you feeling well?
GB: Pretty good - lucky - running still and played tennis yesterday.
LK: What is that disease you had?
GB: Uh uh - Crohn's - no, not Chrohn's. Uh, just thyroid - I don't know...
LK: What - they drug treat it right?
GB: Make you take a drug every single morning. A little blue thing - synthroid or something
and it wasn't heart. It's what - it's what the thyroid does to make your heart fibrillate
but it's been very good.
LK: You know I took Halcion for a long time after my heart surgery.
GB: Are you off of it now? - I don't know that it's bad Larry
LK: It's the best sleeping pill in the world but not daily.
GB: No oh no - but now it's gotten such a bad rap.
Strangely enough, Bush started his election year with a visit to Japan where he threw up on the
Japanese prime minister. The next feed shows several Republican campaign workers
preparing a background and noticing that a picture of Bush next to a baby's blanket look too
much like Bush's face being covered after throwing up and fainting.
PR Girl: Unfortunately I think this picture looks like the one... It's very similar to the Japan
picture.
PR Guy: Anna, you want to? You got it. Do whatever you need to do
(girl replaces picture)
-----------------------------
This scene is funny if only to see Clinton and his lust for politics - he's talking about "satellite
tours". This is where a candidate hooks up with a television station, does a 5 minute interview,
hooks up with another station etc etc.
Clinton: This is great. I love these.
Techie: We can do another if you want. We start doing Georgia tomorrow.
Clinton: Can we do anymore...?
Techie: We are setting up as many as we can.
Clinton: Can we do some Maryland, can we do those two Maryland?
Techie: We can do Maryland if you want.
Clinton: We ought to do some more in Florida & Texas too. Have we done all of Colorado today?
Techie: Yeah, we got one more.
Clinton: Today?
(takes drink of water stares blankly at camera)
---------------------------
Apparently Al Gore and Larry King are in love: (Larry King Live circa 1991-2)
LK: (to someone off camera) before Al gore was famous Tammy
(Gore laughs)
LK: During his book tour he drove over to Mutual Network all by himself...Came up in that
great Crystal City elevator
AG: I still remember the day I became famous.
LK: Yeah.
AG: When your column in USA Today came out
LK: (adjusts tie) I'll always remember the card you sent me.
-----
LK: Tell BIll if he'd do that thing in NY it'd be terrific -he's so good at this
AG: Yeah, yeah
LK: One of the problems with staying on the bus too long, is the two of you guys are so good
on media.
----------
AG: You know what you oughta do? You oughta come out on the -
LK: Bus.
AG: Bus trip with us with us for one day, we could do a joint interview from the bus.
(Lk thinking)
---------
LK: When we're out of time you can invite us on the bus.
(show back on-air)
LK: Uh, we have plum run out of time, thank you for coming Al we apprec-
AG: Uh, I'd like to invite you to come on the bus with us!
-----------------------
Bill Clinton on Larry King Live circa 1991-92:
LK: I wanted to finish the thought here. That's the one break we have before we hit live - that's
an - it's hard to believe we're being watched around the world isnt it? 151 countries.
Clinton: Yeah
LK: (pause) it's scary.
LK: I go to Israel, I'm at the wailing wall, true story, Israel! Never been there before - I went
there with my brother, I'm Jewish, my culture. I'm standing there and there's an old rabbi
praying - old religious Jewish man - he looks up at me and he says "What's with Perot?"
(laughs) swear to God, "What's with Perot?" - in Israel.
Clinton: (laughs) I love it.
LK: It's crazy - Ted Turner changed the world. He's a big fan of yours.
Clinton: Is he.
LK: He would - ah - serve you - you know what I mean.
Clinton: You're kidding?
LK: Oh you'd be surprised - he's ready what's he got left in life to gain. I'd call him after you're elected. Think about it. (pause)
LK: No dope.
Clinton: That's for sure.
LK: Great guy to work for too (crowd noise as show starts again)
"Serve you?" Wow. That's totally gay.
------------
This one is amusing. The anchor comes out to sit down in his chair right after the 2nd verdict
in the Rodney King trial and apparently for the amusement of the show's staff says:
"Ok, I'm standing by ladies and gentlemen. We don't have shit to say. We don't have anything
to do. But by God, the management of this company deems it necessary that I come on the air
at 7 in the morning and shock the shit out of all of you."
--------------------------
The film has a section dealing with the media's coverage of Columbus day. Apparently, there
was only one feed with a Native-American guest, a historian.
Interviewer: You said he presided over the death of a 1/4 million people, that wasn't at his own
hands, that was disease and that sort of thing?
Native: No, no I'm talking about his first two years here. It's pretty well documented that he
took his interpreters, his guides as slaves. Uh, he chopped of the hands of anyone over, any
male over 14 who couldn't bring him gold. He took women as sex slaves for his men.
Interviewer: Dr, I want to thank you for coming by to talk to us today on the Morning Show
Native: You're welcome. That was brief.
Interviewer: (laughs) Hopefully painless, sir.
Then, we hear Uberbitch Katie Couric talking to some people on the set of the show about the
interview after they cut it out.
Man 1: What did he say that made any sense? Anything?
KC: They just you know think that he ruined a paradise and had no respect for nature and
treated the Indians like dog doo and -
Man 1: What the hell does he know?
------
After a relatively tough grilling from Sam Donaldson on his changed abortion stance once he
became the Vice Presidential running mate, Al Gore gets some advice:
Sam Donaldson: Well you haven't given us any specificity about where you stand on it
Senator, in the past, particularly within the House of Rrepresentatives, you voted against
federal funding for abortions, and that meant for poor women.
AG: (pause) In some circumstances..
SD: Well, tell us the circumstances, please..
AG: Alright, the circumstances have involved rape, incest, the life of the mother...
SD: I'm still confused, when you voted against federal funding for abortion, except for the few
circumstances you outlined, had your vote carried the day you would have imposed your belief
on poor women... in this country...
AG: (pause) There was no.. and there is no... national health insurance program today...
(after interview, his aide talks to him during commercial break)
Aide: Cover your mike
(Gore does so)
Aide: Don't be afraid to turn their questions. If they ask about "A" just say... "I want to talk
about" - "You want to talk about" - "I want to talk today ABOUT the new direction of ... in this
country."
AG: Yeah, ok. Ok.
(wipes forehead)
-------------------
Pat Robertson
There's a LOT of Pat in the film and none of it is very nice.
Backstage discussion with CBN (his Christian Broadcasting Network) staffperson on day of 1992 RNC:
PR: I have sent word to keep that Operation Rescue - I don't want one word on this program
this week about Operation Rescue - not one...
SP: We're not - We're not...
PR: I don't want it covered. I don't want to talk about it.
SP: If Ann Stone and that bunch were out there - I mean, we felt like we should cover it
because it was news.
PR: Don't cover anything about the abortion debate any longer because it doesn't matter.
They passed the platform and we need to get the cameras covering our rally...
SP: Oh we're there. We've already been there.
PR: And then you need cameras shooting DeeDee or me sitting in the Vice Presiden't box,
various things, but...
SP: Are you going to be in the President's box or the Vice Presiden'ts box?
PR: Both!
SP: Both.
PR: How many cameras - remote camera crews do we have?
SP: We have two.
PR: You get two reporters and you stick those cameras in the face of anybody you want to and
start asking questions and ask them tough questions... Don't be nice. You know? I mean get
out there. Don't even say who you're from. Say Senator Dole, what do you think? Is the
President going to cut taxes? Do you think this thing in the Persian Gulf might be a military
gimmick... I mean stick it to them. Do you know what I'm saying?
SP: Oh yeah.
PR: ...the camera right in their face, go up, can I ask you a question? Boom.
SP: Will do. Will do it.
PR: If they want to play hardball - we play hardball and that's the hardest of all.
--------------------------------------
Pat Robertson also appeared on Larry King Live during the election year. Here is him talking
with his aides during the commercial break after receiving this call:
(on-air)
CALLER: Um, that Republican convention was one of the most hateful things. I'm a
republican but I'll tell you what, Pat Robertson, personally was one of the reasons why I voted
against George Bush.
LK: Ok Pat, now he's saying you would not let a pro-choice person chair your party.
(pause)
LK: Or you would try to stop it.
PR: He just, uh, contradicted what I just said. I've been sitting in this chair telling you
something different and he said I won't, how does he know what I won't do? Uh, I think if he, he
obviously didn't hear my speech at the convention because it closed with a beautiful story of a
lovely lady holding a little starving child in her arms and.. it was a call for a better world and one nation under God. I can't see how anybody said that was hateful, I don't know where he's
coming from but there's something there that, uh, is not on the surface, I think because I didn't
say the things he said I did. LK: We'll be right back with Pat Robertson and Lynn Martin and more of your phone calls on Larry King Live then Tina Sinatra, don't go away!
(music to commercial break, Pat Robertson watching, smirking, the whole time, there is a
pause then he speaks off camera to one of his aides)
PR: That guy was a homo - as sure as you're alive.
A: Yeah, you didn't look rattled.
A2: The key thing with something like that is, you take the one sentence and turn it around and
go on to another issue. Remeber, you're the one answering the questions. You can talk about
anything you want to.
PR: Yeah, what's that?
A1: Did you get a good question?
PR: No.
A2: This last one is.
PR: That last one yeah, but I didn't get it.
A1: I called them and said who in the heck is screening these calls? I had one person call him
a bigot. I've had another person call him a zealot. Let's get some balance out there.
PR: It's too late. The last one was OK, but the first three were all homosexuals.
A1: I know I know.
PR: I've had this before.
A2: You can answer the question any way you choose to.
PR: I hear you.
A2: Alright. Remember. Take it where you want it to go, take it where you want it to go.
A1: I don't like the producer of this segment.
PR: Well, they were trying to set me up.
A1: That's what they told me. That's what the Harris people told me.
PR: Did they accomplish it or have I come back alright?
A1: No, I think you're fine - I'm just very upset.
A2: It hasn't come across your face as being angry.
PR: I'm not angry, who's angry?
A2: I mean you look good... Just remember - you can answer any way you want.
PR: I hear you. You're right.
-------------------------
President Bush (Sr) on Larry King Live 4 days before the 1992 election, his last public
appearance as President.
LK: What a night, what a finish, what a year for me.
GB: What?
LK: What a year for me. It's been unbelievable. Changed the world. (pause) Did you see that
CNN poll today? (pause) Unbelievable. (pause) Strangest year in the history of man.
GB: Tell me about it.
LK: What?
GB: Tell me about it.
(LK laughs)
GB: I got a darn cold.
LK: You got a cold?
GB: Fever.
LK: My brother is in the drug business - hold on - hold on a second.
GB to crowd : I've got a cold.
(laughter)
(long pause)
(into camera)
LK: Thanks Patrick, right ahead a historic evening, 90 minute special Larry King live with the
President of the United States and your phone calls it's next from Reseem (sp?), Wisconsin.
Don't go away.
(crowd applauds, LK leans into GB)
LK: (whipsering) My brother is in the pharmaceutical business. He says there is a new pill
coming from Israel better than Halcion.
GB: You mean for sleeping or decongestant?.... Great.
I love the fact that these people need sleeping pills.
---------------------------
Pat Robertson watching the election returns in 1992, talking to Tom Brokaw.
(off air)
PR: Clinton's taking New Mexico according to them!... Wow..
Delaware! Wow!
(on air)
Tom Brokaw: Mr. Robertson would you like to reorganize the Republican party around the
Christian tenents you hold so dear?
PR: I would like to see a winning coalition like Ronald Reagan had. I think we've got to get
economic conservatives together with social conservatives and some who are foreign policy
advocates of the foreign policy initiatives that we've seen very successfully over the last 10-12
years .. and to put together that coalition, and I think the last thing we need is recrimination or
finger pointing and that sort of thing, the Republican party will probably have a spelndid
opportunity if we have an economic collapse in the next 2 or 3 years to make a strong
comeback in '96.
TB: Pat Robertson thank you very much.
PR: Thanks
(PR no longer on air, watching Brokaw talk to Bryant Gumble)
PR (to aides off screen, listening intently to Brokaw and Gumble talk): (whispers): He says
we're very important and very well organized in county by county... yes... the new religious
right... they'll organize out of sight of the conventional machinery and go out and win...
--------------
Finally, an interesting bit with Tipper Gore, discovering the existence of the very feeds that the
film was made with.
Techie: But whenever we do a live satellite feed of like a big rally or something -
there was really a very interesting instance - the Buffalo rally. There were some protestors.
And Little Rock saw it - where the advance people couldn't because they were backstage.
TG: Uh huh...
Techie: So the desk - Dwight and those guys called the advance people on the satellite and
said - now walk 10 feet to the left - there's a sign in the camera shot there - edge that guy over.
I mean so it's like Little Rock directed Buffalo and watched it dismantle on television.
And watched the dismantling of a problem.
TG: Yeah. Really!
Techie: And you know the advance person is in a sea of 2000 people, Little Rock was able to
say, I can see you on TV - now go 2 people over to your left. It was really very fascinating.
High tech.
TG: Yeah, that's good.
Techie: So that's why when they said there were shadows on your face, that was Little Rock
calling - and saying there were shadows on your face.
(pause)
Techie: See, everybody watches.
Tipper looks directly into camera and clears her throat uncomfortably.
User Reviews
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-02-14 19:35:26 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
you know what would be better than this?
Footage of Roosevelt, THAT would blow the doors off this mutha....
Submitted by Jimmy (user info) at 2005-02-14 17:14:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I was hoping for something incriminating.
Submitted by xenon (user info) at 2005-02-14 15:29:34 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
that was moderately interesting
Submitted by FelizJbirth (user info) at 2005-02-14 15:13:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-02-14 15:04:55 (#)
Ranking: 1
It's more fun to eavesdrop on the poor and disenfranchised. Their conversations are a damn sight more interesting.
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Often true. But still, Larry King and George Bush swapping news about the latest tranquilizers is always fun to watch. I had no idea this film was available online, I decided to look after I posted and sure enough it now is... It's obviously much better to see this than to read it (and I've left out more than half the movie). If one is interested in hearing these kinds of conversations, don't even waste another second, DOWNLOAD THIS MOVIE!
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2005-02-14 15:04:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
It's more fun to eavesdrop on the poor and disenfranchised. Their conversations are a damn sight more interesting.
Submitted by FelizJbirth (user info) at 2005-02-14 15:01:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Apparently this film is available online now, at http://illegal-art.org/video/index.html#spin