Return of The Bulge

One of the more humorous election "scandals" we in the media covered last year, sort of, was the "controversy" over the mysterious bulge in President Bush's jacket during the first debate.

Let's set aside that there were all kinds of true scandals we in the media might have pursued during the election but did not, instead choosing to spend our limited resources vetting the candidates' records on a 30-year-old war.

Anyway, this won't make my left-wing friends happy: apparently the New York Times was set to publish an "October surprise"-type story on the bulge but killed it because editors decided it was incomplete and/or unfair.

Lex says that if true, New York Times executive editor Bill Keller ought to be fired. But I'm kind of on Keller's side on this one.

Seems that the killed story was based on the following sources: a NASA scientist with unclear political motives who had enhanced a photo and claimed the bulge was some kind of electronic device; a manufacturer of such devices who agreed with the scientist; and a third photo analyst who also said the bulge was a device.

That's a story, but I don't think it's the kind of bulletproof knock-out punch you run five days before the election. The missing information: administration or campaign sources or documents acknowledging that Bush was wired. Tough to get, maybe even impossible? Sure. But in my book, that's the bar that's got to be met for an October surprise.