Oh, yes, they call him "the Cheat..."

The Drudge Report has reported that Kerry has been caught orange-handed cheating during the first presidential debate. As he approached the podium, Kerry was caught by a reverse-angle camera pulling something out of his jacket and unfolding it at the podium. According to the debate rules:

"No props, notes, charts, diagrams, or other writings or other tangible things may be brought into the debate by either candidate.... Each candidate must submit to the staff of the Commission prior to the debate all such paper and any pens or pencils with which a candidate may wish to take notes during the debate, and the staff or commission will place such paper, pens and pencils on the podium..."

[Section 5, pages 4-5 of the rules]

This was a "tangible thing" and it was not placed at the podium beforehand. Whatever it was - and it was very likely some piece of paper - violated the rules. Many Kerry supporters have, of course, dismissed this obvious and gross violation as "meaningless" at best and, at worst, "a lie" used either to distract people from Kerry's "win" or to get some sort of "revenge" due to President Bush's supposed sag in polling numbers.

"So what?" you may ask. It's about trustworthiness. This was a simple rule to follow: DON'T BRING ANYTHING TO THE PODIUM. Kerry chose to ignore that rule. Rules apparently don't matter to him. He's a cheat now and he'd be a cheat as president.