Did I miss the "battling green eyeshade" thing?

[Paragon]

I'm watching the debate on tape, and they're discussing domestic issues now.

Did this "eyeshade" business come early or late in the debate?

[blondeatlast]

1. I missed that reference too.

But damn if I'm not intrigued by it.

[pacalo]

2. I heard it clearly when he said it but I have no idea what he meant by it.

[Paragon]

3. At what point of the debate did he say it?

Early? Later?

[blondeatlast]

4. It's a Canuck conspiracy to keep us in suspense so that we

won't notice them poisoning us with their drugs and timber...

[elperromagico]

7. Damn Canadians with their third-world drugs and... uhh... Internets!!!

[pacalo]

9. Here it is...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/debatereferee/debate_1008.html

KERRY: I've even scaled back some of my favorite programs already, like the child-care program I wanted to fund and the national service program, because the president's deficit keeps growing and I've said as a pledge, "I'm going to cut the deficit in half in four years."

Now, I'm going to restore what we did in the 1990s, ladies and gentlemen: pay as you go. We're going to do it like you do it. The president broke the pay-as-you-go rule.

Somebody here asked the question about, "Why haven't you vetoed something?" It's a good question. If you care about it, why don't you veto it?

I think John McCain called the energy bill the "No Lobbyist Left Behind" bill.

I mean, you've got to stand up and fight somewhere, folks.

I'm pledging I will not raise taxes; I'm giving a tax cut to the people earning less than $200,000 a year.

Now, for the people earning more than $200,000 a year, you're going to see a rollback to the level we were at with Bill Clinton, when people made a lot of money.

KERRY: And looking around here, at this group here, I suspect there are only three people here who are going to be affected: the president, me, and, Charlie, I'm sorry, you too.

(LAUGHTER)

GIBSON: Mr. President, 90 seconds.

BUSH: He's just not credible when he talks about being fiscally conservative. He's just not credible. If you look at his record in the Senate, he voted to break the caps -- the spending caps -- over 200 times.

And here he says he's going to be a fiscal conservative, all of a sudden. It's just not credible. You cannot believe it.

And of course he's going to raise your taxes. You see, he's proposed $2.2 trillion of new spending. And you say: Well, how are you going to pay for it? He says, well, he's going to raise the taxes on the rich -- that's what he said -- the top two brackets. That raises, he says $800 billion; we say $600 billion.

BUSH: We've got battling green eye shades.

Somewhere in between those numbers -- and so there's a difference, what he's promised and what he can raise.

[KC21304]

5. Accountants ( or bean counters, as they were called )

were always shown in the movies wearing green visors, or eye shades. So when Kerry and Bush were disageeing on some budget numbers, Bush mumbled something about battling green eye shades.

Seems to me it was somewhere in the middle of the debate. I think Kerry was talking about his health care plan, Bush said it would cost 2.3 trillion and Kerry disagreed.

[Castilleja]

6. I saw it and was puzzled, but

then I thought maybe he was referring to differing opinions of 2 money people, you know, as in accountants who wore those green visors a long time ago. Or it could be a gambling reference.....or it could be he was distracted momentarily by two women with green eyeshadow?

[elperromagico]

8. Sounds like the kind of anachronistic expression Poppy would have used.

[scottcsmith]

10. I figured it out

It's a summoned creature from the game, "Magic The Gathering."

Or maybe "Pokemon."

One of the two, I'm certain.

[realisticphish]

12. how dare you!

thou shalt not befoul the name of M:tG by combining it with pokemon! i smiteth thee!

but, funny nonetheless

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[tinrobot]

11. I'm wearing my battling-green-eyeshades

While buying wood on the internets

[ronzo]

13. So... "BUSH: We've got battling green eye shades."

means 'we have conflicting accounting numbers.'

dubya -> english