These attacks were highly effective, and Bush's response was to mobilize his media
budget for more screenings of his World War II "flight of the Avenger" television spot,
while he prepared a last- minute television dirty trick. There was to be no debate between
Bush and Yarborough, but this did not prevent Bush from staging a televised "empty
chair" debate, which was aired on more than a dozen stations around the state on October
- The Bush campaign staff scripted a debate in which Bush answered doctored quotes
from audio tapes of Yarborough speaking, with the sentences often cut in half, taken out
of context, and otherwise distorted. Yarborough responded by saying: "The sneaky trick
my opponent is trying to pull on me tonight of pulling sentences of mine out of context
with my recorded voice and playing my voice as a part of his broadcast is illegal under
the law, and a discredit to anyone who aspires to be a US Senator. I intend to protest this
illegal trick to the Federal Communications Commission." Bush's method was to "cut my
statements in half, then let his Madison Avenue speech writers answer those single
sentences." "My opponent is an exponent of extremism, peddling smear and fear
wherever he goes." "His conduct looks more like John Birch Society conduct than United
States Senate conduct," Yarborough added. Bush also distorted the sound of
Yarborough's voice almost beyond recognition.
Yarborough protested to the FCC in Washington, alleging that Bush had violated section
315 of the Federal Communications Act as it then stood, because Yarborough's remarks
were pre-censored and used without his permission. Yarborough also accused Bush of
violation of section 325 of the same act, since it appeared that parts of the "empty chair"
broadcast were material that had been previously broadcast elsewhere, and which could
not be re-used without permission. The FCC responded by saying that the tapes used had
been made in halls where Yarborough was speaking.
All during the campaign, Yarborough had been talking about the dangers of electronic
eavesdropping. He had pointed out that "anybody can be an eavesdropper, a wiretapper, a
bugger, who has a few dollars for the cheaper devices on the market. Tiny recorders and
microphones are now made to resemble lapel buttons or tie clasps...Recorders can also be
found the size of a book or a cigarette pack. There is a briefcase available with a
microphone built into the lock, and many avilable recorders may be carried in briefcases,
while the wrist-watch microphone is no longer a product used by Dick Tracy-- it can
actually be bought for $37.50." Yarborough charged during the primary campaign period
that his Washington office had been wiretapped, and years later indicated that the CIA
had been bugging all of Capitol Hill during those years. [fn 29]
Bush was also smarting under Yarborough's repeated references to his New England birth
and background. Bush claimed that he was no carpetbagger, but a Texan by choice, and
compared himself in that regard to Sam Rayburn, Sam Houston, Austin, Colonel Bill
Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and other heroes of the Alamo. Bush was not hobbled
by any false modesty. At least, Bush asserted lamely, he was not as big a carpetbagger as
Bobby Kennedy, who could not even vote in New York state, where he was making a
successful bid for election to the Senate. It "depends on whose bag is being carpeted,"
Bush whined.