Caught with the Microphone On

Sept. 2, 2006 — -- When CNN reporter Kyra Phillips spoke during President Bush's speech about Hurricane Katrina last week, the world was listening.

"He's married, three kids, and his wife is just a control freak," she said on-air, not realizing her microphone was on.

The clip quickly became a phenomenon replayed on Internet sites like YouTube and spoofed by cable news rivals.

Although the incident became a hotly discussed -- and laughed about -- topic, mistakenly broadcast gaffes are more common than you think.

Even President Bush could probably relate. He was overheard during a political rally in 2000 discussing a reporter.

"There's Adam Clymer, major league a****** from the New York Times," Bush said.

More recently, the president found himself splashed across the Internet again for his "private" comments to British Prime Minister Tony Blair at an international summit.

"What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s*** and it's over," he told Blair.

Bush isn't the only president who's been caught off guard.

Former President Bill Clinton once lashed out at Jesse Jackson before cameras were set to roll.

"It's a dirty double-crossing, back-stabbing thing to do," the then-governor said about Jackson's alleged endorsement of a rival.

Clinton turned out to be wrong. Jackson had not endorsed his opponent.

One media critic thinks people in the public eye need to be more careful.

"Public people have really got to consider the entire world out of their locked doors as an open microphone," said Robert Thompson, a professor of TV and popular culture at Syracuse University.

But this situation doesn't just affect news anchors and politicians.

Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan appeared all smiles at one Walt Disney World event. But her open microphone caught what she was really thinking.

"This is the most corny thing I have ever done," Kerrigan said.

Most people can only hope these miscues fade into cyber obscurity, but Kyra Phillips may just have the last laugh. She recently poked fun at herself on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman.