Video: Who Whispered to Romney?

Domenico Montanaro put the post back up over at MSNC First Read, he even included an editor's note and the following update: "After reviewing the tapes, NBC determined that an open mic picked up a whisper from the audience. It is unclear who it is that says it, but it was not said by any of the candidates, was not heard in the hall and, more importantly, not heard by the candidates."

the volume level is way too high to be coming from an earpiece. Also the frequency response of it is too broad to be a small source at a distance. Third if he was getting something fed into his ear, it would be a remote location and the person speaking would be speaking clearly not whispering.

This was a message to russert, there is no doubt about it. Someone else whispered something to him and his mic picked it up. Or a mic nearby. There is no other reasonable explanation that matches what I'm hearing.

No one seems to be hearing this, but listen carefully, and you can hear someone whispering, "He raised taxes" AND you can also hear right after,
"I'm not gonna..." This is how Romney responds as he cuts off the whisperer, " I'm not gonna RAISE taxes." Listen very carefully and you can hear "I'm not gonna," and not only "He raised taxes" This pretty much proves someone giving cues to Romney to repeat. Also it has been confirmed that the whispers did not come from the moderator desk.

I thought it was a clarification by the questioner or co-host.

Gwen Kraft
"Personal Liberty & Personal Responsibility" -- Dr. Ron Paul

Wasn't she always whispering the answers to Ronny too?

Huckadumb and dumber, faux intlligrnce, we'll know "the wisperer" is at work again.

They turn down Dr. Pauls so he can't hear question
They turn up Rudi 9/11, so everyone hears him giggle
NOW, they feed the answers - who knew!

I figured it was probably one of the commentators or other candidates showing off that they knew the trick to the question, UNTIL I read that the sound only came through one channel. That info was briefly on the MSNBC web site, but was quickly removed. Of course, someone grabbed a screen shot. Now I think it is entirely possible that it was bleed through from a wireless device.

is that a producer or fellow moderator attempted to correct Russert's question by adding that Reagan "raised taxes" - otherwise the question is incomplete.
"what reagan did in 1983" ? Maybe romney heard what WE heard and that is why he replied "I wouldn't raise taxes".

Russert then interrupted Romney's answer to add to his question.....how reagan raised taxes.

This is the most plausible explanation. Do we want to pretend that this most reasonable explanation has no merit to help put pressure on the other side and make them look bad? I have no interest in playing that game.
Sounds like the same old political games that we get so mad about when used against Ron Paul.

Why don't we just drop it already and set ourselves up to look foolish?

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"Make fun, buddy" ~ Ron Paul to Mitt Romney (on behalf of the American people who are tired of being stolen from and lied to) at fauxnewz debate-Jan 10, 2008
(google Murray Sabrin)

so I've heard...

"They're everywhere."

http://www.boston.com/bus...

http://www.dailypaul.com/...

Rich Sage
http://www.richsage.com

It was probably Brian Williams whispering to Tim Russert that he should clarify his question for the benefit of the audience; Perhaps most people don't know what Reagan did in '83, "[he] raised taxes".
No device in Mitt's ear would have sounded so clear in the final audio mix. This was obviously someone whispering near a broadcasting microphone.

He whispered it because raising taxes is not something republicans are supposed to talk about.

All of you who pursue this with such vigor are doing Dr. Paul a MAJOR dis-service!

The real focus of our attention should be:

1) the question Dr. Paul posed to John McCain (easily verified and agreed-to by all witnesses) regarding the Plunge Protection Team and their behind-the-scenes manipulation of the financial markets, and

2) John McCain's blatant ignorance of what he was being asked, much less what was coming out of his mouth. Please see Dr. Paul in his post-debate mingling with supporters and listen to him state that McCain was citing members of the PPT without even knowing it! This is pure gold!!

to the man behind the curtain!

The acoustics of the speaker's voice that said "raise taxes" suggests some distance from the microphone to the speaker in an environment of strong reflections. I am guessing the voice came from behind Romney and it picked up a secondary reflection off the side of the auditorium to produce echo sounds in the voice.

Vote RON PAUL 2008
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No one is standing to his right side; that's MCCAIN standing to his immediate left.

Now who might that have been? Seems obvious to me.

I'd like to go to the real YouTube video and post a comment, see other comments and possibly get this video pushed up to the front page of YouTube so Romney will be forced to address it.

Sci Fi channel need to send ghost hunters on this one ASAP!!!

I love Dr. Paul and his supporters!!!

Maybe it was a dreaded Islamofacist screwing with the debate. OHH THE HORROR OF IT ALL!!!!!!

First off why was this voice only heard for this comment. If he had someone feeding him lines, maybe the audio was turned up briefly. It's possible it was another candidate or someone in the crowd. But I don't see why another candidate would say anything, and if they did why would they whisper? As for an audience member, why would they be talking into a mic?

Considering Romney's history of changing his stances, I don't think it's far fetched to assume it was a direct feed to Romney. To me, he is so clearly the most rehearsed, and fraudulent candidate.

Not only that, listen to this. On MSNBC's "First Read" site (firstread.msnbc.msn.com) the following entry was posted at 10:46PM:
_______________________________________

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum and NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
After Russert asked Romney the question on Reagan -- "Will you do for social security what Ronald Reagan did in 1983?" -- there is an audible statement in just one channel of audio saying "not raise taxes."

Then Romney says "I'm not going to raise taxes..."

First Read commenters also noticed this -- where did this come from?
________________________________________

This post vanished from the site a short while after it was originally posted, but I still have a screenshot of it. If you type in the web address for where the post was you simply get an error message.

It was probably Huckabee making a stupid joke, to insinuate Romney needed help.

people heard that way before the video came out. And watch his head he looks like he's kind trying to hear something from behind.

i heard the whisper last night. Sounds like one of the yahoos on stage blurted out in a 'pick me! pick me!' way. But, this being the daily paul, will turn it into a huge controversy and/or conspiracy while all the while ignoring the fact that the particpants were mostly a collection of idiots.

My Dad thinks somebody on Youtube created the whisper. He's a Romney supporter but is moving toward RP. Does anybody have a great source where this issue is being discussed?

Has the OM picked it up?

If someone said it 10 seconds to clarify it everyone heard it If I was Romney i would want it clarified it looked like someone feeding him answers

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent" Thomas Jefferson

Why focus on such an insignificant portion of last night's debate? There is NO way to determine where that whisper came from OR who was able to hear it. This is a distraction. Mike, there are much better posts to focus on than this one.