Romney Whisper (new information)

[leipo]

For those not familar with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NlIMQ31EjY

Here are some facts i could find on this:

-The whisper was received on the same channel as Mitt Romney's microphone (each candidate has their own channel).

-Mitt Romney's wireless microphone (receiver/tranmitter parts) was determined to be malfunctioning. Which may explain why the mic's receiver picked up the whisper feed along with the mic feed.

-MSNBC has checked all the video footage & audio feeds and made sure the whisper didn't come from either one of the candidates or one of the moderators. Those wearing mic's not recorded by cameras (in the audience) were contacted and denied being responsible. Obviously MSNBC contacted their own staff aswell.

-Mitt Romney has used ear pieces before. Here is a quote from Jerry Zandstra who was at the 'Defending the American Dream Summit' on January 12:

“During Gov. Romney’s speech, one of his handlers mentioned to one of our staff people that any time Gov. Romney needed to wrap things up, he would be happy to let Gov. Romney know through the ear-piece that he wore.” (note how he didn't notice the earpiece himself)

I have a feeling he cheated. How can we get someone to thoroughly investigate this?
Someone needs to do professional sound analysis. Maybe some specialized company will do it for free to get their name out there (if they succeed in exposing). How can we get this ball rolling?

 

[Matt Collins]

I am a professional audio engineer. I do sound at concerts, for broadcast, and in recording studios.

In my PROFESSIONAL opinion this was either another candidate whispering to themselves, one of the judges whispering to each other, or someone in the audience whispering to themselves/Romney and just happened to get picked up by the crowd mic.

 

[wortguy]

if it was an earpiece malfunction- why would they need to whisper? The volume would be such that the helper speaking into the piece could talk normally.
so your theory makes no sense - sorry.
I do believe that we may get incomplete, vague, and confusing answers to keep us fixated on this, because it does not help our cause and is a distraction that makes us look silly to most people.

 

[Matt Collins]

I have shared this with my colleagues in the audio business. You can read their responses here:

http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/287230/2112/#msg_287230

 

[leipo]

I am a professional audio engineer. I do sound at concerts, for broadcast, and in recording studios.

In my PROFESSIONAL opinion this was either another candidate whispering to themselves, one of the judges whispering to each other, or someone in the audience whispering to themselves/Romney and just happened to get picked up by the crowd mic.

Well it can't be another candidate or any of the moderators because all the footage was carefully checked for this possibility by MSNBC right after the debate.
It can be someone from the audience, but according to MSNBC it can't be anyone who had one of their microphones on.
But of course, the whisperer could've been in the audience (although i don't think he was talking to himself) or anywhere near where he could hear the moderators directly. If he would've been watching it "live" on TV, there would have been a delay of a few seconds and he wouldn't be able to prompt so swiftly as he did.

 

[leipo]

if it was an earpiece malfunction- why would they need to whisper? The volume would be such that the helper speaking into the piece could talk normally.
so your theory makes no sense - sorry.
I do believe that we may get incomplete, vague, and confusing answers to keep us fixated on this, because it does not help our cause and is a distraction that makes us look silly to most people.

Well the whisperer was most likely in the hall himself to hear the moderators live.
Second of all, McCain was standing right next to him in a relatively quiet hall.

 

[leipo]

I have shared this with my colleagues in the audio business. You can read their responses here:

http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/287230/2112/#msg_287230

Nice, i hadn't seen that link.

 

[Matt Collins]

Well it can't be another candidate or any of the moderators because all the footage was carefully checked for this possibility by MSNBC right after the debate.

Proof? Link?

It can be someone from the audience, but according to MSNBC it can't be anyone who had one of their microphones on.

Please explain this because it makes zero sense.

If he would've been watching it "live" on TV, there would have been a delay of a few seconds and he wouldn't be able to prompt so swiftly as he did.

Not necessarily. Some stations exit out of their delay for live events.

 

[Matt Collins]

Second of all, McCain was standing right next to him in a relatively quiet hall.

Huh? What do you mean? Please rephrase this comment.

 

[leipo]

Proof? Link?

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/25/609835.aspx

"and we’re looking through tape of other candidates to see if it was one of them."

"*** 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"

So according to them it was an open mic in the audience. Did you hear how clear the whisper was? These mics are at least 10 feet away from any audience member and are not highly-sensitive mics. And for some reason the mic is only on just before Romney has to answer.

Please explain this because it makes zero sense.

Well the whisperer/prompter could be in the audience, why not? And there was a local journalist in the audience who got to speak i think (i haven't seen the whole debate so i'm not sure) who had a microphone and possibly more. But obviously MSNBC contacted these people to make sure the whisper was not coming from one of them. Their conclusion is an open mic.

Not necessarily. Some stations exit out of their delay for live event

It still goes via satellite, so i think there still is a short delay.

 

[leipo]

Huh? What do you mean? Please rephrase this comment.

Sorry, my english is pretty bad. He was asking me why the prompter would whisper. I'll try to explain.

John McCain was standing close to Mitt Romney with not much noise surrounding (it's quiet when the moderators are talking). If there was a clear normal voice on his ear-piece, McCain might have heard something and look up. That's to be avoided of course.

 

[leipo]

bump

 

[leipo]

Anyone know what kind of company does professional sound analysis? I've been trying to google it with no succes. I'd like to see somebody professional looking into this, to:

- get the exact quote(s).
- find out if it only happened those 2 times and only when Romney was speaking.
- look at the possibility of recording such a clear whisper with an open mic some feet way.
- look at the click at the end and confirm or deny of it had anything to do with the whisper.

 

[randomname]

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/25/609835.aspx

"and we’re looking through tape of other candidates to see if it was one of them."

"*** 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"

I guess that's it then. Do you guys really think MSNBC would keep it to themselves if the wisper came from Romney's supposed earpiece?

 

[Agora]

I have shared this with my colleagues in the audio business. You can read their responses here:

http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/m/287230/2112/#msg_287230

this responce is something I've wanted to hear :

[\QUOTE] Nathan Short

Mitt Romney has more money personally than any candidate running. He hires many people to write his speeches, help him prepare, and do his research. It sounds like he was getting a prompt from a person to help him respond intelligently, so that he did not seen uninformed.[/QUOTE]

 

[rpf2008]

I am a professional audio engineer. I do sound at concerts, for broadcast, and in recording studios.

In my PROFESSIONAL opinion this was either another candidate whispering to themselves, one of the judges whispering to each other, or someone in the audience whispering to themselves/Romney and just happened to get picked up by the crowd mic.

Thank you for sharing your professional opinion. I place high value on your comments (seriously).

 

[austinchick]

come on, he was wired

 

[leipo]

I guess that's it then. Do you guys really think MSNBC would keep it to themselves if the wisper came from Romney's supposed earpiece?

They are not keeping anything to themselves. What makes you think that?
They have been very open about it and tried to find out what happened. Although they couldn't find it out they had to come up with a statement that not places the blame on Romney.

 

[Jim_Karr]

They are not keeping anything to themselves. What makes you think that?
They have been very open about it and tried to find out what happened. Although they couldn't find it out they had to come up with a statement that not places the blame on Romney.

Dirt to help Hillary could be why. They will save it all till the time to use it.

 

[leipo]

I'm confused to why there is not much interest in this (not concerning my thread, but the subject in general)? It seems to have blown over and never got much serious attention in the first place.
I'm definitely not the paranoid type but the amount of evidence is enough to raise some serious suspicion.
Why are these so-called 'truthers' not all over this? Is it because there is too much evidence and not enough room to speculate? I don't get it.