A conspiracy theory started at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground, then expanded down through the bowels of the left blogosphere and plopped onto the mainstream media.
The theory was that Mitt Romney cheated at the debate by using a cheat sheet, via The Week:
The video: A handful of liberal bloggers think they’ve found a way to take Mitt Romney down a notch after his big debate win over President Obama. They’re pointing to a clip in which Romney, after greeting Obama at the showdown’s start, rapidly pulls something flat and white from his pocket and places it on his podium (see the slo-mo video below). Gotcha? Romney critics say it sure looks like he used a cheat sheet to help him hit his prepared points. If so, he might have broken the rules. The Commission on Presidential Debates hasn’t issued new guidelines for the 2012 contests, but it typically forbids the use of “props, notes, charts, diagrams,” or anything else a candidate could use as a crutch. Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul says the cheat-sheet theorists are really reaching. The item in Romney’s hand, she says, was a handkerchief.
The reaction: It appears poor Mitt has been busted, says John Aravosis at America Blog. “Notes? A hanky?” ….
Via NewsBusters, this video has over 330,000 views on YouTube as of this writing:
It plopped onto the mainstream media via a blog post at CBS DC written by Democratic operative Bill Buck, Upon Further Review: Mitt Romney May Have Cheated To Win The Debate:
But there was a moment in the debate that will be discussed in the days ahead that everyone missed until yesterday.
A review of the debate tape reveals that, apparently, Mitt Romney needed a cheat sheet to keep the lies straight.
The rules of the presidential debates are clear about not bringing outside notes and presidents and aspirants have followed the rule for decades.
Video of the first eleven seconds of the debate available on YouTube shows Mitt Romney reaching into his pocket at the moment he is out of view of those in front of him, he used the lectern as a shield, and removing what appears to be folded papers from his pocket.
We see this because the camera that was broadcasting was behind Romney. Those in the audience and the moderator may have been shielded from his sleight of hand, but not the viewers.
In an update Buck admitted he was wrong, but the headline remains.
Atlantic Wire even ran close up images of Romney’s face examining whether there were indications of a cold which might support the defense that it was just a handkerchief.
BuzzFeed seems to have deflated the cheating scandal by pointing out that Romney actually used the handkerchief later in the debate:
Don’t think it’s over. John Aravosis at AmericaBlog is sticking by the theory:
UPDATE: Additional video shows Romney, after the debate is over, after the families have come on stage, suddenly going to back the podium, picking up some papers, folding them up and leaving. Obama, on the other hand, just leaves the stage. What were those papers?
Ugh, probably the notes the candidates were allowed to take during the debate. Obama’s obsessive note taking drove Andrew Sullivan to the edge during the debate:
Just terrible for Obama so far, in my opinion. Again, he keeps looking down to write. He should look him in the eye. thebea.st/RdXvE9
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) October 4, 2012
If Sullivan isn’t into the debate conspiracy theory, you know there’s nothing to it, because he knows about conspiracies.
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Bwahahahaaaa!! THIS is the best they’ve got??? Hahahaa!! I can’t wait for the left’s great WHITE hope JOE BIDEN to trounce Paul Ryan in the debate on Thursday. Oh and by trounce I mean get mercilessly beaten by Ryan with only one arm and half his brain tied behind his back.
Joe Biden is a walking talking ad for the Romney campaign.
Heh. Ryan is going to pick Plugs up by the ankles and beat Obama over the head with him.
What was Obama writing on his hanky anyway?
I think Bill Maher nailed it…
” Obama’s Debate Performance Suggests He Took My Million Dollars And Spent It On Weed”
In typical Bogart asshole fashion, he didn’t share. And you know, it wasn’t swag, either!
No. Class.
Let me the first to reveal that Obama didn’t lose the debate, his double, Clyde, did.
Obama was called back to the White House on an emergency to stop the oceans from rising and to heal the planet, so his double, Clyde, stepped in to take his place. Unfortunately Clyde, whose existence is a previously undisclosed state secret, turns out to be not very bright.
Next debate we’ll see the real Obama, unless, of course he loses, in which case it will have been Clyde, again.
Clyde you say? And here I thought it was his evil twin Skippy!
Nah, Skippy is too Doonesbury. I like Clyde, because it’s slang for “a stupid, inept, or boorish person.”
there was an ipod in the hanky … anyone can see that. /sarc
It would seem these complainers can’t comprehend that a presidential candidate could possibly be so clear and concise, without a teleprompter. It’s a new concept to them.
“Another Zapruder film!” the Left says. This from the folks to whom voter fraud, lying to Congress, hummers (not the vehicle) in the Oval Office and passing bills without reading them is just fine. Wow!
Using the original digital feed, I zoomed in on the object in Romney’s hand. It is clearly cloth and has lettering on it. Changing the image to black and white a raising the contrast, it is not his monogram, WMR.
No, but I can make out the letters: OB MA CR ING T WEL. When run through the Cray 9605 at the lab, I got a partial match as a phrase that is from a 14th Century Latin history of Riesling wines. However, my 86-year old aunt Lola, who never misses Wheel of Fortune, tells me it says, “OBAMA CRYING TOWEL”. Awwwwww. As the Dems say, “Mitt Romney! What a guy!” Ever thoughtful, he is!
Not sure I love the video of the repeat nose-wiping. On the other hand, he used a hanky, whereas Obama picked his nose with his fingers.
Well, it’s not like that dried nasal mucus is going to come out on its own!
He was probably loading up his fingers for the handshake at the end.
The man has so little class he’s easily the anti-class. He’s certainly no gentleman.
The bigger issue is the fact that Obama was so awful that his awfulness has become a punch line. Even his supporters in the comedy world can’t resist the punch line because it’s so obvious. An idea like that tends to go viral. It’s almost like “Yo Mama So Fat” jokes; “Obama so bad…”
For the first time in decades, I’m actually looking forward to watching Saturday Night Live tonight, and I don’t have a clue who the guest is.
Maybe Mitt should get a Sharpie and write “I LOVE” on the back of his left hand and “ANN” on the back of his right hand for Debate #2 so when the #EmptyChair’s cheerleading squad calls him out for “cheating” he can hold up his hands and smile at America and say “We can do better than Obama/Biden.” Better yet, maybe he could forego “Ann” and write “the USA” on the back of his right hand.
I measured one of my handkerchiefs. It’s 3 3/4” x 4”. So, it would be possible to get five (5) points of this or that on a folded side. Flip it over and there could be another five. If you would open one fold, why you could get nearly a scheme for an entire program. I don’t know. Did Romney flip or unfold during the debate? Maybe, it was a high-tech hanky, sort of a “tele-hanky”. Whatever was responsible, I sure hope he brings it to the next two debates!
“MITTMENTUM”
Just out of idle curiosity – assuming Romney did have some notes on paper (and we all know “assume” begins with an ASS) – what did they say? What could he have written there that would help him? The video of the whole
debacledebate is available; where are the clips showing Romney looking down and reading those notes before he answered?Whiney-assed losers.
Take this craziness and expand it exponentially — welcome to November 7th. If they can’t handle a debate setback, how do you think they’re going to handle total defeat?
If it’s close, I expect Florida-style recounts, and lots of them.
All recounts tallied in Spain.
I seem to remember a Fox News interview with Anne Romney on the days leading up to the debate saying the it was her husband’s habit when about to give a lecture or talk to take a piece of paper and right his father’s name on a sheet of paper in order to keep him in his mind as he spoke. Perhaps this is what was going on? I seem to remember that Mr. Romney wrote something on the piece of paper just after placing it on the lecturn.
In an evening of seemingly unending epic fails, Obama realizes he chose the wrong place to write his cheat notes for the debate. D’Oh!!
Andy would only be interested if that note(or hanky) came out of Sarah Palin’s vagina and turned out to be mentally challenged.
THEN, THEN he would be all over it.
If you’re going to cheat you go to Radio Shack and buy a simple in the ear radio receiver like those fake faith healers use. Off camera staff feed you data, sports scores, zingers, whatever you need.
Their next theory:
The white handkerchief, obviously meant to evoke KKK garb, was a dog whistle to Romney’s racist supporters.
Remember, this is the Obama that used to need press conference questions scripted, and even then he was reading his response from a teleprompter. Obama could only handle a no press(ure), no conference, emotive reading of the approved Q&A. He even tried to excommunicate FOX as recalcitrants.
Why are they surprised that Obama can’t offer in-depth answers on his own? Shuck and jive has been his stock in trade. Obama’s mocking tone requires there be no scrutiny, but rather a compliant black church or union hall crowd … or a room full of liberal media
whoressycophants.Maher and Stewart and Matthews seem disillusioned, going through stages of grief. Maybe they actually convinced themselves Obama really was “The One” … but he ain’t all that.
They get their knickers in a knot over an alleged crib sheet, while at the same time they want Obama to be able to use TOTUS.
GAWD, I LOVE the sounds of Lefties sobbing, weeping, keening and snapping their girlish thongs(and, that’s just the Guys!)at a Total Implosion for them. Pound those little fistums, Ladies!!
Smells like…VICTORY.
OT but in the ballpark:
The latest deep thinking from the Left is that Romney is not rich enough:
Romney belongs to the hateful 1%, but he is not rich enough. Got it.
“…suddenly going to back the podium, picking up some papers, folding them up and leaving.”
Good for him, notes he made to himself during the debate are his private property. It is good to know that keeping confidential data secure even in the face of an awesome victory is second nature to Romney.
We all know that the dem-rats would have had an operative up there at the first opportunity to grab those notes.
A conspiracy theory started at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground, then expanded down through the bowels of the left blogosphere and plopped onto the mainstream media.
Plopped is right, because when it hit, it made the same sound as a wet cow dropping hitting sun-baked earth.
SPLAT. And it smells just about as bad.
Really, any Main Stream Moron who touches this with a 10-foot-pole needs to be retired to the funny farm for inability to discern reality from fantasy.