Strange Whisper Before Romney Answer Perplexes Debate Viewers
Forget Dennis Kucinich’s claims about seeing UFOs. The new unsolved mystery of the campaign trail is the “whisper.”
The blogosphere was abuzz Friday morning over an audible whisper that cut through the mix during the GOP presidential debate in Boca Raton, Fla., the night before.
It’s unclear who it was, but the voice could be heard after moderator Tim Russert asked Mitt Romney whether, as a fan of Ronald Reagan, he would “do for Social Security what Ronald Reagan did in 1983.”
Right before Romney answered, somebody seemed to whisper: “He raised taxes.”
And then Romney responded, as if taking the cue, “I’m not going to raise taxes.”
So where did the whisper come from?
A fellow candidate? A techie? An earpiece? Brian Williams? (Williams was also moderating.)
The former Massachusetts governor didn’t appear to be wearing any kind of wire or earpiece - but bloggers and those who comment on their Web sites are scratching their heads over where the voice came from.
Web site The Raw Story wrote in a brief article about the incident Friday that some are accusing Romney of “shenanigans” - like waiting for a prompt before answering the question.
The Romney campaign has not yet responded to a request for comment from FOX News.
Jeremy Gaines, a spokesman for debate sponsor MSNBC, said in an e-mail to FOXNews.com, “We heard the same thing you heard. There was obviously an open mike which picked up the whisper, but we have no way of knowing who did the whispering.”
The whispers about the whisper are reminiscent of the Internet speculation in 2004 over whether George W. Bush was wearing a wire during a debate, after photos showed what appeared to be an unusual bulge on his back.
Bush denied he was getting a feed from his aides, and laughed off the rumors.
Click here to see the YouTube video of the whisper at the GOP debate in Florida.
ok… if it was mitts “earpeace” as you all like to think, than why did you only hear it ONE time out of al the times he spoke? you really cant be serious if you think that.. and so what if he said the same thing the voice said, anybody who knows ANYTHING about politics knows what the answer was and that he did in fact race taxes, so you really think a presidential candidate needed to know that? Truly pathetic what you people think..
There were mike problems all night long during that debate. If you recall, as the station went to their first break, you can clearly hear the moderators exclaiming over all of the emails they were receiving from various other campaigns (we learned later from chris matthews-i believe) refuting claims that the republicans were making. So, if there was anyone making remarks, it was surely one of the moderators, and my money would be grumpy ole chris… his coverage lately is completely biased.
I’m still undecided, but only if I can’t vote Sharpton for the amusement factor. I just get such a kick out of that guy….
Jared,
THANK YOU, I’ve been trying to get folks to understand this since it happened. You did it very well.
OK FOX, you’ve had plenty of time to read MSNBC’s recounting of what happened, you’ve heard from experts, like Jared here. Don’t you think it is about time to change/update your story. NOOOOOoooo, this is too much of a good thing for you. You’ve been looking for safe ways to bash Romney ever since he started. When are you going to get a clue, the American People want MITT and you can’t change that. So stop bashing and start reporting the news!
WOW!
im guessing they will turn this around, and make it ron pauls fault somehow….or is this just faux news way of not reporting the fact that mccain HAD ABSOLUTLY NO IDEA what pauls question to him was?…..
we need a little more “SUNSHINE” on this matter@!
The voice of GOD.
It sounded like McCain to me.
Also, “Mormon” is a nickname for the Church of JESUS CHRIST of latter day saints.. To those who are attacking the Mormon faith in these comments — I challenge you to email me: depquarm@gmail.com
Go Mitt.
all this anti romney pro mccain is driving me nuts, consider this the last time i will give any attention to my old friend turned liberal advocates foxnews.
NBC claims it was Brian Williams whispering to Russert.
Why don’t you report that?
It’s no surprise, I find it’s also funny how Romney catches McCain in Florida without and Headlines! Yet in NH, for a solid week we had nothing but MAC is BACK and WHAT A COMEBACK!
Give it up. GO MITT
One further note to my post above:
MSNBC could clear this up really easy. With all of the cameras trained on the different candidates and moderators, it would be fairly easy for them to go back to that moment of the broadcast and review what the other cameras saw. Chances are that one of the cameras picked up either a moderator or another candidate whispering the phrase. But will MSNBC do that? No. Their content I’m sure to let this whirlwind in a teapot swirl around Romney as long as it hurts his chances of acquiring the nomination.
THANK YOU RICK H!!! You have summed it ALL up very well. We don’t need the democrats to defeat us in November, us Republicans are doing a good job of of it all on our own. This smear campaign going on within our own inner circles with be the final nail in the Republican party’s coffin, not the election in November. I have never seen anything like it…we have been reduced to childish behavior and this is coming from ADULTS!! Yes, I have my favorite candidate and some of the others pale in comparison, IMO of course but I most certainly wouldn’t stay home on election day because my man did not get the nomination…that is RIDICULOUS at best and the same as pulling the lever for Clinton or Obama. I actually heard one of my “idols” say on his radio show that if McCain gets the nomination it is the same as voting for Hillary…ARE YOU KIDDING ME??????? One thing I can guarantee you is that there is a WORLD of difference between Commander-In-Chief Clinton and Commander-In-Chief McCain, not to mention the VAST difference in the judges they would appoint and I could go on and on and on….WE REPUBLICANS NEED TO QUIT THE POUTING, FOOT STOMPING, ARM FOLDING STUBBORNNESS AND QUIT ACTING LIKE DEMOCRATS!!!!!!!!!!
Funny thing is I hang around Ron Paul supporters. Everytime anyone asks a political question I hear them whisper “raise marijuana” Coincidence? You decide.