The Political Twilight Zone

Presidential campaigns are plagued with conspiracy theories.

The latest one developed after Thursday night's MSNBC Republican debate in Florida and involves Mitt Romney.

Check out the audio that has caused a fury of speculation:




Did you catch that? A mystery voice whispering "raise taxes" right after Tim Russert completes his question and seconds before Romney answers the question.

The conspiracy theory that immediately began floating around blogs and news organizations was Romney has someone whispering in his ear. Some news channels were even comparing it to the 2004 Bush/Kerry debate in which Bush was believed to have wiring under his coat.

Co-moderator, Brian Williams, also heard the voice. Williams posted on his blog:

I remember looking around stage with a start - scanning the faces of the candidates, trying to figure out who had just said that.

However, MSNBC reported Friday that this mystery voice was an audience member and the microphone on stage picked up chatter. None of the candidates heard the whisper.

So it appears another conspiracy theory has been solved.

Or has it.

The blog, Dirt Rhodes Scholar, has an interesting post saying this wasn't the only time a whisper occurred during the debate. During another Mitt Romney response, there apparently is a voice saying "support."

Check out the video:




Is Mitt Romney conspiring against the other Republican candidates by having his people whisper in his ear while he is live on stage.?

Or maybe its the Democrats conspiring against Mitt Romney, making all these whispers up in hopes of destroying Romney's chances.

Perhaps its all just one big conspiracy in the Political Twilight Zone.

Non-presidential debates

Monday night's democratic debate created a frenzy on the internet.

CNN streamed the event live on its website while bloggers around the country posted minute-by-minute updates. Viewers got in on the action as well, posting their opinions and predictions on blogs and websites. Transcripts, audience reaction and political analysis were available almost immediately after the debate.

Today, it's hard to imagine a presidential election season without debates. However, this was not the case a mere 100 years ago.

For the greater part of the 19th and the earlier part of the 20th century, there was almost no demand -- or desire -- for debates, and citizens read newspapers if they wanted to get a candidate's views. This CNN article provides an interesting look at presidential debate history.

So what caused a surge of interest in debates?

Technology, of course and even more specifically TV.

In 1960, Nixon and Kennedy battled it out in the first televised presidential debate and new era of politics was born. People no longer had to turn to newspapers. They could now see candidates discussing issues and answering questions in an unprecedented way.

Today, almost 50 years later, we're in the midst of another change in the media's coverage of politics. People have almost an unlimited access to presidential debates. Now if you aren't near a TV you can watch a debate on the web or read the play-by-play on the blog of your choice.

What if you missed the debate completely? Watch it on YouTube.

Here you go, part one:




What makes all this even more ground-breaking is the level of interaction the public has with these debates.

In earlier debates this season, like the CNN/YouTube sponsored Democratic and Republican debates, viewers could submit questions for the candidates via video on YouTube. In addition, the Facebook/ABC/WMUR Republican and Democratic debate featured polls from Facebook as well as comments and questions during the broadcast.

On the above video from Monday, people commented on the YouTube page about what they thought of the debate.

Some comments contain endorsements like this one:

Socialization is a bastardization of the way this country was founded and intended. Republican policies are the much more intelligent decision, especially given our country's already weakened economic situation ... Vote RON PAUL for conservative fiscal policies that will help to revive the economy, not just hand out assistance through a rampant depression.

while others are rebuttals:

You fucking ididot! It happened on the Cons' watch.just like every other recession and depression. They all start when Cons are in the White House. It's always the Dems that have to come in and clean up after your morons.

Furthermore, live blogs, like this one The New York Times held Monday, also encourage discussion -- if in a slightly more professional forum.

As the candidates debate, the country debates among themselves. One can only hope this leads to a more informed country.