Voices without bulges

(I'm following up on dr. e's post below...) Andrew Sullivan does not tell us who put together this "enhanced" version of the now-infamous Romney clip, nor do we learn just which enhancement techniques were used. Presuming the "Sullivan version" of the video to be on the level, we now have undeniable evidence of prompting.

The whispered voice clearly says: "He raised taxes. I'm not going to raise taxes." These words offer a direct response to Russert's "gotcha" question about Reagan.

We can thus discount all previous arguments that an open mike caught an audience member or a newsperson. Why would an audience member speak in Romney's persona, using the "I'm not going to..." formulation? Only an off-stage helper would do so.

John Aravosis at Americablog writes that "Romney's staff admits he wears an earpiece through which they tell him what to do." Aravosis apparently derives his information from this conservative site, in which a writer claims that he attended a Romney event in Michigan, where...

...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.

This assertion is disputed by one Amy Hagerstrom, Michigan Director of Americans for Prosperity (which put on the event). She says that she did not observe any earpiece. I'll take her at her word -- and then I'll ask a couple of follow-up question:

Would MSNBC's microphones have picked up an earpiece signal? Would Romney have needed such a device?

Earpieces are so 2004. "Directed audio" is a new technology, created for the military, which can narrow the focus of an audio beam. One person hears the voice; the people standing next to him do not. The "Audo Spotlight" (as one system is called) creates a column of sound only one foot wide.

The Audio Spotlight transmitters range from several inches in diameter to about 20 inches and generate a column of sound between one to three degrees wider than the transmitter.

Field testing of such gadgetry neatly explains the rising number of people who claim to hear "locutions" from the Virgin Mary and other celestial worthies.

The "directed audio" theory allows us to comprehend why the voice spoke in a whisper. In order to maintain line-of-sight, the prompter would need to be in the same hall, and thus would fear being overheard by anyone standing nearby.

Another advantage of this technology is that it requires no devices worn on the back. This humble blog first gained a large audience with a series devoted to the Bush "bulge." No 2008 candidate would dare to repeat that trick; a new approach became necessary. In a sense, Cannonfire and other snarky blogsters have accelerated the pace of technological innovation.