Did Mitt cheat? Sure looks like it...

Before we begin, let's get the obvious stuff out of the way: Even if we can prove that Mitt Romney cheated during the debate, we shouldn't forgive Obama's poor performance. On the other hand, the fact that Obama performed poorly does not mean that we should tolerate Mitt's cheating.

Did he cheat? The photographic evidence seems undeniable.

The evidence comes to us by way of this blogger, previously unknown to me. Her name is Deborah Newell Tornello. My more feminist-minded readers will probably give me The Usual Lecture if I mention that she is quite lovely, so I won't do that.

The gist of her piece comes to this: The rules forbade Mitt Romney from bringing prepared notes, yet he appears to have done just that -- and quite brazenly, I might add. The notepad he placed atop the podium bears no resemblance to the few sheets of blank paper on which the candidates are allowed to make notes during the debate. 

The photos tell the story. The first sequence is key -- and you really must click on it to see these images in their full glory:

Here's a closer shot that speaks for itself:

At the top of this post, I will embed the video of this magic trick in action. Of this video, Deborah writes:

The above screen-grabs, which I hastily threw together last night after hearing about Romney's "cheat-sheets" from various people, are from the :08 second mark through approximately the :11 second mark. Watch the video from the beginning, and keep your eyes on Mitt Romney's right hand as they switch to the camera that's behind the podium, and he reaches into his pocket--retrieving what appears to me to be white note-cards or notebook as he pivots--and quickly tosses it onto the podium. (Both candidates are supplied with blank paper and pens, which you can see are already laid out on both podiums.  Bringing in notes of any kind is prohibited by standard presidential debate rules, an example of which can be seen here, on page 4, 5c.) As I noted on the graphic above, handkerchiefs are normally kept in one of the breast pockets, near one's face; I imagine that Romney and/or his "debate-prep coach" deemed that to be too attention-getting (reaching into the breast pocket), knowing the cameras would be in front and back, and people would be looking at the candidates' faces at that point. So Romney smiled big, keeping the smile frozen on his face even as his back was turned away from the audience.

The tactic worked--I certainly didn't notice him do this when watching it live. Like everyone else, I was looking at the candidates' faces.  But it sure is obvious when viewed on video, though.  See for yourself (again, keep your eyes on Mitt the Magician's right hand as he approaches the podium at the :08 mark onward):

Oh, but it gets better.

What about after the debate? There's more evidence there that Romney cheated, too. Watch this short clip of the very end of the debate, from C-Span (it isn't embeddable), where the families are on the stage. As President Obama, the First Lady, Mrs. Romney, and various Romney sons engage in some "smiling" and stage-chatting for the cameras, you'll see that at the :31 second mark, Romney turns and heads back to his podium. He retrieves his cheat-sheets and hastily folds a sheet of paper around them. He then returns to the cluster of people, and at :55, you can see him attempt to stash the packet in his breast pocket--the right, then the left--and, unable to do this (breast pockets not big enough for the paper-enclosed cheat-sheets?), Romney hands them off to his stone-faced son, who quickly shoves them inside his jacket. Ann Romney can't help but watch the cheat-sheets like a hawk (as Romney rejoins the group, she focuses on them), and once their son has them safely hidden, you can read her lips as she says to her husband:

"We need to get off this stage."

Indeed.

Ms. Tornello -- if you are reading this -- I am jealous. You have made an enviably fine catch. When I made a similar catch (actually, my ladyfriend deserves the honors) in 2004, this humble blog suddenly received massive amounts of traffic. I hope that your site is now experiencing similar attention.

Cannonfire readers, I urge you to hop on over to Ms. Tornello's site and thank her profusely. And please do whatever you can to publicize this story.

Shall we make a big deal out of this? Oh yes. You know damned well that Team Red would not hesitate.

In 2008, the readers of Daily Kos shouted "Get this to Keith!" whenever they came across an interesting piece of news. Today, let's sound a new call: Get this to Jon! And Stephen! And Bill! And Rachel! And Ed! And...

(Thanks to a reader for turning my attention to this remarkable find. Incidentally, does anyone out there recall an overlooked gem of a film called The Emperor's Club? Talk about prophetic!)

Update: The mainstream media have already noted this story. The Romney campaign says that there was no cheat sheet -- just a "hanky." Oh really? That sure looks like a day planner in the frame capture above!

Look carefully at image 3 in our initial sequence above  -- this one shows the blank paper on the podium just before Mitt stands in front of it -- and now look at the later frame of the "day planner." Clearly, there's something new there, and it ain't no hanky. (I'll grant that the small bit of white between the mic and the paper may, in fact be a hanky -- Mitt was seen using one during the debate.)

I'll make the comparison easier for you:

And pay close attention to that CSPAN video of the end of the debate. It sure looks to me as though Mitt has placed his pre-prepared notes inside the blank sheets of paper that were "legal." Undeniably, Ann can't stop herself from gazing at them. That's a sure "tell." If there are any gifted lip-readers in the audience, I would like to see confirmation that she really does speak about the need to get off the stage.