October 5, 2012

"Yes it could be a hanky. But it falls kind of heavy, and stays uniform in it's [sic] fold."

"Plus it is flat.  I have never seen a man's hanky be so uniform and flat coming from a front pant's pocket.  Back pocket, yes, breast pocket in a jacket, yes.. but not the front pant pocket."

Daily Kos, theorizing that Romney had a "cheat sheet" during the debate, during which no notes were permitted.

It was a hanky. So Obama's would-be helpers — attempting to besmirch Romney — succeeded only calling attention, once again, to what nearly everybody thought they saw on Thursday: Romney's superior preparation, ability to think on his feet, and eloquence.

ADDED: Gawker gives the history of debate conspiracy theories, and in one of them I — of all people — am the conspiracy theorist. 

72 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Romney had a cheat-sheet!"

"BLS is cooking the jobs numbers!"

Let these two asses be set to grind corn.

SteveR said...

Pathetic

mccullough said...

Obama's smart and knowledgeable. Romney's smarter and more knowledgeable and a better debater. He also doesn't have a shit record to defend.

It's that simple.

McTriumph said...

Romney is a gentleman, he only brought the hanky along to wipe the blood from the President's lip if need be. He should have brought a tampon.

john said...

So this means it's not Jim Lehrer's fault? The story changes so fast.

test said...

A year from now the left will be repeating this as fact - and the reason Obama lost.

To pull a Kaus - must have three examples.

1. Bush v Gore.
2. Swift Boat.
3. ???.

I'll think of a third.

Patrick said...

So funny. Like everything else about the President: It's someone else's fault.

a handkerchief. Seriously.

Shanna said...

Someone at Ace mentioned the 'secret earpiece' of GWB's. Conspiracy theories are fun.

DADvocate said...

The Taranto Principle - someone brought it up yesterday. But, this is another example of the Taranto Principle in action.

chickelit said...

Suppose Obama really can't debate well? How will he overcome this mismatch?

coketown said...

Unless Romney scribbled his notes on Obama's forehead, a cheat sheet wouldn't have done much good. He didn't look down enough to use it.

Maybe he was wired like W.? Or has some sort of Batman-style technology that only extremely wealthy people can afford to know about--let alone afford to own.

Hankygate makes BLS truthers look positively stable.

traditionalguy said...

That flat thing might have been the 7th hidden Tax Return containing the proof of Tax Fraud on the Swiss Gold held in his Cayman Islands secret accounts.

I suspect that it is so dangerous to him that Romney carries it on his person so that no one can find it.

McTriumph said...

If you watched the debate you would have noticed Romney continually wiping perspiration off his upper lip. He didn't want to look like Nixon on TV. The white Nixon, not he black Nixon standing behind the other podium.

Patrick said...

I thought someone was railing against conspiracy theorists on an earlier thread.

Sorun said...

If he put on some reading glasses and "have to sneeze" everytime he was asked a question, that would've been suspicious.

furious_a said...

I'll think of a third

3. Pocket square decoder/transmitter.

Balfegor said...

Does Kos even use a handkerchief?

I have never seen a man's hanky be so uniform and flat coming from a front pant's pocket.

I mean, what is this?

(a) picture is not that clear that you could necessarily tell.

(b) my cotton handkerchieves(sp?) are pretty flat when they come out of my trouser pockets, whether front or back because (i) my trousers have pockets on the sides, not the front (not jeans), so the pocket contents don't crumple much when standing and sitting, (ii) the handkerchief cotton is stiff (I air-dry) and (iii) that's how I fold them after they finish drying.

chickelit said...

Yesterday bagoh20 wrote: the slight bulge in the back of Romney jacket? Oxygen. Probably delivered through the anus, which is near his chakra.

10/4/12 2:31 PM


It's even funnier in the context of today's conspiracy.

TosaGuy said...

So what the KosKids are saying is that all it takes to beat Obama to a rhetorical pulp is a hanky?

Is that their actual argument or did the RNC hack their site?

Tim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tim said...

A linen handkerchief (the only kind to have, really) lies stubbornly flat once properly ironed.

I'm willing to go out on a limb here and guess that Romney's handkerchiefs are linen rather than cotton or, worst of all, cotton/poly blends. Ugh.

That no one from the empty-headed, rumor-mongering Left could figure this out is not at all surprising.

Kevin said...

Why on earth would anyone attempt anything like this when they know they have dozens of cameras looking at them from all angles, including angles they aren't aware of. How many pics of O's foot position were on the internet, for example? There's simply no freakin way. Plus, it was the other guy looking down all the time, not him.

Rocketeer said...

Hankygate makes BLS truthers look positively stable.

At least the BLS Truthers got Jack Welch to tweet about it.

Maybe the Hankygaters can corral Warren Buffet into weighing in!

Sal said...

Kos isn't the first one to get debate conspiracies wrong. Yawn.

MadisonMan said...

Pathetic.

Still in denial, or maybe in bargaining now? If only Obama had a secret cheat sheet he would have won!!

Depression and acceptance can't come soon enough.

Paul said...

Ah.. hankie on one side, lack of O2 on the other! That explains everything!

And in the next debate it will be blamed on something else. Always an excuse.

Lame, they name is Obama.

And the new unemployment rate now turns out to be based on a 'poll'.

chickelit said...

Next the Kossacks will be saying "Debates are so last century--let's get rid of that hurdle. POTUS is too busy running the country anyways."

rehajm said...

"as soon as he gets on stage...he takes off his watch and puts it on the podium...then he writes 'Dad' on the piece of paper," says Ann Romney, the conspiracy accomplice.

Watch and hanky from the pocket- removing the watch on stage risks fumbling. Lands with a slight thud on the podium. You can see him write something shortly thereafter.

furious_a said...

(b) my cotton handkerchieves(sp?) are pretty flat...

...and stiff after I've blown my nose in it a few times and the snot's dried.

Matt Sablan said...

Maybe we should make them do their next debate naked, like how Zach had to do his make up text in just his boxers to prove he didn't cheat.

Patrick said...

I think it would be funny for Mitt to whip out a handkerchief and just do a really huge nose blow at the start of the next debate. Then he can offer the handkerchief to the President, in case he wants to check for answers.

Matt Sablan said...

... make up test. Blah.

Methadras said...

Leftards have lost their fucking minds at the total and utter pwnage that Urkel received in the debate. Now it's a hanky's fault that he lost. Beyond pathetic. You can see him use it in the debate.

AF said...

As a liberal I must say: ferchrissakes, kos, that's lame.

Those of us in the reality-based community don't like birthers, 9/11 truthers, poll truthers, or BLS truthers. Let's skip the hanky truthing too.

Mike and Sue said...

"Hanker" is the new "Birther"

Matt Sablan said...

Wait. I get it. Like find the lady; he snuck a REAL handkerchief with him to the debate as well, to hide the fact his notes LOOKED like a handkerchief. Dastardly!

Wince said...

Obama was the one looking down most of the time.

Second photo caption from The Guardian UK.

Obama looks down at his notes. Again. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Gerry

Matt Sablan said...

"Those of us in the reality-based community don't like ... BLS truthers"

-- Don't you remember back in the dark, long ago years of 2002-2007 when we heard about how the pure unemployment number wasn't a good indicator of economic misery? I remember being taught the importance of reporting under employment, those who had given up looking, etc.

What changed in 2009 that the reality-based community stopped caring about the nuances around unemployment?

Anonymous said...

If you think birth control isn't a medical expense, I dare you to watch one episode of the UK's hit "Call the Midwife" (now on PBS) about C of E nuns and nurses who filled in the gaps as midwives in the 1950s baby boom. Yikes.

If the modern world has pacified you, this will help you remember that without the thin layer of modernity, birth control is a medical issue, folks. Remember how it took Katrina to remind some progressives that just below the civilized veneer, the Second Amendment is necessary? Same kind of thing.

rcommal said...

Oh my God. Really? A conspiracy theory was spawned by a freakin' hankie? Oh my God.

Just shoot me now.

TMink said...

Just any hanky? Or Mr. Hanky?

Trey

Leland said...

Channeling Al Gore

The high altitude gave him fits of nose bleeds and so...
Chakra released

The last time we had Kos Kids analyzing video imagery, they were claiming Zimmerman had no signs of injury. That was much better analysis than when they claimed a missile, not a plane, hit the Pentagon. Still, I think they ought to stop now while they are ahead.

Scott M said...

Leftards have lost their fucking minds at the total and utter pwnage that Urkel received in the debate.

They are going to go positively scanners on us after the Biden/Ryan debate.

coketown said...

Maybe the Hankygaters can corral Warren Buffet into weighing in!

Given the incestuous relationship between universities, media, and Democrats, I'm surprised the NY Times hasn't contacted Dietrich Fluffenhausen of the UC Berkley physics department, who specializes in handkerchief fabric dynamics, to weigh in.

test said...

AF said...
As a liberal I must say: ferchrissakes, kos, that's lame.

Those of us in the reality-based community


I laughed so hard my wife wants to know what I'm reading.

Anonymous said...

How ugly of the Obama campaign....
"He cheated"
"It was the altitude"
"He lied"
"Obama didn't want to appear to be an "angry black man" (cause he knows you crackers are all RACIST)
"He was distracted over his anniversary"
the latest....
"He was distracted over a donations story OR he got a disturbing intelligence briefing"

Seriously though I thought Romney looked like he had a cold or allegies before this hubbub.

So, what they've pointed out is that even sick, Romney was able to easily beat Obama.

Balfegor said...

Re: Scott M:

They are going to go positively scanners on us after the Biden/Ryan debate.

I expect Ryan to do well, but probably not as well as everyone is expecting. Biden is not like Obama. He's actually been an active participant in the political discussion for three decades. He's forgotten more about policy than Obama ever knew. He might not be good winging it, but the VP actually knows enough on the issues that, he could wing it without embarassing himself. Biden is more than just a set of cherry-picked talking points and a prep binder. His problem is self control, not cramming on subjects he knows nothing about. He's like the polar opposite of Obama.

virgil xenophon said...

Gene McCarthy once made what I thought was one of the most insightful observations about the Presidential electoral process and the artificiality of most debate formats insofar as they usually obscure more than they reveal when he said that: "What they should do is set each candidate down in a chair alone w.o. notes in front of the camera and just let him talk for a solid hour about his political beliefs." Think Obama could survive for one hour w.o. his teleprompter and remain coherent? McCarthy was on to something..

Mark said...

The whole "hanky cheat-sheet" thing does follow the Progressive axiom that Conservatives are Bad People Who Do Bad Things.

Matt Sablan said...

"Biden is more than just a set of cherry-picked talking points and a prep binder."

-- Sometimes, instead of picking cherries, he gets apples. Then his fact juice smoothie gets all kind of confused.

gerry said...

More Prog projection.

They are so boring.

Pat Moffitt said...

I wonder how many bytes of information can be compressed into a flat hanky? Romney graduated with an accelerated MBA law degree from Harvard and we are supposed to believe he can't remember a hankie's worth of information after days of preparation?

Mark said...

The whole "hanky cheat-sheet" thing does follow the Progressive axiom that Conservatives are Bad People Who Do Bad Things.

Rocketeer said...

My favorite part of the whole post-debate period has been the reaction to Obama's day after remarks. Democrats: "Why didn't he say that last night???"

I believe the French have a phrase for it - "L'esprit de le Teleprompter."

Patrick said...

Good on you, AF. All I can say is you don't always get to choose those who are "on your side."

Baron Zemo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
edutcher said...

They're probably wishing the Romster had covered their Messiah when they saw he had no clothes - and realized he's only half black in a great many ways.

(probably why Moochelle always looks so sour)

Eric said...

Suppose Obama really can't debate well? How will he overcome this mismatch?

He doesn't have to be a good debater to get a draw:

Q: What's your position on the Israeli/Palestinian issue?

A: That's a great question, Jim, but we shouldn't allow it to distract us from the fact that 1% of the country owns blah blah blah...

The problem is Obama has such a high opinion of himself he thought he could skip the debate prep and wing it. Then when he realized he was in trouble he was too proud to fight for a draw instead of trying to turn the tables on an obviously better prepared opponent.

I would bet everything I own we will see a much, much better prepared Obama in the next debate. There's nothing that sharpens the mind like a good ass-kicking.

Baron Zemo said...

Obama couldn't believe that he had a doo rag.

You see in his family it is Michelle who is always on the rag.

So it just does not compute.

Indigo Red said...

Madison university students didn't think it would have been cheating for The Obama to use TOTUS.

wildswan said...


The altitude gave Obama a nose bleed but Mitt stole His handkerchief so Obama used His awesome powers to hold off the bleeding but that increased His visionary insight into everything to so incredibly beyond what our low minds can comprehend. And from His lofty height it so pained Him to see Mitt lying that He kept looking down so as not to see the horrible sight of someone winning by cheating which was just too painful for someone who learned politics in Chicago-the-Pure. His foolish, doubting liberal friends thought he was missing TOTUS and losing the debate, until the next day when they saw how He could have won if He had been what they thought He was, and so He did win because He is. And they tingled again.

Peter said...

Such class: an unverifiable, unfalsifiable accusation.

Kos, meet the ghots of 'tailgunner' Joe McCarthy.

The Crack Emcee said...

Gawker gives the history of debate conspiracy theories, and in one of them I — of all people — am the conspiracy theorist.

Didn't I tell you that's what you were a few days ago?

So why the big surprise today?

You really need to start that "Crack was right" tag,...

Anonymous said...

Funny underwear isn't enough, now Mitt's got a Magic Snotrag.

I have seen old geezers blow their noses and then stare at the contents of the hanky as if they were reading tea leaves, but I missed seeing Romney do that during the debate.

eddie willers said...

I was trying to figure out how a handkerchief could make the President so groggy and vague, when it came to me.

I think Mitt laced it with chloroform and dosed him back in the Green Room.

pm317 said...

Hilarious esp the animated pic of Romney using the hanky, I can't stop laughing.

Looks like Obama's ardent supporters are as dumb as he is.

It makes sense for Romney to have the hanky on the lectern — imagine him reaching in his pocket for it every time he wants to use it. That will not look good on camera. Smart man he figured that out. He should be our president.

Anonymous said...

I am surprised that the thread is Over 65 comments long and no one has linked to the details of the cheat sheet yet:

http://moelane.com/2012/10/05/secret-romney-cheat-sheet-revealed-must-credit-moe-lane/

wyo sis said...

If there really were notes on that handkerchief and Romney could read them in small glances in the TV lights and they were extensive enough to cover every subject the debate could possibly cover I say Romney should win because he has superpowers.

Nate Whilk said...

Althouse wrote, "You know, just because the thing I saw wasn't there doesn't mean there wasn't something there that I didn't see."

A statement worthy of Sir Humphrey Appleby!

http://youtu.be/2o3H0AtEylg

crosspatch said...

There's an ebook out there you can find that explains all of this. It is called "The Kindergarten of Eden".

Smilin' Jack said...

So he wrote his lying, cheating notes on a hanky. What else would you expect from a guy who would strap his dog to his car?

Eric said...

As opposed to eating it?