On Tuesday we learned that there is a gap, said to be one or two minutes long, in the “complete” version of the secretly recorded Romney video released by David Corn at Mother Jones. The blog Not Yet Europe has created an animated gif of the edit point, the seam between the two clips that Corn now says he received as separate files from his source.
This gif is evidence that Corn or his source is trying to hide something.
William Jacobsen asked Corn about the gap, and this is his explanation for it:
According to the source, the recording device inadvertently turned off. The source noticed this quickly and turned it back one. [sic] The source estimates that one to two minutes, maybe less, of recording was missed.
We have no way of knowing whether the gap is one second or ten minutes. That it comes at the very end of the Romney “47 percent” comments is itself suspicious. That leads to reasonable questions as to whether the source or Corn clipped the video to remove something important.
Taking a look at the gif above, though, I’m struck by the sheer impossibility of Corn’s explanation.
Take a look at the few seconds around the edit point, clipped by The Blaze.
The camera doesn’t move at all.
That’s a problem. The camera appears to be a small one, probably a smartphone or maybe a small Flip or similar camcorder. It does not appear to be attached to a tripod. It’s on the table and has been camouflaged by something we can see at the edges of the picture, maybe a pair of vases or glasses.
Corn doesn’t explain why the camera supposedly stopped recording. Cameras tend to do that when they fill up their hard drive, run out of tape, etc. That doesn’t seem to have been the case here, because the second recording goes on. The lack of any movement between the two clips is strange. However the source noticed that the camera was no longer recording, supposing that that’s what happened, the source supposedly restarted the recording quickly.
Yet he or she was so careful in their rush to restart the recording that they didn’t bump the camera out of position at all?
You can get that kind of steadiness out of the heavy Sachtler type tripods and large, heavy broadcast cameras. That’s what they’re made for. But out of a smartphone or small, hidden camera? Very unlikely.
The lack of movement between the two clips is most easily explained as an internal edit. The camera never stopped recording, but the clip was edited after the fact to take something out.
What was edited out was probably something that Romney said that, if heard in context, would take the “sting” out his allegedly cruel statements about the 47%. Maybe he expressed sympathy for those suffering under the yoke of Obama, or proposed a plan that would sound reasonable to most of the people if they heard it. In any event, isn’t there a transcript of his remarks, or maybe a hand-written rough draft that might include the edited out remarks. What had been loaded into the teleprompter? Oh, wait…..
Why, you’re not saying that the left would make up something out of whole cloth are you? I mean, for example let’s say just hypothetically for arguments sake that someone were to, oh I dont know, fabricate documents to set up a situation that would say that George W. Bush really didnt serve his full time as a National Guard Officer and then publish it on National TV.
I know, its really far out, because no one would ever do that because its just wrong…
I’m a professional editor – have been for 30 years. That’s not a restart (especially on a concealed hand-held device of some sort) – that’s an edit. You’re right – unless that device was solidly locked down (unlikely for a hidden recording device), it would have been bumped when restarted.
I have about 20 years of experience shooting and editing as well.
Whatever happened to that guy who edited the George Zimmerman 911 call to make him sound racist? This looks like his handiwork. I wonder if he just moved from one wing of the Obama Propaganda Department, namely NBC, to another wing of the same department, namely Mother Jones after NBC sacked him….
I think putting your foot down is going to be more productive than this stuff in the long run. They won’t listen to this.
Occam is a bitch.
The idea that this was a heavy tripod type deal is refuted by watching all the J’adoubes in the first few minutes. The first 5 seconds make clear the camera is handheld, and it is then nudged around the table during the next 15 minutes to get the best view. I suspect a member of the catering staff, possibly the on-site boss standing behind the catering table.
Think about what we know about Romney, his faith, and his character. I suspect what’s missing is a long discussion about the need for and power of private charity, and how excessive government crowds out private works.
There’s no way the left would want that heard.
Even more strange, the counter of the first clip goes from 00:00 to 31:04 and the second from 36:33 to 36:39.
Had the recorder been re-started, the second clip would start at 00:00, wouldn’t it? Am I missing something? Had it been inadvertently paused, there would be no such gap, right?
Yup. That’s another tell that this was an internal edit, not a stop-restart.
Gadzooks, then, you’re burying the lede! That’s internal evidence it *was* edited.
Oh never mind, my mistake.
if it wasn’t for the stupidity of liberals, what would be have to be thankful for during the long march to facism.
– others here with expertise have impeached it, what can you do?
Yeah guys, that 1-2 minutes out of 60 totally changes the fact that Romney said students, seniors and disabled veterans don’t take personal responsibility and don’t care for their lives. That’s the ticket!
He said no such thing, liar.
– but if you want the rest of the tape, you will have to pay me one gazillion dollars!