Oh Noes! Teh Prompter

3:16 pm EST September 16th, 2008 | News | 13 Comments

Reader Drew sent in the screenshot from Hugh Hewitt’s website posted below. In the screenshot you see Hewitt blasting Sen. Obama for using a teleprompter at a campaign stop. Two posts below Hewitt’s blistering attack is… Sarah Palin using a telemprompter at a campaign stop. On a related note, I encourage the con bloggers to keep repeating the mantra that Sen. Obama is going to fail at the debates because he can’t use a teleprompter, and ignore the idea that Sen. Obama participated in 20-something debates in the last year. Yes, he can’t hope to compete in a debate without a teleprompter, keep pushing that.

Topic:

Related Posts

«
»

13 Responses to “Oh Noes! Teh Prompter”

  1. mambochicken23 says:
    September 16, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    Meh. Who really gives a shit if anyone uses a prompter? I’ve never cared one way or the other. I just notice when the use of a teleprompter obviously affects the delivery of the message. See: Sarah Palin.

  2. jr says:
    September 16, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    “A vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain.”-Hugh during the primary

  3. ed says:
    September 16, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    No thanks, O, I’ll take low expectations, thank you very much.

  4. Hedley says:
    September 16, 2008 at 3:52 pm

    Who has said anything about Obama not being able to speak without a teleprompter? Granted he is not as eloquent and powerful a speaker when not using one (i.e., in a debate scenario) as compared to when he does use one, but he will certainly be better than McCain with or without one. That’s not such a high threshold to overcome.

  5. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 16, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    Who has said anything about Obama not being able to speak without a teleprompter?

    Hedley, if you scroll up just a tad, you’ll see Mr. Hewitt’s blog entry titled, “Prompter-Dependent Obama.”

    Yrwelcm.

  6. Hedley says:
    September 16, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Thanks Quaker, I saw that, but this line in the original post “I encourage the con bloggers to keep repeating the mantra that Sen. Obama is going to fail at the debates because he can’t use a teleprompter” led me to think it was referring to multiple people making such a claim. Good to see it is only one isolated incident as it is a stupid issue.

  7. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 16, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    Good to see it is only one isolated incident as it is a stupid issue.

    Oh no. I’ve seen it around quite a lot, but I’d be hard-pressed to cough up an example. In some parts of the right-wing blogosphere, it’s the CW on Obama. For that matter, I think it was also thrown around by a few of the more strident Hillary partisans during the primaries.

  8. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 16, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    Check it out.

  9. Oliver Willis says:
    September 16, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    Thanks, I was just about to do the same. They’ve said it over and over.

  10. Repack Rider says:
    September 16, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    I think Obama is making a little list of needle points to use to get under McCain’s skin when they meet. He’ll certainly make use of the “fundamentals are strong,” and he’ll probably use the non-sexist, “Then I’ve got a bridge in Alaska to sell you.” I noticed that McCain bristled at reporters already when they brought up the bridge. It’s a little bit of an image problem and they know it. It’s the new metaphor for flip-flop, but even more colorful.

    let’s look at the debate matchup.

    McCain is seven inches shorter and has been rode hard and put away wet. He has zero charm, and the most alarming and insincere smile known to humanity, while Obama is good looking with a convincing and natural smile, and is a charismatic speaker like no other of his generation. McCain graduated in the bottom one percent of his Naval Academy class, Obama in the top one percent of his Harvard Law class.

    Obama is really, really smart. McCain is really, really not, and the way his campaign deals with this fact is to say that his war wounds, his PTSD, his inability to use Google at a third-grade level, and the sun in his eyes prevent him from having to be smart. Like George W. Bush, he has “people” for that stuff.

    Bring. It. On.

  11. Sean D. Martin says:
    September 16, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    Repack: Like George W. Bush, he has “people” for that stuff.

    Bring. It. On.

    Of course, the McCain camp will make sure expectations are set so low for McCain that as long as he doesn’t trip getting to the podium and is able to put more than 2 words together in a sentence it will count as a win for him. Obama, of course, is so gifted at public speaking that he’ll be an abject failure (they’ll say) if he doesn’t float to the podium and deliver a powerful oratory in reply to every last question.

    It’s Jim Crow all over again.

  12. Sean D. Martin says:
    September 16, 2008 at 5:31 pm

    SDM: Obama, of course, is so gifted at public speaking

    That this contradicts their common wisdom that Obama is helpless without a teleprompter will, of course, cause McCain’s supporters not a moment of whiplash.

  13. Duros Hussein62 says:
    September 17, 2008 at 8:47 am

    Granted he is not as eloquent and powerful a speaker when not using one…

    That’s only because he’s using his brain at the same time. Something we’re not used to seeing.