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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Yrwelcm.