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Palin and the Teleprompter

September 15, 2008 8:42 PM

At a fundraiser in Canton, Ohio, this evening, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had an interesting description of her speech to the Republican convention.

“There Ohio was right out in front, right in front of me," Palin said. "The teleprompter got messed up, I couldn’t follow it, and I just decided I’d just talk to the people in front of me. It was Ohio.”

This struck many of us -- who, as she spoke, followed along with her prepared remarks, and noted how closely she stuck to the script -- as an unusual claim. (Especially those of my colleagues on the convention floor at the time, reading along on the prompter with her, noticing her excellent and disciplined delivery, how she punched words that were underlined and paused where it said "pause," noting that "nuclear" was spelled out for her phonetically.)

Please note: few people who work on TV will ever bad-mouth a teleprompter. And Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., works with a prompter not infrequently.

But it's different to use one, and to use one but imply that you weren't.

Was Palin doing that tonight?

McCain-Palin campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds says no, and disputes any notion that Palin was implying that she ad-libbed the speech by saying she "couldn't follow it" on the teleprompter, so she "just decided I’d just talk to the people in front of me."

McCain-Palin spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker says, "She was off the prompter at points."

Bounds says anyone who thinks Palin was implying that her speech was ad-libbed is unfairly reading into her remarks. Whether she was reading the speech or had it memorized, she delivered it and delivered it well, he says.

I should note that, after Palin's speech, some conservative bloggers reported that sources close to McCain had told them that the teleprompter had broken and Palin "winged it."

"The teleprompter did not break," wrote Politico's Jonathan Martin.  "Sarah Palin delivered a powerful speech last night, but she did not 'wing it'..."

Says Martin, "Perhaps there were moments where it scrolled slightly past her exact point in the speech. But I was sitting in the press section next to the stage, within easy eyeshot of the teleprompter. I frequently looked up at the machine, and there was no serious malfunction. A top convention planner confirms this morning that there were no major problems."

- jpt

September 15, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (316)

User Comments

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Small point:

Palin never said she sold the jet on E-bay; she out it on e-Bay.

Now, my guess is if you follow the bleating mob believing she said otherwise, you have already bought into other fictions and are basically an Obama lemming who is destined to have his heart broken when reality smacks him in the face and he realizes he is in way over his head and only where he is because the left is still obsessing about "re-electing Gore."

Oscar Wilde said "There is only one thing worse than not getting what you want; getting it."

Libs may soon understand the tragic ironu of that
if Barry lands in the White House.

Posted by: john Carpenter | Oct 19, 2008 10:56:59 AM

I haven't seen a woman get inside of so many heads since Dr. Ruth.

Well, I'm the ethics committee in Alaska may have something to say about this just as historians will one day note the curious similiraties between many of Obam'as speeches and Lincoln's.

Posted by: John Carpenter | Oct 19, 2008 10:50:30 AM

Consider how insecure one must be to lie about a false teleprompter malfunction at the RNC during a rally in Canton Ohio. How insignificant is it that you can see Russia from your house, or stop over for refueling on the boarder and say you entered into Iraq? As insignificant as the shallow purchase of a tanning bed to look good and the paranoia that prompts one to say it's because you have S.A.D - a very serious illness. So is Sara Palin saying to the American people, she has a mental disorder caused by seasonal depression? Or is she saying she is not on medication as prescribed by most physicians who treat S.A.D?

She continues today with more lies, stating she will show financial accountability of money spent so the American people will know where their money is going when she is VP, but as it stands now, she refuses to show her income tax statements as Biden, McCain and Obama has already done, or show any documents or co-operate on the bi-partisan investigation of troopergate.

But wait! Surely she knows even more about the world financial market than Obama or Biden. After all, she's been living inside her Alaskan Igloo running a densely populated city Government for 20 months now. That is, before being plucked out the gem of America’s heartland (remote Alaska)for her cosmetic appeal to update John McCain's antiquated Washington insider image.

Ask John about his friends, the Keaton 5 back in 1989, he knows a thing or two about finances too.

Posted by: Conservative Not NeoCon | Sep 18, 2008 12:57:45 PM

Jake, if you've followed her prepared remarks so closely, was the joke about pitbulls and lipstick also in the prepared speech? She did have a hard copy of the speech with her and when the teleprompter went wonky, she started consulting the hard copy instead. I wouldn't say she completely winged it, but there's no proof she lied about the teleprompter not working properly either.

Posted by: Anna | Sep 17, 2008 4:32:24 PM

Sarah Palin: The Fabricator.

Posted by: Kyle | Sep 17, 2008 4:04:42 PM

The big news is that she's been telling people that the prompter broke and she improvised a portion of her speech.

Whether it's that she thinks people are stupid, or she herself is totally clueless about how the press works, it's amazing how she consistently tells these easily disproved lies.

The strangest part is, she doesn't have to tell them! People already love you, why say that the prompter broke? Why say you fired the chef when you just put her somewhere else? Why say you sold the plane on ebay when you didn't?

McCain's VP pick has a strange habit.

Posted by: Jesse | Sep 17, 2008 3:30:27 PM

HOUSE. OF. CARDS.

Posted by: Chad | Sep 17, 2008 12:12:30 PM

It's so disheartening to see Republican voters stand up for lies and a campaign that uses smoke and mirrors to fool voters. What is the threshold for Republican voters as to when they will finally admit that their candidates are using unethical methods to try and fool Americans? When will they admit that McCain-Palin are lying to voters repeatedly, despite facts showing otherwise? I thought we were Americans first, not Republicans or Democrats. These people are no different than members of the Nazi party who made excuses and turned their heads as Hitler lied and used violence to divide Germany. When will we as Americans agree that lying and propaganda are not the American way of campaigning or getting into office. Do these people really want Palin sitting for McCain in talks with Putin or Kim Jong-Il? God help us from people with such blinders on as the world watches us implode as a country.

Posted by: Terry B | Sep 17, 2008 11:39:27 AM

To h Ron Stephens. This is a big deal because the McCain campaign lied about this relatively inconsequencial detail. As it has lied blatantly lied about just about everything.

Posted by: Catiline | Sep 17, 2008 8:34:38 AM

But, but, but, Shawn Hannity told me the tele-prompter-thingy failed. Now I don't know what to believe. He also told me that the we DID find WMD’s in Iraq and the Chinese have oil rigs in the gulf of Mexico. I’m so confused….

Posted by: Catiline | Sep 17, 2008 8:28:55 AM

Umm... how is this news exactly? So she did not read the script verbatim (but seemed to stick to the message). Big deal.

Posted by: Mukund | Sep 17, 2008 2:32:24 AM

Palin's Eloquence Envy

Palin's claim is nothing less than saying you wrote something that you did not, aka PLAGIARISM. If I were Matthew Scully, Palin's thoughtsmith, I don't know if I'd be flattered by Palin's attempted appropriation of my work, or seriously bent. The Democrats must be laughing their butts off!

Posted by: Roger Josek | Sep 17, 2008 2:07:43 AM

Trouble is ALL republicans today are all empty suits. They follow you around like a goat after a milk bottle. Obviously all the folks who speak of Senator Obama having speaking problems have never read anything he has written. He is eloquent. The Mafia is jealous of the republican party screwing the whole country yet not one of the repubs feels any guilt or shame or responsibility for our terrible state of affairs. Too bad so many obviously uneducated educated folks are repubs. Truly unbelieveable!

Posted by: AwestruckP | Sep 17, 2008 12:34:44 AM

And now McCain's very own adviser says he invented the BlackBerry. As little as *yesterday*, another (?) or the same (?) advisor went on TV to say Obama would raise taxes on the poor when every (and I'm talkin' every!) news organization has already debunked it [truth: only those making $250,000 or more would see increases, 95% of all Americans would see a decrease]. These people are suppose to be the spokespeople for their candidate. Pretty repulsive, eh? Sarah Palin is proof that you can be fresh in politics, but still be a seasoned liar.

Obam/Biden, says this Canadian! :-)

Posted by: macshill (chrismccaw) | Sep 16, 2008 8:35:02 PM

she's such a hugh fake. she lies about the telepromter so that people then thinks shes "winging" it.

Not only is she a liar, she's much too stupid. much too stupid. she's only fooling herself.

so so stupid!

go home, take that bridge to nowhere and go away!

Posted by: 1more4REALchange | Sep 16, 2008 8:30:06 PM

Go Gov. Palin!

When you have the Obama acolytes in such an uproar, you are doing something right!

Just like Sen. Obama they are obsessed with a strong, smart, influential woman who shrugs off their juvenile attacks.

He just couldn't stop talking about her and neither can they.

Damn, she's good!

Posted by: American | Sep 16, 2008 7:35:29 PM

She lies like most people breathe.

Posted by: spencer | Sep 16, 2008 6:08:27 PM

sarah palin tells small and inconsequential lies just to keep in practice

lying is hard work

you have to practice ALL THE TIME

Posted by: freepatriot | Sep 16, 2008 5:01:51 PM

Palin just doesn't have it, so her handlers are trying to use DISTRACTION like one does with a crying toddler; you show them something pretty and they forget what they were whining about, works almost every time. Trouble is, even hicks are becoming more sophisticated with the internet and the improvement of communications in general, so at the click of a mouse they can read/hear/watch the lastest foible of their candidate or any public figure for that matter. With that said, Palin supporters are just as likely to turn against her as support her as they get the "lowdown" on Palin. In my opinion, I think this will hurt her more than help her, as in the past one could only get info from the MSM, but with the internet it's a whole new game, baby.

Posted by: nikolai | Sep 16, 2008 4:45:24 PM

Its amazing to me the lies or ab best misleading statements that this lady has produced in just.

The bridge to nowhere, which dhe supported and will not at least stop saying while every news org has debunked it.
She did not request earmarks as governor even though she has hired a lobbyist and obtained the most per capita of any state in the union - QUEEN of PORK
Implying that she has foreign policy experience because "she can see Russia from Alaska" - so what I can see the moon from my porch, but I am not claiming to be an astronaut!
Claiming she visited Europe - when her plane only stopped to refuel in Ireland
Claiming she visited Iraq - when she stopped on the Kuwait/Iraq border checkpoint. - But I am forgetting she could see it, so thats all that matters!!
Troopergate - she said she would cooperate, but now daying the DEMS are hijacking the system, when Alaska is almost as heavily republican as Utah!
ENOUGH! Time will catch up to her before the election.

Obama/Biden 08

Posted by: Common sense | Sep 16, 2008 4:39:38 PM

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