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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)

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All you American ladies will be yelling and stamping your feet within 6 months of putting McCain/Palin in office. Why? because every right for women that has been hard fought for will be lost. Including the right to abort a rapist,s child, to even just taking a morning after pill, to losing the right to monthly pills as anti-pregnancy help.
Palin will not care about the beauty of natural Alaska or any other place in the 50 states. Guam and Porta Rico will become Super staging grounds for "christian soldiers" going out to war. Gitmo will be a worse hell on earth than it already is. The Super Highway will take "eminent domain" from thousands of landowners, and slap down any opponents. You basic rights will be no more. So I say if these two are voted in don't cry to the rest of America or the world when you become unhappy with them!!!

Posted by: Blacktiger | Sep 16, 2008 4:03:24 PM

What are McCains plans to solve the economic mess in Wall Street? He has no plans or ideas (yeah, he is gona reform Wallstreet).

It's also a strange to suggest that regulation is not good for the competitiveness.

Looks a the cell phones...
Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony are all foreign companies with a strong regulation from their government. They are just better managed than US companies.

Posted by: clabs | Sep 16, 2008 3:56:12 PM

What a congenital liar. She lies even when it's so easy to show she's lying, as in this case.

And when she fired the police chief in Wasilla and a reporter asked her about it, she denied firing the guy -- even though she had done so in writing! The reporter went back to the chief, who read him the termination letter Palin had sent!

Aside from the obvious character issue involved, what kind of grade-school mental calculation is she making? How does she think she won't get caught?

If she ends up across the table from Putin, she'll be playing checkers while he plays three-dimensional chess.

Posted by: Ann Arbor | Sep 16, 2008 3:48:07 PM

Quoting maria: "All these petty attacks on Sen. Palin are really getting old."

-=-=-=-=-=-=
"maria": She's a governor, not a senator. Perhaps you should consider informing yourself of facts before you take such umbrage.

I cannot fathom why anyone who actually understands McCain/Palin's policies on the economy, healthcare or foreign policy would vote for them (unless of course, they are a "low information" voter who's only heard of lipstick and celebrities)

Posted by: fromnj | Sep 16, 2008 3:41:29 PM

Why is Obama telling us he wants the troops out of Iraq,.... but asking Iraq to not sign anything to allow them to leave early... until AFTER the election?

Maybe he wants to take credit... or is he just play us for fools.

Posted by: Steve from Dallas | Sep 16, 2008 3:37:09 PM

I wonder if any picked on the last 3 works of her quote. "It was Ohio" Does she mean they're just plain folks, that can be talked to like friends, or those dumb hicks from Ohio?

Posted by: GT | Sep 16, 2008 3:35:22 PM

It is SO MAVERICK and REFORMIST to LIE. Thanks Sarah.

Posted by: PJ | Sep 16, 2008 3:12:27 PM

*****


This is all Saint O has left now and his bots. Calling the other guy a liar. He is like the Wizard of Oz that Saint O. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Saint O contradicts every word out of his mouth. Yea, you remember taking public financing. Debates, you forgot that one hey. NAFTA is good, NAFTA no good. DC gun ban good, DC gun ban no good. Iran tiny threat, Iran grave threat. He is talking out of both sides of his mouth so much he forgets what he said.

Posted by: kabookey | Sep 16, 2008 3:34:55 PM

Some of you really amazes me...
The election is no Idols contest, we are looking for a smart, intelligent leadership that can solve the gigantic problems we face.

And all you worry is using teleprompter.

Btw.. my 10 year old nephew knows how to pronounce the word nuclear, without a teleprompter.

Posted by: clabs | Sep 16, 2008 3:31:59 PM

Are nation is in financial trouble, and people are reporting about teleprompter use...

Posted by: wolf | Sep 16, 2008 3:28:25 PM

@Kabookey: It's not about whether she used a teleprompter, it's about whether she *lied* about whether she used a teleprompter. Everybody uses teleprompters, of course, but only the conniving, deluded ones ever claim that they didn't when they did.

Posted by: Jay | Sep 16, 2008 3:19:30 PM

And something interesting about this Palin choice--my 74 year old Baptist mother and my 52 year old Methodist sister have both said they won't vote for McCain now. Not because they have found a new love for Obama. But because their conservative values make it impossible for them to think a woman is a good choice for VP. And in the case of my sister, Palin's Pentecostal ties are frightening to her. Neither will vote for Obama, but McCain lost at least those two votes in Ohio and I suspect many more as the sheer political nature of this choice becomes clearer.

Posted by: PJ | Sep 16, 2008 3:18:36 PM

It is SO MAVERICK and REFORMIST to LIE. Thanks Sarah.

Posted by: PJ | Sep 16, 2008 3:12:27 PM

At least she is not bringing the teleprompter to the rodeo like Barry. He cannot think on his feet so he has to bring the teleprompter everywhere.

Posted by: Susan | Sep 16, 2008 3:08:46 PM


" how she punched words that were underlined and paused where it said "pause," noting that "nuclear" was spelled out for her phonetically."

So the word nuclear is to difficult for her. Do not now about you, but I find this rather scarry.

Posted by: clabs | Sep 16, 2008 3:03:31 PM

This is the first time I have ever seen an article on the teleprompter use. I have to take this occasion to point out how reliant Obama is on the telepromter...to the extent that all I see is him looking left....middle.....right....middle...left...middle...right...left...right...middle...left...right...etc. He never makes contact with the audience.

All he does is read a speech well. At least Governor Palin makes it look like she is just talking to everyone.

For some reason, no one notices this about Obama until it is pointed out. The next time you see him give a speech, notice how his eyes simply go from telepromter to teleprompter to teleprompter.etc.

Posted by: S.Scott | Sep 16, 2008 2:44:09 PM

For Sarah 'Queen of Pork' Palin the truth is not that important...

Posted by: Bubba Bobson | Sep 16, 2008 2:36:55 PM

I took a vote at work, and most of the men refer to Palin as their MILF. I would hate to find out that most of the men that are in favor of the McCain/Palin ticket are thinking this way.

Posted by: PMW | Sep 16, 2008 2:20:45 PM

"Joe McCain observed that during her speach, Sarah Palin "went off book so much, and so far" Yah. It's called a lie.

Posted by: Andy | Sep 16, 2008 1:54:50 PM

Joe McCain observed that during her speach, Sarah Palin "went off book so much, and so far, that the teleprompter operator went half mad trying to find out where he had messed up: national convention teleprompter operators who get lost are sometimes hanged from the rafters by irate speakers ... er ... readers. Finally, just before taking his cyanide capsule, he realised his text and her speech had the similarity of Saturn and a lawn chair, so I hear he just turned it off."

Posted by: 2Sun | Sep 16, 2008 1:52:20 PM

c-man and RN - sorry for the late reply but thanks to you both for the kind words. RN, thanks also for the valid point that you raised. I was merely trying to point out, though, that whoever the majority party is in Congress, they are generally the ones who set the agenda for that Congressional session and they pretty much decide what will be voted on. When given the majority, Democrats have always passed meaningful legislation that affect people like you and me every day.

Thanks, but no thanks to McPalin!!!!

Posted by: Patty S. | Sep 16, 2008 1:17:12 PM

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