Mind What I Say, Not What I Do?
wesmorgan1In her keynote address to the Tea Party Convention, which she delivered with a paper copy at her lectern, Sarah Palin took a shot at President Obama for his use of a teleprompter:
The tea party movement is not a top down operation. It’s a ground up call to action that is forcing BOTH the parties to change the way that they’re doing business, and that's beautiful...this is about the people and it's bigger than any king or queen of a tea party… and it’s a lot bigger than a charismatic guy with a teleprompter.
As soon as she went to an unscripted Q&A session, however, we saw this:
Crib notes? Written on her hand? What could they be? Well, on closer examination, her crib notes were:
- "Energy"
- "Tax Cuts" (was "Budget Cuts", but she changed it)
- "Lift American Spirits"
So, she'll criticize someone for using a Teleprompter for a lengthy speech, but she can't remember what should be her core values without peeking at crib notes? She can't answer an unscripted question without referring to that list? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. That sound you hear is either a meme deflating or a punchline losing all value.
Conservatism should be a lot bigger than a charismatic woman with crib notes...
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Reader Comments (38)
I'm a public speaker and I use notes. What's the big deal? It's not like she wrote a thousand word speech out on her arm.
Wes;
I've spoke with crib notes in front of crowds of up to 500 people. All good speakers use or have used crib notes. I'm confident Palin knows her core values and petty cheap shots from the ankle biter crowd are laughable in relation to the same crowd that defends a president who sets up a teleprompter in six-grade class.
GrayRider, doesn't it concern you at all that she needs crib notes written on her hand to remember "tax cuts," "lift American values" and the like, even as she takes shots at someone else for using a Teleprompter? Oh, that's right, I forget, you're one of those--gasp!--apologists...in her cult....*chuckle* I don't care if someone uses a written copy of their speech or a Teleprompter, since they're basically the same thing; I use notes/outlines all the time. It's really no big deal, except for the fact that the right decided--for some really bizarre reason--to criticize Obama's use of a Teleprompter.
TM, you prove my point admirably. Thanks.
Maybe the next time Obama reads a story off the teleprompter of a woman being buried in an "Obama T-Shirt" he should also consider using crib notes so he can at least have the decency to remember her first name.
See, TM, the cheap shots don't work when compared to a "conservative" who has to remind herself about tax cuts, energy independence and American values. At the absolute worst, you put them in the same bucket - whoopie!
I speak over 100 times a year, and will often write down 3 points that are already indelibly stuck in mind...just in case of brain freeze. Public speaking isn't easy.
I don't care if Obama uses a teleprompter or not. Big deal.
I really like Palin's views, but not to the point of mindless, zombie like, country be damned, idol worship and follow as the democults do in human and monetary sacrifice to the Obamagod.
Nice try at turning the tables, Wes...although weak and transparent.
If you can compare jotting a few notes on your hand to reading thousands of words of text from a teleprompter, I suppose you could make a weak case for hypocrisy. I hardly see the whole thing as an issue, anyway...teleprompter or notes.
I bet Palin knows how to pronounce "corpsman" correctly.
As I keep saying, they're pretty much the same thing - but it's ludicrous to criticize someone else for doing what you're doing. I mean, come on, even Reagan used a Teleprompter...sheesh.
I guess were seeing the 2012 attack lines for Sarah Palin in 2010. Quite the winning message dems.
I must have missed the article Wes wrote about how wrong it was for Joe Biden to make fun of Obama's teleprompter crutch.
A one-shot joke is not the same thing as a running line of attack, Machiavelli, and you know it. Various folks on the right has been hammering on this for months, and now they can't bear to admit that their own anointed heroine can't even express core conservative beliefs without notes written on her hand. It's actually rather funny, in a sad sort of way.
Of course, no one on the right is commenting on the recent reveleations about "First Dude"'s role in running Alaska state government...and of COURSE Shelby's unprecedented move to hold almost 70 nominations hostage can't bring a word of criticism from that side of the aisle (although, to be fair, one person said he should be more "surgical" - and only hold up judicial nominations for something wholly unrelated)...so why should I expect anyone to actually see the humor in this?
Wes;
Your a one-man mob with pitch-forks, boiling tar and chicken feathers at this outrage by Palin! LOL.
"A one-shot joke is not the same thing as a running line of attack, Machiavelli, and you know it."
Good grief, Wes.
Even MSNBC poked fun at how much Obama depends on his teleprompter.
You're reaching, Wes. I've not been one to criticize him on that. I would be afraid that the Obamagod would call fire down on me.
Hi Mom!
the left is funny these days... only because it's so hard to take their critique of the other side, or the "party of no" serious at all. All the issues they have and they're only solution is to continue on with more smear campaigns against Republicans, no matter how silly and ridiculous they sound.
:: inserts shameless plug of his Caption This again ::
Not once have I heard Wes criticize the overly excessive use of teleprompters, but when Sarah Palin has words on her hand... WHOA NELLY!
What an effing retard she must be.
lol mach... corpsmen reads much better when you have a clue what you're saying
You have to wonder if Democrats just continue to go on and on about such stupid, pointless things as these simply because they love being miserable or if they just hate Republicans so bad they can't think reasonably.
I think the one big difference here is that many public speakers rely on notes to assure that key points are covered. Obama, on the other hand, seems to rely on a teleprompter to feed him lines verbatim, and without one he tends to go completely off track.
That's my observation anyway.
Wes-
I really don't think SDIA, Grayrider, Zoy Clem and the rest even grasp what just happened. To these folks there literally is no such thing as conservative hypocrisy. We've seen this a thousand times. Overtly pious right wing politician calls for moral crusade then later we find out he's banging a hooker on the side or taking bribes.
What Wes is saying is that neither a president using a teleprompter or a public speaker using a crib sheet is a big deal. But when one criticizes the other for doing the same thing they were doing, well that's the very definition of hypocricy. It's like blogging about how stupid someone else is for blogging.
And it's amazing to watch comment after comment here on this blog do the exact same thing, further makiing Wes' point. You can't criticize Obama's alleged overuse of a teleprompter, while simultaneously ignoring, forgiving and rationalizing Palin's use of crib notes to speak in public. Sheesh.
"You can't criticize Obama's alleged overuse of a teleprompter, while simultaneously ignoring, forgiving and rationalizing Palin's use of crib notes to speak in public."
Alleged overuse? Even MSNBC acknowledged that it's become a percieved problem.
Look, the real issue with the teleprompter isn't that Obama uses one. It's that when he doesn't have it to fall back on, he sounds way different than the moderate, post-partisan image he campaigned on...which I imagine is the reason why he uses it far too much.
BTW, whenever I see your name, it reminds me of this song.
Eggman,
If you choose to call it 'hypocrisy,' feel free to do so, but your listener is likely to come away with the impression that the comparison is a desperate one.
I don't think the left realizes how 'dumb' they look making this an issue. But by all means keep up the hysteria; it only reminds Americans for the urgent need of some grown-ups in the WH.
In the wingnut echo chamber you guys live in, its very popular to attack Obama for using a teleprompter. In the real world, no one cares. ZOMG, a president using a teleprompter, egads! Actually the opposite is true. Obama gives great speeches and that's all people really care about. The right can't just say "good job, nice speech there Mr. President." They have to say something bad about him. So the best they could come up with is a pathetic little attack about using the teleprompter too much.
The best part of this is that it's another instance of inadvertent yet blatant hypocrisy by the right. The godlike figure that every conservative is indocrinated from birth to worship, known as Ronald Wilson Reagan also relied heavily on the teleprompter. In fact, back in his day Reagan was known as the teleprompter president.
Facepalm
Well...I haven't been after the President for using a teleprompter, but since the topic came up I voiced an opinion. If that causes an echo effect, it's a matter of your perception---the President's speaking ability isn't all that important---it's what he does while in office that is more important to me.
GrayRider:
That's basically true; you've only used a teleprompter line once, as far as I know.Machiavelli:
I guess you didn't listen to the unscripted, prompter-free meetings he's had with Congressional Democrats and GOPers in the last week or so.
That isn't really the point, Zoy; the point is that Palin specifically tried to skewer Obama for his teleprompter use, even as she had crib notes written on her hand for her unscripted, no-notes-or-prompter Q&A session. As I've said several times, I don't care if you use a Teleprompter, written copy, or notes on your hand; they're all the same thing.Zoy:
The hypocrisy comes when you criticize it while doing the same thing. Various folks are in an uproar and clamoring to call this a "non-issue" because they're utterly incapable of admitting such hypocrisy. It isn't "desperate," but rather a textbook example of the problem.Zoy #2:
It's really funny to see all the folks who usually toss around words like "cult," "apologist," and "kool-aid" flock to Palin's defense while studiously ignoring any other questionable things that arise around her.
"Various folks are in an uproar and clamoring to call this a "non-issue" because they're utterly incapable of admitting such hypocrisy."
I seem to recall Palin being criticized for not writing the speech she gave at the RNC convention, but, strangely, I can't recall your article pointing out the obvious hypocrisy.
"The only point is that it's extremely hypocritical to criticize one's opponent for using them when one does the very same thing."
Your claim of hypocrisy is based on a strawman.
The criticism of Obama isn't that he uses a teleprompter, its that he uses it WAY TOO MUCH.
That's all.
Egg Man;
Your right, Reagan did use a teleprompter. The difference between Reagan and Obama is that Reagan actually had something that Americans wanted to hear unlike Obama and all his self-platitudes that people increasingly either mock him about like a cartoon figure or tune-out like a tired old song.
Wes,
I was responding to Eggman. If that wasn't the point, perhaps you should take it up with him. And I wasn't criticizing the President so much for using a teleprompter--I just mentioned that he seems to go off the rails when he's not.
Wes;
Your the one with the 'outrage of the century' over Palin using crib notes. Your basis for that outrage is that we've made fun of Obama dragging a teleprompter around with him like a fifth appendage. His use may or may not be more than prior Presidents but having been deemed 'The One' by the left who would have thought he needed a teleprompter? I mean the man was going to lower the seas. I thought he walked on water.
No, my point is that Palin made fun of him, then had to check her crib notes when working without a Teleprompter. That's the hypocrisy.
Actually, I'm far more concerned with what the "First Dude" was doing in Alaska state government. Hop over to Smack Talk and let me know what you think of that story...
"No, my point is that Palin made fun of him..."
She called Obama "a charismatic guy with a teleprompter." That sounds more like she's calling him an empty suit; all style and no substance.