Comments on: What’s behind Obama’s Teleprompter addiction?

By: D. C.

D. C. — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:47:36 +0000

Yes, with the economy in the crapper and a mess still in need of cleaning up, let’s all focus on Obama being the first president to use a teleprompter for all of his prepared remarks evah!

Oh wait, you mean every president since Reagan has used one? Even their traditional prepared comments before answering questions at a press conference? And before the teleprompter was invented, they read their prepared remarks off little pieces of paper? You mean none of them memorized their speeches? You mean this is all just a nothing issue hyped up by a media unable to talk about anything of substance and by bloggers who don’t really understand how speeches are given?

By: tinat

tinat — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:38:50 +0000

I don’t know, maybe he just doesn’t have time to memorize all the info he wants to impart?
As a teacher I wish I had a telepromter not an outline on notecards!

By: Transparancy! Accountability! The Movie! - UPDATED | Politics

Transparancy! Accountability! The Movie! - UPDATED | Politics — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:50:05 +0000

[...] is opinion profoundly disturbed by many [...]

By: RickZ

RickZ — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:51:11 +0000

The teleprompter is the man-child Precedent’s binky.

By: Stephanie M

Stephanie M — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:17:12 +0000

I am reading the 2nd volume of Wm Manchester’s “The Last Lion” right now, and was thrilled when it dawned on me a few weeks ago that it was in your picture at the top.

Anyway, I have never cried over a biography like this before. I saw parallels a year ago when reading the beginning (I have two preschoolers…it takes a while to read anything of substance). It is shocking how very like English attitudes of the 30s the attitudes in our country over the past few years have been. But where, oh, where is our Churchill? Where is our “Lion”?

Scary times. Is this Munich for us? Will our people awake in time? I wonder.

By: The Teleprompter Addiction - Transterrestrial Musings

The Teleprompter Addiction - Transterrestrial Musings — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:33:03 +0000

[...] has some thoughts: Barnett noticed—as many had, even at the time—the enormous difference in articulateness [...]

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:12:23 +0000

Thanks for the comments, which I appreciate.

The existence of subversive networks doesn’t strike me as at all far-fetched, frankly. From my days at Berkeley I well remember how the leftists would turn on a dime and launch a full-blown campaign, with no discernible run-up whatsoever. (That is, an issue didn’t start small and gradually come to a boil; it burst on the scene fully formed.)

One day every leftist in Sproul Plaza would be bleating about something or other, and all singing from exactly the same hymnal. Whether it be divestment of South African investments, anti-redlining/affordable housing, or whatever, there was no shakeout between competing potential issues, or any dissension. They all spoke about the same issues with the same (usually characteristically highly-stylized) language (e.g., phrases such as “Hands off”, “Solidarity with”, “Defend”), made the same arguments, and showed up with the same pre-printed signs. The behind the scenes coordination was unmistakable.

So with that history I consider the existence of subversive networks pretty much a given. The only question in my mind is their size and strength.

By: Oh, bother

Oh, bother — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:27:50 +0000

jon baker: We actually had to smack around the Barbary Pirates twice: from 1801-1805 (the campaign to which you refer) and again after the War of 1812. The matter was finally resolved in 1815. It’s a pleasure to re-read of those campaigns and recall an American leadership with its priorities straight.

By: Bus Ride to Socialism | The American Freedom Network

Bus Ride to Socialism | The American Freedom Network — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:16:58 +0000

[...] news, Sarah Palin is being called a “hypocrite” for rejecting a stimulus package while berating Obama’s inane “Special Olympics gaffe — some of which had funding for special needs program. The trouble is that this funding runs [...]

By: Oh, bother

Oh, bother — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:03:23 +0000

Occam’s Beard re: gcotham: I had arrived at a similar conclusion but hadn’t voiced it even to my husband, so nutty does it sound. Something about your words, “subversive network” rings all too true. There are two of them: the visible network was created by the long slow march through the institutions and produces the nation’s public school systems, most universities, and the formerly-free press/MSM. The minor leagues, as it were. The really-promising talent at some point is recognized and goes straight into the secretive network “that did the rest,” as you said. Maybe Davis saw Obama’s promise and fast-tracked him for The Show.

As to your (our) nuttiness, you won’t be the real deal until you start spouting that Davis is really his father.

Neo, I’m sorry. Since I was tinkering with a baseball metaphor I tried my best to work in the Cape Cod League, but it didn’t really fit. For which I’m grateful, actually.