FOUSESQUAWK: Obama and his Teleprompter in Elementary School

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Obama and his Teleprompter in Elementary School

Are you kidding me? The great orator needs a teleprompter to speak to 6th graders???

Well, I guess that Pledge of Allegiance is pretty hard to remember-for some folks.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...: He wasn't speaking to 6th graders you gullible old curmudgeon, he was speaking to the press. This is months old now and was quickly debunked, which you could have easily found out in two seconds if you weren't so insistent on staying within your own right-wing echo chamber corner of the Internet.

Click here.; May 19, 2010 at 1:35 PM
Gary Fouse said...: Curmudgeon?

Funny, it was on the news today, so maybe there has been more than one occasion. Even so, why does he need a teleprompter to talk to the press while in a classroom?; May 19, 2010 at 3:44 PM
Anonymous said...: What news? Some absurd shouting match opinion show on Fox? That "news?"

Why does the location matter? Just because it's in a classroom that somehow automatically makes using a teleprompter invalid?

And this whole teleprompter thing is just stupid anyways. EVERY PRESIDENT HAS USED A TELEPROMPTER SINCE THE DEVICE WAS INVENTED.

Gee, I guess maybe he should have read off the palm of his hand instead?; May 19, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Gary Fouse said...: Anonymous,

Don't you think that teleprompters are more appropriate for formal speeches and not talking to a group of reporters? The fact is that without one, Obama is lost.; May 19, 2010 at 4:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks for taking the time to actually rebut all of the points I made. Hey wait, you didn't!

If he was just taking questions and making off-the-cuff remarks to reporters, then I'd agree, but he was obviously making a prepared statement, which is a perfectly appropriate occasion to use a teleprompter.

And the fact is, Bush was lost even WITH a teleprompter! Yet I don't seem to remember you making a peep about that, because it doesn't fit into your little narrative. I repeat:

EVERY PRESIDENT HAS USED A TELEPROMPTER SINCE THE DEVICE WAS INVENTED.; May 19, 2010 at 4:14 PM
Gary Fouse said...: Anonymous,

See my last posting.; May 19, 2010 at 5:19 PM
Lance Christian Johnson said...: Bush was lost even WITH a teleprompter. Yet I don't seem to remember you making a peep about that

Oooh...zing! Well played, Anonymous. (Use your name next time though, eh? Or at least a consistent handle.); May 19, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Gary Fouse said...: Anonymous,

See my follow up post.; May 19, 2010 at 7:07 PM
Siarlys Jenkins said...: When I was a child, in the good old days, when patriotism was respected, every school child could sing

"My country hates me
I'm going to Germany
To kill the kind.
His name is Donald Duck,
He drives a garbage truck..."

There were various versions of the Pledge too:

I led the pigeons to the flag,
Of the United States of a merry cow,
And to the republic
For Richard Stans,
One nation, invisible, under water,
With liver, tea, and just ice for owls."

And my best friend used to refer to the "Star Strangled Banana."

This is not fodder for terrorist recruitment. It is the natural fruit of being commanded to repeat the same words over and over every day in what eventually becomes a mind-numbing ritual, divorced from the substance of either history or civics.

Obama doesn't dare talk about this, but I don't care much if anyone has or has not memorized the pledge. Personally, I think it is a violation of the Second Commandment, and no, I'm not a Jehovah's Witness, but their way of dealing with public recitation has much to recommend it: stand, remain silent, don't interrupt.; May 25, 2010 at 4:01 PM