ChrisWeigant.com

Republicans Finally Admit Silliness Of Obama TelePrompTer Caricature

[ Posted Monday, October 1st, 2012 – 15:56 UTC ]

You'll have to forgive the pundit world of late. Political wonks are all in a collective breath-holding moment, as we all sit nervously awaiting the first presidential debate of the season. We tell each other that it's going to be a big event -- possibly the biggest -- in the race for the White House, whether we actually believe this to be true or not. But because we're all waiting for the main event, there is actually time to sit back and examine how Republicans are proving that one of their own put-downs of President Obama was laughable nonsense from the very get-go. I speak (without notes, to be snarky) of "TelePrompTer Obama" -- the caricature which stated that Barack Obama was nothing more than a good speech-giver, and absolutely could not function speaking in public without the crutch of a prepared speech scrolling past his eyes.

This caricature began approximately the day Obama took office, and has been used scathingly by Republicans over the past four years. Obama was nothing more than a puppet, Republicans sneered, tied by the strings of his TelePrompTer, and unable to form a coherent thought or sentence on his own.

This was all ridiculous nonsense, of course, but that didn't stop the Republican Party from having a field day with it. Politicians have been using these devices since the time they were invented -- yes, even Republican politicians such as (say it softly) Ronald Wilson Reagan. The whole slur made about as much sense in the modern world as denouncing a politician for speaking into a microphone. TelePrompTers are hardly "new-fangled" devices, to put it another way. They've been around and been used for decades (although, as we've noted before, the media still has a major problem with the odd capitalization in the brand name, much the same way they got confused over "Etch A Sketch" and "Chick-fil-A" of late... but I digress).

Republicans had all kinds of fun building their caricature of President Obama as somehow lost without his TelePrompTer crutch, for years. Until this past weekend. Watching the Sunday political chatfests on television meant listening to Republican after Republican extol to the skies President Obama's ability as a standalone debater. Obama was masterful, Obama was best talking off-the-cuff, Obama was one of the greatest political speakers of our time. This was coming from Republicans, mind you.

It's all part of a game, of course, which both sides play. The name of this game is "Lower The Media's Expectations." Surrogates flood the airwaves right before a big debate talking up their opponent's debating abilities. This sets the bar very high for the opponent, and sets it as low as possible for your guy or gal. Here is Mitt Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, playing this game on Fox News Sunday yesterday: "Look, President Obama is a very -- he's a very gifted speaker. The man's been on the national stage for many years. He's an experienced debater. He's done these kinds of debates before. This is Mitt's first time on this kind of a stage."

But by doing so, Ryan exposes not only his own doublethink on the issue, but the Republican Party's larger idiocy in perpetuating this "empty chair" caricature of President Obama's speaking abilities. Paul Ryan's own hypocrisy is easy to see, since he regularly cracks TelePrompTer jokes out on the campaign trail. The punchline of the joke remains the same: Obama is so pathetic that he needs a TelePrompTer, but Ryan is so gosh-darned manly that he is able to speak without one. What gives the lie to this hogwash is that not only Mitt Romney, but also virtually every Republican who spoke at the party's recent national convention used this supposed tool of the Devil. Somehow America is expected to believe that TelePrompTers are laughable and proof of ignorance only when used by Democrats (and by one Democrat in particular). The most amusing irony appears when some hapless Republican cracks an Obama TelePrompTer joke while themselves reading from the device which they are mocking.

It would have been nice if any of the Sunday show moderators (who always style themselves "journalists," often with very little to back this assertation up) had pounced this weekend on the Republicans' doublethink. By pumping up Obama's debating skills as high as they could get away with, Republicans were, in essence, admitting that the whole TelePrompTer slam was, at heart, not only wrong but downright silly. So why was the "irony radar" of these well-paid and well-coiffed "journalists" seemingly broken? This was an entirely predictable event, since surrogates always play the expectations game right before a big debate. It wasn't too hard to see this coming.

To put this another way, I would have paid good money to see someone ask: "How can you sit here and tell me Obama is a great debater, when you've been mocking him for four years as a man who is incapable of speaking without a TelePrompTer? Were you lying to us then, or are you lying to us now?"

-- Chris Weigant

 

Cross-posted at Business Insider
Cross-posted at The Huffington Post

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

 

20 Comments on “Republicans Finally Admit Silliness Of Obama TelePrompTer Caricature”

  1. [1] 
    LewDan wrote:

    Nearly every Republican caricature of Obama has been "ridiculous nonsense." If Republicans actually had anything they'd be campaigning on it.

    CW,
    You do love to write "TelePrompTer" don't you?

  2. [2] 
    michty6 wrote:

    Also where are the school records! How do we know Obama is even intelligent?? How can he be such a great debater when he has lied to us and hidden his school records??

  3. [3] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    CW,

    You do love to write "TelePrompTer" don't you?

    I love it when he does that! :)

  4. [4] 
    Chris Weigant wrote:

    LewDan -

    Yes. Yes, I do.

    :-)

    -CW

  5. [5] 
    Buckeye54 wrote:

    Whenever someone suggest that President Obama is hapless without a teleprompter, I remind them about the time, early in his term, that he spoke to a Republican summit on healthcare. He offered to debate the issues with the assembled congressmen and senators if they invited him.

    So they did, and President Obama stood at the podium and answered their questions with facts, statistics and a sure grasp of the subject that left the congress critters fumbling and red-faced. They finally gave up.

    And best of all, President Obama had invited CSPAN along to film the event, so lots of us could enjoy watching the spectacle.

    Needless to say, he's not been invited back to any further Republican summits.

    I wonder why?

  6. [6] 
    michty6 wrote:

    Since Michale is not posting here (at least just now) I'll play his role:

    You on the left are just as bad, if not worse. It's funny how you went on and on about all the Bush 'gaffes' but all the Obama gaffes are completely ignored by the biased liberal media and Google. Luckily we have Fox to keep us informed.

    Romney is going to crush Obama in the debates because Obama is a lier and has wrecked this country. I can't wait to see the expression on his non-American face when Romney hits him with whatever policies Romney has (which don't really matter because anything is better than Obama).

    And I'll be here to laugh it up on November the 7th, I can't wait...

  7. [7] 
    michty6 wrote:

    PS. Looks like Republican efforts to cheat their way to winning Pennsylvania ended just now...

  8. [8] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    michty,

    Where's Michale?

  9. [9] 
    michty6 wrote:

    Last thing he posted was some rant about partisan bias on here and he wasn't going to post anymore. I give it a few days and he'll be back. In fact I'm sure he'll be back after the debate to tell us how awful Obama was...!

  10. [10] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    What!?

    He isn't going to post anymore!?

    No, no, no ... that cannot be! We have a very important fundraiser to get ready for, after all!

    And, all due respect, michty, but you're not a very good substitute for Michale ... you may consider that the highest of compliments. :)

  11. [11] 
    Michale wrote:

    For the purposes of a worthy cause...

    http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/19638501/specialized-vest-for-5-year-old-stolen

    My two boys suffer from the same disease that this young boy is afflicted with. Fortunately they outgrew it and have no lasting ill effects save abnormally dry skin.. My oldest boy works on a fishing crew in Alaska (think Deadliest Catch) and my middle boy is an IT Specialist for BOEING. (Taught him everything he knows :D)

    But watching them grow up and not being able to do a lot that other kids could, it's heartbreaking to see this little tyke suffer because some asshole stole his medical vest..

    I have sent a Windows 7 Laptop up for a raffle and a little Win7 NetBook for Wyatt himself..

    If anyone would like to help out, you can visit the WYATT webpage and donate...

    http://www.waltzgolffarm.com/wyatt

    All partisan BS aside, Weigantians are the most generous people I know online. Granted ya'all are probably the ONLY people I "know" online, but that's beside the point. :D

    It would be awesome if a few bucks could be sent to this little guy..

    Michale

  12. [12] 
    dsws wrote:

    Yes. Yes, I do.

    Do you also watch Phineas and Ferb?

  13. [13] 
    Elizabeth Miller wrote:

    Michale,

    I watched the video on Wyatt - what a cute little boy!

    There doesn't seem to be any link to donate, though - just to participate in mini golf.

    Let us know if enough was raised to purchase Wyatt's new vest.

  14. [14] 
    LeaningBlue wrote:

    I just watched the video which is supposed to be the "game changer." Here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ofbUK85bnwY

    What is wrong with them? Are they so blinded by hate of the President, so out of touch with the American people, that they can't see what this is? This speech is jaw-droppingly good, both in content and in delivery.

    Sure, Hannity will edit it, and shape it, but the fact is, in the age of the internet, lies don't have long half-lives except among the self-deluded; the half-life of the repudiation, and the memory of that repudiation, is much longer.

  15. [15] 
    Chris Weigant wrote:

    dsws -

    The only Phineas I know is Phineas T. Freakears...

    But that probably dates me, doesn't it?

    :-)

    -CW

  16. [16] 
    akadjian wrote:

    How can you sit here and tell me Obama is a great debater, when you've been mocking him for four years as a man who is incapable of speaking without a TelePrompTer? Were you lying to us then, or are you lying to us now?

    I would like to ask the same question of conservatives in about 100 different topics.

    When it comes to religion ... are you pro-religion as you tell the evangelical Christians ... or against religion as you tell the Ayn Randian Tea Partiers?

    Is Obama a cult of personality narcissist or is he a liberal socialist who cares too much about the poor?

    Are you for Romneycare or against Obamacare? (hint: they're the same thing)

    It used to be that when Republicans attacked at least their attacks had some degree of consistency in underlying philosophy. It appears they've abandoned any semblance of belief in favor of using the politically expedient attack of the moment.

    -David

  17. [17] 
    akadjian wrote:

    But watching them grow up and not being able to do a lot that other kids could, it's heartbreaking to see this little tyke suffer because some asshole stole his medical vest.

    Agreed, Michale. Thanks for posting and I chipped in a few.

    Sometimes you wonder what's wrong w/ people.

  18. [18] 
    michty6 wrote:

    I just watched the video which is supposed to be the "game changer."

    I remember the days when Republicans were saying Obama's record was so bad he couldn't run on it.

    Yet when faced with the proposition of explaining why Obama's record is so bad and what they would've done differently - their response?

    Here's an Obama video from 14/5 years ago!

    Amazing. Obama's record is so 'bad' they still have to go to desperate efforts to create this 'socialist/Muslim/anti-religious/evil/non-American' Obama to try and run against, rather than facing the real Obama on his actual record.

    That should tell you all you need to know about Obama's record as President.

  19. [19] 
    mikesamerica wrote:

    You said: "the caricature which stated that Barack Obama was nothing more than a good speech-giver, and absolutely could not function speaking in public without the crutch of a prepared speech scrolling past his eyes."

    It might have been smarter to wait until AfTER the debate to write your post. Obviously, your commentary is anything but "reality based."

    Stop blaming Republicans for pointing out the faults in Obama that you are too blinded by fealty to left wing ideology to see.

  20. [20] 
    Chris Weigant wrote:

    mikesamerica -

    OK, I'm outlandishly late about this, but welcome to the site. Your first post was held for moderation, but subsequent posts should post instantly unless you post multiple links per comment, which are held automatically for moderation to cut down on comment spam.

    You've certainly got a point about the first debate, but if I waited to say things until after they happened, I wouldn't have a whole lot to fill these columns with.

    In other words, you're certainly entitled to bash me for being wrong, but please don't bash me for predicting things in the first place. Post-debate, I think the site's been pretty reality-based, as always.

    Of course, your mileage may vary.

    -CW

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