Palin, Palm Notes, and Telepromters

There’s been a lot of uproar in the blogosphere about how Sarah Palin used crib notes written on her palm during her speech before the Tea Party convention. The real problem is not that she used crib notes, which I see nothing wrong with (although she could have been more discrete) but that her crib notes were to a question during the Q&A session.

Just like George Bush, it looks like Sarah Palin is relying on planted questions. Considering the disasters we have seen when she has tried to take questions from the media this is somewhat understandable. Still, she is before a friendly audience and I would think she could handle questions from that crowd.

I am far more concerned about the content of her answer, such as calling for government to seek divine intervention from God, than whether she got this answer from her palm.

Many have pointed out the hypocrisy of having crib notes after attacking Barack Obama for using a teleprompter. Crib notes are not the same as a teleprompter with the entire text. My suspicion is that there are three main reasons why Palin could get by with limited crib notes while Obama prefers a teleprompter:

  1. Memorizing a speech word for word takes much more time. Obama has a day job at present. Sarah Palin does not.
  2. It is easier to give a speech with vague generalities without the prepared text to read. For example, when you are calling for budget cuts but avoiding any specifics as to what you would cut it is easier to talk with minimal notes.
  3. As far as I can determine, there was not a prepared text distributed to the press prior to the speech. Prepared text for Obama’s speeches are routinely released ahead of time and the media quotes from these. While there would normally be no problem with a speaker varying from the actual prepared text while making the planned points, there could be confusion when a prepared text has been made public.

The teleprompter argument is also a bogus argument as Barack Obama has spoken many times without a teleprompter. This included his recent question and answer session at a Republican gathering. During the presidential campaign he varied between the use of a teleprompter and speaking without one, such as prior to a key speech prior to the Iowa caucuses in which he memorized the speech believing this would give it more intensity.

Here is the full video of Palin’s speech:

2 Comments

  1. 1
    Mill Messenger says:

    #liberal Palin, Palm Notes, and Telepromters http://url4.eu/1KyAh

  2. 2
    Mill Messenger says:

    #liberal Palin, Palm Notes, and Telepromters http://url4.eu/1KyAh

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