Greetings, students. I hope you all have a copy of your syllabus. Yes, you are in the correct classroom. This is Hypocrisy 101 at Political University. Last year we dealt with the TelePrompter issue and how Sarah Palin was blasting President Barack Obama for using a TelePrompter and many conservative talk show hosts did, too. But then she wrote notes on her hand and she and the talk show hosts pretended that was somehow different than a TelePrompter.
And now we have Michelle Bachmann:
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has found a loophole in her pledge not to use teleprompters.
At a campaign stop in Creston, Iowa Wednesday, the candidate read her campaign speech directly from an iPad tablet computer.
“I have a statement I would like to read before I open up and take a few of your questions,” the candidate told the crowd, only pausing from her prepared remarks to yell “Good morning!” at a passing train.
The Minnesota Republican slid her finger across the iPad screen as she opined for over five minutes about a recent attack ad by GOP hopeful Rick Perry, President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation, and the dangers of North Korea and Iran.
“And we should always use the full resources of our military when we go to achieve a victory,” Bachmann said, again raising her voice to compete with another train.
“That’s the Reagan doctrine. That will also be the Bachmann doctrine,” she added.
Throughout her presidential campaign, Bachmann has attacked Obama for his use of teleprompters, and promised they would not be part of her White House.
“I know you’re not used to seeing a president without teleprompters,” the candidate said in July. “But I’m just here to tell you President O’Bach — President Bachmann will not have teleprompters in the White House.”
Just hand notes and iPads which, as we all know, are sort of low-tech TelePrompters.
Oh, and students? If you’re in PoliSci 101 and you are wondering why some people remain political independents and won’t join a party, the TelePrompter charge and how it is really just a bunch of THIS is one reason why independents remain independents.
Ronald Reagan, the two George Bushes, LBJ, Richard Nixon — they all used TelePrompters.
But you know that and the people pushing the narrative know that — which is why it fits in so perfectly with this course..
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.