Palin at NRA in convention in Charlotte on May 14, 2010, with two teleprompters in view
It’s unclear whether she has used teleprompters in the recent past, and if so, how often — but in February, during her appearance before a tea party conclave, she was caught red-handed, so to speak, with crib notes written on the palm of her hand. Around that same time, during a Fox News softball interview, she said she didn’t want to be the leader of the tea bagger movement because, “It’s much bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter. It is the people’s movement. It’s about the people and I’m proud to be a part of this.”
During the 2008 presidential campaign, when she was the Republican vice presidential nominee, Palin was a serial user of teleprompters. We posted a gallery of photos of Palin using teleprompters at about 20 separate events on Pensito Review’s Facebook page .
Palin is not the only Republican hypocrite on the issue of teleprompter use. At the annual CPAC convention in February, Florida’s charismatic tea bagger senate candidate, Marco Rubio, read a joke about the president’s use of teleprompters from teleprompters on the stage. Soon afterward, Minnesota’s GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a presidential wannabe, read a false statement about the president and teleprompters from a teleprompter.
Here’s coverage of Palin’s NRA speech from the Charlotte Observer:
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told a big crowd in Charlotte on Friday afternoon that the right to own firearms can be defended best in the election booth…
Palin, an NRA member, didn’t disappoint those who had come to hear her defend guns rights — and take a few pokes at the Obama administration…
Palin talked about repeated efforts by anti-hunting groups to limit hunting in Alaska.
“Left-wing groups talk about eating organic, wholesome food,” she said. “We do that. We just happen to shoot it first.”
“I have bad news for those groups. Bambi’s mother is dinner — even in L.A. Where do those people think their venison comes from. The deer didn’t die of natural causes. It wasn’t road kill.”
Palin also talked about the Tea Party movement, a conservative push to limit the role of government. Tea Party supporters have vowed to elect conservatives in this November’s midterm elections, and Palin said, “I can’t wait for the midterm elections.
“Some reporters are trying to portray us Tea Party people as racists or violent or rednecks. I don’t mind the redneck part, actually.
“But the rest of that is ridiculous — absolutely ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous,” except, of course, for the irrefutable evidence.
While I am no fan of Palin’s at all, in fact she lies regularly, I watched part of the speech and she is obviously reading from notes, at least in the parts I saw. Just because the screens are present doesn’t mean the speaker is using them. That goes for Obama too, there are times that teleprompter screens are present but he’s not using them.
Palin has definitely used a teleprompter before, but it doesn’t look like she’s using it in this speech and it possibly gives her ammunition to cry foul from the big bad liberal media again.
But Jeff, whether she read from a teleprompter, notes on the podium or notes on her hand is a distinction without a difference. The Republicans’ dig at Obama is that he can’t speak in public without prompting of some sort ( because, you know, he’s black) — this despite the dozens of town halls he gave during the campaign and, more recently, the televised impromptu discussions he had on health care with Republicans.
The point here is that the Republican base is so clueless about how things work — things as basic as the fact that all politicians use teleprompters all the time — that their leaders are able to convince them that using teleprompters is a sign of weakness and, I guess, socialism.
If the GOP base was observant, they’d know that pols have been using teleprompters since the Reagan era, at least. (Check out our gallery of teleprompter use on FB.) This lie is going to come back on them when the Republican presidential primaries start this November, and their candidates, including Palin, are seen using teleprompters at every stop. It will be interesting to see how they spin it then.
Meanwhile, since Palin hit the national scene in August 2008, she has never held a news conference. She never fielded questions from the campaign press pool when she was the VP candidate and certainly hasn’t faced a room full of reporters since. She won’t even take unfiltered questions from the audience even when it’s just regular folks — must approve all questions in advance — per her speakers’ bureau contract.
If the “lamestream media” is so lame, why is she so terrified of them?
I did not know that Palin has a close relationship with President Obama, apparently he told her he would like to take away the guns from NRA members (how else would she know?)
Thanks, Jon,
I’ve noticed some of the same things as you have about Palin. IMHO, she is not only a hypocrite, a liar, a grifter, and a coward, she is the worst kind of coward. She goes around the country collecting huge fees for saying basically nothing. All she seems to know are a few basic catchwords and phrases, and the gullibility of her admirers continues to amaze me. It would seem that at this point in time at least most of them would recognize the shallowness of the woman. Listening to one of her speeches would tell an astute person that there would be no need to listen to any more of them.
I’m also wondering how in the world Palin could have the hubris to think that she can deal with the rigors of a presidential campaign. She avoids the press like the bubonic plague in its’ end stage. Seriously, anyone who has to have his/her questions prescreened and approved beforehand means that he/she isn’t very bright and is most likely very insecure. America doesn’t need a puppet POTUS being controlled by the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Fred Malik, Karl Rove, Glen Beck, Jim DeMint, and the usual cast of childhood friends Palin would place in critical positions in our national government.
Majii – Yes, a coward. That explains why she’s never had a news conference. She can’t face questions that haven’t been pre-screened. She’s also a bully, which is a marker for cowardice.
I was sitting nine rows away in the audience and can tell you she didn’t use the teleprompters. She had brought notes with her for key speaking points, and a list of her favorite redneck jokes, but her speech as a whole was not prepared.
Oh, Sean, are you really that naive? That’s how Teleprompters work. They’re positioned so that the speaker can see the text while still appearing to speak extemporaneously. The next time you’re watching the news, notice how the anchor appears to be looking into the camera and speaking off the top of his head — he’s not. He’s reading the news off of a teleprompter.