Can someone please explain The Teleprompter argument. (Iraq, Reagan, Obama)

[Jermaine88]

I don't know if its just extreme right wing propaganda. Just trying "nitpick" with out knowing all facts..

People complain that the president uses a teleprompter.. Even though he is not the first to use one, Many presidents have used Aides while making big speeches.

The purpose of a teleprompter

By using a teleprompter, a speaker can have greater eye contact with an audience – and that means a lot.

Ronald Reagan often used a dual screen teleprompter.

Ronald Reagan was the same way. He was more at ease in reading his speech off the dual screens of a teleprompter than looking up and down at a speech text on his lectern

George Bush
Used a teleprompter and made the switch to large index cards.
The point is Presidents and many elected officials have used teleprompters for about a half century.
Some believe Bush used a teleprompter to declare war on Iraq.
(I'm personally not sure about that. But would not be surprised^)

Some presidents used a teleprompter at the state of the Union.

I would rather a president that at least makes eye contact(or appears to) then someone who looks down and flips pages. Or even one who rights notes on their hands....
Or someone who looks at the wrong camera while making a speech for a good 10 minutes, and then bitching about someone else usage of a teleprompter.


Either way its a presidents words/thoughts, (through a speech writer if a president has one) that appear.
And Yes many presidents have had speech writers..

I just don't get all the bitching and whining about Obama using a teleprompter. I do not remember all the complaining with any other president on this subject.
I know he uses it a lot but, as long as the message is getting out, it should not matter.

I'm not a Obama fan, didn't vote in 2008, I probably will not vote for him in 2012 and just looking at his possible opponents I probably will not vote at all.


I don't know if some extreme right wingers don't know the history of the presidential teleprompter usage.
Or if they are just trying to find SOMETHING, to whine about.

[Frank DeForrest]

Maybe we should just redefine "eloquent speaker" and "great orator", to mean "a person who can read the words of another off a script, without messing up" ?
No more argument need take place after that.

[TempesT68]

It's just right wing trash to do anything they can to bash Obama. He speaks very well with, or without a teleprompter. Bush on the other hand wouldn't be caught dead without one. Every time he didn't speak with one it was like a completely different person making up words and could barely finish a sentience.

[nightflight]

Originally Posted by Frank DeForrest

Maybe we should just redefine "elequent speaker" and "great orator", to mean "a person who can read the words of another off a script, without messing up" ?
No more argument need take place after that.

This.

[plwhit]

There is no argument....

Teleprompters were widely used by past presidents....

The difference is obama can't give an intelligent speech without one...

Take away his teleprompter and he is a babbling idiot......

Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual — not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.

After the teleprompter malfunctioned a few times last summer and Obama delivered some less-than-soaring speeches, reports surfaced that he was training to wean himself off of the device while on vacation in Hawaii. But no such luck.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19663.html

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by Jermaine88

I don't know if its just extreme right wing propaganda. Just trying "nitpick" with out knowing all facts..

People complain that the president uses a teleprompter.. Even though he is not the first to use one, Many presidents have used Aides while making big speeches.

It's like an irritating inside joke with some conservatives. I don't understand it either. I hope you can get some sincere answers in your thread.

[hammertime33]

Obama is a poopie-head.

[Frank DeForrest]

Originally Posted by ozzie679

It's like an irritating inside joke with some conservatives. I don't understand it either. I hope you can get some sincere answers in your thread.

The joke is defining Obama (or anyone else who reads a script) as a great orator/speaker.

[Jermaine88]

Would you rather take someone serious:
A Politician
News Reporter/ Journalist

who is making eye contact, someone who is looking down often, or someone who is looking in a totally random direction?

[ozzie679]

Originally Posted by Frank DeForrest

The joke is defining Obama (or anyone else who reads a script) as a great orator/speaker.

Do people think he's a great speaker? Ah, ah, ah...I never did