On Teleprompters and Speech Writers

Two of the craziest points being raised by the left the morning after the Palin speech are that she reads well from a teleprompter and that she had someone write her speech. 

Of course, this is true of every single person who has run for president in the last three decades.  Why it should be brought up now is a mystery, although it would be hard not to point to at least one of two factors.  First, she's a woman.  Second, she's not Ivy League. 

I'm guessing the second reason really is why.  Let's face it.  Teleprompters and speechwriters are kind of a dirty little secret.  The media knows about them, but doesn't really talk about them.  The public barely knows they exist.  The media doesn't think they're really necessary for their heroes, just convenient.  After all, their heroes usually went to Harvard or Yale.  If you go to the University of Idaho, you're not going to get that kind of slack.  And if you actually deliver a great speech, well, it couldn't be based on ability, there just must be some other reason.

But in light of the Democratic team this year, it's truly a laugher.  First, Biden is a notorious plagiarizer.  He not only stole a speech from Neil Kinnock, he actually stole Kinnock's life!  At least Palin's speech writer got paid.  Second, Obama used lines from governor Deval Patrick, without attribution, and presumably without pay too.  Of course, each employs speech writers. 

And of course the teleprompters are another story.  It's pretty clear that without a teleprompter, Barack Obama would still be a law professor at the University of Chicago, probably forced to actually publish something.  Obama's inability to speak off the cuff is notorious.  Ums and ers fill every interview.  Below is a great you tube just showing how glaringly incompetent Obama is without a script.

Of course, Biden without a script is no better, and arguably much worse.  To his credit, he doesn't have the ums and ers.  To his detriment, he usually puts something extremely stupid in their place.