Yesterday's column ("TelePrompter 101") was the most-read piece on the Philadelphia Daily News opinion page and it generated lots of comment on the philly.com web site.
I appreciate all of the interest and comments -- both pro and con.
I always learn something from the readers.
Here are some of the comments, unedited:
Obama does not read everything from a teleprompter. Like the president before him, who fumbled words even with one, he uses it as a tool rather than hold papers, index card, etc. Amazing how, with the economy as it is and all the other problems, the biggest problem for some people is the use of a teleprompter.
This article is a perfect example of someone who does not like the president and is looking for a way to insult him. I do not care if the president uses a prompter or note cards. I care if the president's policies move the country forward. Clearly the author does not care about such niceties.
The dependence on the Teleprompter is very relevant because it puts the lie to the notion that Obama is an original thinker with important, innovative ideas to move this country forward. If he was and if he was confident in his convictions, the power of his arguments and his own intellect, confident in his actual ability to "think on his feet" and effectively articulate his ideas, he wouldn't depend so neurotically on the Teleprompter. He does so precisely because he knows what 47% of the voting public knew on November 4: he's in way over his head, inexperienced and in no way "ready for primetime." Many more Americans are quickly figuring this out --- almost as fast as Uhuhuhbama.
As if Bush never used a teleprompter - which made his mangling of the English language even more remarkable.
While I agree that there are more important things than whether or not the President uses a teleprompter, it cannot be denied that nearly all of his early credibility as "candidate Obama" was gained on our fascination with his abilities as a speaker. His speaking abilities were interpreted as a sign of extraordinary wisdom, intelligence, insight, and thoughtfulness. Rather than fairly exploring his competancies in these areas, we were compelled to accept these competancies as genuine based largely on his stylistic delivery of speeches. Few who supported him did not cheerfully welcome the broadening of merit provided their candidate as a result of this society's willingness to draw elaborate conclusions about the man.
When Sarah Palin made her speech at the convention, the dems cried out: "Oh, she read it from a teleprompter! She just read what somebody else wrote. She's too stupid to have written it herself." No now we get Nobama reading words that somebody else wrote on the teleprompter. But we're supposed to believe that he's smart and articulate. He just reads what somebody else wrote, because he's too stupid to have any original thoughts of his own. As usual, the Democrat double standard is at work here. And who writes his speeches? George Soros? Bill Ayers?
Obama's reliance on the teleprompter reminds me of the great Oz in the wizard of Oz. It only begs to ask, Who is behind the curtain? By the way, the last time Obama was off of the teleprompter, he gave us Joe the Plumber. He can not go off of the teleprompter because he is afraid he may reveal what his ultimate goal is... (destruction of capitalizm, redistribution of wealth (except his own), etc.)
Dear Mr. Cirucci, Your guy lost. Get over it. And if you really want me to take you seriously as someone who is an expert in communication, it would help if you came from somewhere other than one of the Penn State campuses. I've seen your graduates. I'm not impressed.
Republicans are such paethetic, petty and stupid people. Go away creeps! Obamma is a very good communicator. He didn't have a tele-prompter or notes during the debates and he outshone both the Republicans and other Democrats. He's giving lots of press conference and is discussing many complex issues. That's why he using the tele-prompter. Reagan had a great memory until he testified about the Iran-Contra scandal. Then he seemed to forget everything. The "art of memorization"? What's that? I spent 25 years in theatre and have no idea what you're talking about. Neither do you.
Don't they all use tele-prompters? Didn't Bush? What a bunch of stupid sh*t to point out.
In the past, they've all used teleprompters for major speeches, not for small, short announcements and introductions. The difference is, Barry and his handlers have sold him based largely on his eloquence and his Kennedyesque ability to speak. As it turns out, off the 'prompter he hems and haws ("uh...uh...uh...," "aaaaaaannnnd") and makes stupid social faux pas (Nancy Reagan seances, fat Jessica Simpson, Special Olympics bowling skills) worse than George W. Bush, whose fumbles were more often than not a function of his dyslexia. The social faux pas are especially telling because it reveals an apparently insecure man who, while possessing no real sense of self-deprecating humor, certainly has a mean streak for trying to get laughs at others' expense, even the handicapped.
Thanks, everybody!
1 comment:
Dear Enlightened and Elite Democrat,
Since you are obviously better than me and my ilk I will not try to convince you otherwise. However, I will try to, and hopefully with some success, dish out some much needed food for thought, that may or may not change your views. Key word there is may, I understand it’s impossible to really reach someone who has gone off the deep end into the realm of darkness but what the hell, it’s a slow day at work. Now, to reach this goal I am going to go through your wonderful post, line by line, and show you your errors, which were of course no fault of your own, Democrats are never wrong, that I understand. I'm sure you were just too busy having wine and cheese in old city or perhaps you were saving the frogs in Manyunk, or you could have been at an art boutique sucking off the fake artist who is never going to amount to anything except another whiny Democrat, oops caught myself, I apologize for getting off topic there, I get a little too into my work sometimes. What I was trying to say was that I understand you are far and beyond to good and important to be able to take the time to properly fact check and edit your post, you should have asked Keith Olberman, I’m sure his minions would have loved the job. But here it goes:
“Dear Mr. Cirucci, Your guy lost. Get over it. And if you really want me to take you seriously as someone who is an expert in communication, it would help if you came from somewhere other than one of the Penn State campuses.”
Hmmm. I have two prime grievances here: 1) Stop being an elitist bitch. We all know you’re probably the overweight know-it-all who grew up in an upper-middle class home and has this far fetched thought that your a princess. Right? Ha! Damn right I’m right. You probably had the word “PRINCESS” in big pink letters on your car didn’t you? Don’t disrespect Mr. Cirucci and especially don’t disrespect Penn State. Just because your parents sent you to some stupid, little, expensive liberal arts school like Bryn Athen or I’m Stuck Up U to waste money doesn’t make you better. 2) If you’re going to complain about an individual’s communication skills you should have realized that there was no need to start your second sentence with a conjunction. Just eliminate the “and,” it keeps the flow moving. Come on! That’s second grade level right there. Step it up you jackass (I use that word in the Democratic sense of course).
"I've seen your graduates. I'm not impressed."
They’re his graduates??? Again that comes down to communication skills, which you claim you have, but you obviously do not. Alternate sentence could have read, “I have seen the graduates from that school. I’m not impressed.” It makes it easier to understand. By the way how was that wine and cheese the other night? Did it impress you? It’s obviously hard to impress a princess, I was just wondering.
"Republicans are such paethetic, petty and stupid people. Go away creeps! Obamma is a very good communicator."
Here we go again with communication. Let’s get the grammatical errors out of the way early. You spelled pathetic wrong. You also spelled Obama wrong. I’m not pleased with the usage of creep. I’m sure you could have come up with a better noun than creep. I’m disappointed in you. For someone as gifted and talented a communicator as you are I just expected more. To characterize an entire group of people as “paethetic (sic), petty and stupid,” is an ignorant generalization and just a pathetic, petty and stupid thing to say. Again, the word jackass comes to mind. It’s funny how that word always pops up in my head after I read a pro-Obama comment.
"He didn't have a tele-prompter or notes during the debates and he outshone both the Republicans and other Democrats. "
If you’re going to use the word “the” prior to Republicans you should then keep the same form and use “the other Democrats.” I’m sure this was just another oversight by your staff Ms. Communicator. By the way, the hyphenation in the word “teleprompter” is not needed. Good use of the word “outshone.” Unlike a Democrat, I can agree with the other side when they perform well.
"He's giving lots of press conference and is discussing many complex issues. That's why he using the tele-prompter."
Jesus Mary and Joseph, what am I going to do with you? “Lots” is slang, and press conference should be plural. I guess they don’t teach grammar on the Rachel Madow show do they?
"Reagan had a great memory until he testified about the Iran-Contra scandal. Then he seemed to forget everything."
But what about the complex issue excuse you just made for Obama? The same rings true with President Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair. That there folks was a prime example of the typical double-standard thrown about by the Democrats. It’s a scandal when a Republican does it, but when a Democrat is the culprit it’s just the cost of doing business. HAHAHA! By the way, it was called an affair. See I caught you trying to work the typical Democratic playbook into your comment. You change certain words to give off the impression that something is better or worse than it actually is. Good try, but it won’t work here.
"The "art of memorization"? What's that? I spent 25 years in theatre and have no idea what you're talking about. Neither do you."
The “art of memorization” is being able to memorize a speech by using different memorization techniques. If you’ve spent 25 years in theatre as you claim, then you would understand this. Finally, while we all understand that you are an all-knowing, elite Democrat, if you have no idea what he is talking about than how can you pass judgment on whether or not Mr. Cirucci knows? You just discredited yourself on the subject and then you follow with an assumption that’s credibility lies with your understanding of the subject which you just claimed you “have no idea about.” Good move. Oh, one last thing, good final four sentences, no grammatical mistakes. We’re making headway here!
Sincerely,
A low and dumb Republican
P.S. Please do the world a favor and jump off the Ben Franklin Bridge. Thank you and have a nice day.
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