Anyone else think that hidden within the teleprompter criticism is an implication

that Obama is dumb? And that maybe, perhaps some sort of racial stereotyping is driving this criticism?

Many people in the media wouldn't risk straight out saying Obama's stupid, but this teleprompter "issue" provides a defensible means of making the same point.

For the life of me, I can't remember ever hearing during Bush's presidency how Bush used teleprompters. I just found out recently that the words on his telemprompters had to be spelled out phonetically for him. Why was it a non-issue for Bush, but such a big deal for Obama?

and fucking brilliant ....

I look forward to the steady dissection of Ed Henry and the yokels at CNN by our brilliant president over the next 8 years ....

Fucking assholes ...

"The black guy is dumb."

we must constantly fight off the RW echo chamber.

Many of the folks covering this stuff were heavy influened by the same lie peddlers during the Clinton administration.

But Clinton did not have us.

We must debunk them at every turn and make them look like the disingeneous fools they are.

And if there weren't a teleprompter we'd hear gushing about how "well-spoken" he is.

But anyone who listens to Obama for more than 30 seconds has to realize that here we have a brilliant man, one who can speak complex sentences off the cuff...

Good grief.

:eyes:

and that's right, if they listen to Obama and watch him explain things, this is not a dumb man, in fact he's very gifted. i admire the way he teaches when he speaks.

... speak well off the cuff. Which is clearly nonsense. It's an idiotic meme. But like any shitty meme, it has to be repeated over and over by the so-called pundits and the MSM to gain any traction. This is exactly what "they" are attempting to do right now.

More and more people are losing their respect for the GOP

More and more are leaving everyday...to become anything but Republican

Them Pubs have become TOXIC

They are a CANCER on America...

Those that hate Obama try to discredit his obvious intelligence and grasp of the issues by suggesting he is simply reading from rote the ideas others have prepared for him.

Over and over again, they use the teleprompter as proof that he has "no idea what he is doing", or that he is an "empty suit". They conveniently forget about occasions such as tonight, various interviews, and town halls where Obama continues to display his keen understanding on the fly and WITHOUT a teleprompter.

For the racists this the same old game. They are constantly trying to undermine Obama's intelligence by claiming his books were ghost-written, his degrees were due to Affirmative Action (not that anything is wrong with that), that he is just a front man delivering the ideas of some shadowy "others". They do this with ANY black person who is accomplished in anything other than sports or entertainment.

because they were not. He didn't even tell Harvard on his application that he was black.

And there's something very wrong with anyone implying that DEGREES are earned through affirmative action. Admissions may or may not be affected by it, but affirmative action doesn't determine whether or not someone gets a degree.

Unless all you meant is "there's nothing wrong with affirmative action." But really, in Obama's case it's irrelevant. ANY reference to affirmative action helping him get ahead is a racist slur intented to demean his accomplishments by implying he didn't achieve them, they were handed to him.

Yes, that is what I meant. :)

And your post is 100% spot on. AA only extends opportunities to qualified people who may have been overlooked. It's still up to the individuals to do the work and reap the benefits.

From their teleprompters.

As to double meanings and such- these folks really aren't that smart.

I doubt they even recognized that Obma was telling Ed Henry that HE didn't know what he was talking about.

who knows how to communicate. And every time President Obama talks, he proves they are suspect.

a teleprompter.

and he can't afford the receiver and earpiece that Bush wore...

:rofl:

They want him to appear dumb and controlled. There is some racial stereotyping going on.

What's the difference?

and probably racist.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Obama manages to work in a word or two of his own from time to time. But my point is, the biggest difference is the medium. Regardless, it's all bogus as you say. There's nothing unethical about using a teleprompter and an earphone to help convey your message. Unless you're in a presidential debate and secretly get wired up with a feed from your handlers.

are common in folks who've never been challenged to think for themselves. Obama's no exception.

So you really believe that Obama's too dumb to think for himself?

Rush's line this week via TYT: "the teleprompter tells Obama to say...", in other words, no black man could do this alone...it also suggests that he is being manipulated from behind the scenes. Racist straight-up.

fucking lame

the addlepated sociopath who just left office.

a person that always looks at "racism" as the last reason anything happens.

Has faced charges that they cannot independently produce sound judgment or skillful prose in language.

Phyllis Wheatley actually had to face an independent board that "verified" her production of verse. Even after that, it was said that she was merely parroting her owners.

Nineteenth century discussion of slave autobiographies is rife with the same critique: either they didn't write the accounts themselves, or they are merely parroting abolitionist activists. It's "impossible" that African Americans can formulate thought and narrative like that! This was the theory.

The same criticism then applied to African American writers and authors. Even W.E.B. DuBois was accused of merely parroting his teachers in philosophy.

It's the logic behind charges of "plagiarism" lodged against Martin Luther King.

It is certainly the logic of this teleprompter nonsense. Let's not forget that right wing hacks were attempting to "prove" that William Ayers actually wrote Obama's books as recently as six months ago. These are not idle charges. They are charges embedded in a 300-year history of denying African Americans their ability to use language skillfully in a public setting.

:thumbsup:

If anything, it's not that he's dumb, but they're looking at something to "blame" his intelligence and speaking abilities on. I guess that's kinda what you are saying, but it really just boils down to them needing SOMETHING.

Personally, I'll take "teleprompter" over "lied to the American People about a reason to go to war" or "cheated on his wife in the Oval Office" or "had his underlings commit robbery in order to spy on his opposing party" ANY day.

BRING ON the teleprompter jokes. lol

Presidents like FDR read from a prepared script for his fireside chats.

Didn't Lincoln read his Proclamation?

because EVERYONE knows merely by the way Obama clearly and thoughtfully answers questions that he is A HIGHLY INTELLIGENT man.

They WANT the thought of "ignorance" to stick because their corporate masters have ordered them to repeat the meme. In the days before the Internet if enough "reputable" journalists said the same thing and repeated ad nauseum, they could OFTEN bring the people along. However, due to Obama's demonstrated intelligence ( at Town Hall Meetings and Press Conferences) combined with many "small progressive niches" on the Net, the COGNITIVE DISSONANCE of squaring this contention with Obama, the man, is deafening.

In other words, the seemingly insatiable efforts by the M$M whores to paint Obama as ignorant and/or lazy has proved to be a *Massive Fail.* :evilgrin:

president , professor of Contitutional Law, bestselling author, oh yeah, and POTUS. What a dunce.

(And Michelle went to Harvard Law as well. Another dumb blond? Discuss)

so to counter that, the MSM is attempting to condition the masses to the idea that (a) Obama uses a telepropmter so therefore (b) he is simply reading someone else's words. A veiled attempt to demean and discredit without overtly appearing as such.

You are correct that the MSM never made an issue of Bush using a teleprompter. Hell, they never even commented or discussed the satellite radio transceiver strapped to his back and clearly visible through his jacket. But from a corporate media perspective, Bush was "their guy". Obama on the other hand stands in serious question to the status quo.

A couple other misdirections that the MSM are trying to implant in the minds of their more feeble listeners:

(1) Obama overexposure (a RW talking point conservatives hope will generate animosity towards Obama) The truth is of course that America overwhelmingly approves of Obama and his exposure level is an asset to his popularity, but a liability to his critics.
(2) America is a center-right nation. Clearly wrong and intended to perpetuate the purpose driven confusion between Liberal-Conservative. Truth: America is overwhelmingly a center-Left nation ( http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/93050/americans_move_left%3B_new_york_times_misses_it/ ).

I think you're right that they are attempting to use the teleprompter as a way to degrade the perception of both thinking and speaking abilities.

As to over exposure. Obama knows that they either don't report substance, trivialize the important, or aggrandize the trivial, so he has made it a point to go directly and often to the people themselves. The media are trying to pollute that stream of info by attempting to condition people to say "Oh, geez, not him again!" when he does a presser or a town hall.

That center right crap bugs the shit out of me. They are working a point through repetition until it becomes accepted. We are not center right, we are tilting majorly center left and the last election was proof of that. The economy is changing and the demographics are changing. Our leaders and the media are behind the curve of progressive growth in the country.

repeat something often enough and it will become fact with many people. Doesn't even have to be factual, just repeated a sufficient number of times. If you need to introduce an untruth in a credibly sounding way, you can precede it with something like "Some people say....". Of course that "Some people" probably just means the guy speaking it at the time but the jist of the comment comes off as much more authoritarian.

and accept that he's a gifted writer, speaker and thinker.

Just like they tried to demean Tiger Woods, (fried chicken etc.) they will try to minimize the first Black President's intellect.

But it won't work. President Obama, uses his grace like Woods does, and they will fail to bait him.