“See, I always believed that when you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter,” he said. “Because all you’re doing is reading someone else’s words to people.”
He added: “You’re voting for someone who is going to be the leader of our government. It’s important for you to understand who that person is in their own words, see them, look them in the eye…hear what’s (in their) heart.”
Santorum not only has been among the Republican critics of President Barack Obama’s usage of teleprompters, but also called out Mitt Romney’s choice to include the device for his speeches.
Santorum has chosen not to use a teleprompter during his speeches.
When you think about it, of course, a person could be reading their own words that they wrote, and just be using a teleprompter as a memory device. And pretty much every politician has used a speechwriter on some occasion or other, but those pols still sign off on the final content. But you only come to that kind of conclusion if you, you know, think about it.
There has been a lot of ribbing of President Obama for using a teleprompter in a "Heh, heh, see? He isn't so smart," kind of way by other conservatives. Sarah Palin slammed him for using a teleprompter while she had notes written on her hand. But it takes a special kind of mentality to go from sly jokes about teleprompter use, which even Gov. Romney manages to pull off despite his own use of them, to going for "it should be illegal." I know, it's just a teleprompter. But the guy was dead serious. No condoms, no premarital sex, no teleprompters, no skirts above the knee. Okay, I'm kidding. But I'm not.
And I'm just thinking, what with diversions into man on dog sex and how classic political speeches make him want to puke--maybe it's not a bad idea to have something around to keep him on message.
3 comments:
There has been a lot of ribbing of President Obama for using a teleprompter in a "Heh, heh, see? He isn't so smart," kind of way by other conservatives.
To a large extent, it's "whistling past the graveyard", combined with the tendency to attack your opponent's strong points. President Obama has always been a skilled orator, with the ability to move an audience. The teleprompter jokes are a failing attempt to nullify that.
It's definitely a bad tactic on their part; if they run down his oratory skills, but then he kicks ass in a debate--where does that that leave them?
If he sticks with this vow, it'd almost be worth having him elected president to hear what he has to say in the SOTU address.
(Not really).
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