a president, an irishman, and a teleprompter

There's been a lot of fuss about Obama's supposed over-reliance on teleprompters recently, gleefully stoked by hostile commentators on the right who have always preferred to believe that he's some kind of Manchurian Candidate brainwashed by a group of ex-Soviet KGB agents in hoc with members of Al Qaeda.

Much was made of an incident last week during a visit of the Irish PM to the White House. The teleprompter malfunctioned, and the Irish PM read a few lines of Obama's speech before realizing what was going on and making a joke of it. After reading his own speech, Obama stepped up to the mic to "thank President Obama". That bit was a joke, and a spontaneous one at that. But it got (willfully) misinterpreted as a 'gaffe' and evidence that Obama reads anything put in front of him.

In a great post, the Telegraph's Toby Harnden - more often than not a tough critic of Obama - dissects the development of this nascent myth. It's a fascinating story of how a misconception can very quickly acquire the status of fact.

(Ps it all started with that AP report I found so confusing.)

Comments

[peter]

The Great St Patrick's Day Teleprompter Massacre brings to mind a press conference once given by Gough Whitlam, Australia's Labor Prime Minister (1972-1975). When appointed PM, he had also taken the post of Foreign Minister and held both posts for the first year or so, until appointing someone else as Foreign Minister. At the press conference to announce this new appointment, a journalist asked the erudite Whitlam who he thought had been Australia's best foreign minister. He answered, "Oh, we were."

The right-wing press reported this answer and the use of the plural as further proof of Whitlam's arrogance and egotism. What they did not report was the smile he gave when answering, nor the great laughter from the press, nor the serious response he went on to give in answer to the question, all of which were evident in the TV broadcast of the event.

[Lyle]

Wasn't there something last year about McCain's camp courting Rob Fournier or whatever his name is -- you know, the AP's Washington bureau chief -- to take a job on their side? I think Marbury or maybe Politico posted about suspected rightwing leanings over at AP. Perhaps the confusing report that didn't clarify the joke aspect is further evidence of such bias. Or maybe it was just shoddy reporting that didn't intend to harm.