BREAKING: Sarah Palin "Winged" Her Speech Because of "Broken" Teleprompter

Red State ^ | September 4, 2008 | Erick Erickson

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Halfway through Sarah Palin's speech tonight at the RNC, people following the speech noticed she was deviating from the prepared text.

According to sources close to the McCain campaign, the teleprompter continued scrolling during applause breaks. As a result, half way through the speech, the speech had scrolled significantly from where Governor Palin was in the speech. The malfunction also occurred during Rudy Giuliani's speech, explaining his significant deviations from his speech.

Unfazed, Governor Palin continued, from memory, to deliver her speech without the teleprompter cued to the appropriate point in her speech.

Contrast this to Barack Obama who, when last his teleprompter malfunctioned, was left stuttering before a crowd unable to advance his speech until the problem was resolved.

Sarah Palin. Winner.

[mad_as_he$$]

I did notice that about halfway through. She spoke to herself during one applause break clearly trying to find the thread again. She also seemed to want the crowd to stop the applause on two occasions. that leads me to believe this story.

[SlowBoat407]

It was clear to me at the moment her teleprompter hiccuped. I’ve done enough ‘prompter work to know that “gulp” moment. What I did not know was that the ‘prompter was flopping worse than a crippled salmon while Gov. Palin plowed through a whole new speech on the fly.

BRAVO, Governor. You keep raising the bar!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Awesome!

[Former Proud Canadian]

No wonder they are panicking. She is unflappable.

[KavMan]

Who is the guy rolling the prompter!

[NeoCaveman]

BREAKING: Sarah Palin "Winged" Her Speech Because of "Broken" Teleprompter

I wondered why the second half of her speech was better than the first. That explains it.

[RDTF]

so then you expect she should have it memorized?

[SlowBoat407]

She also seemed to want the crowd to stop the applause on two occasions. that leads me to believe this story.

I noticed she was not so eager for the applause to die down toward the latter half of the speech. That's a good time to collect your thoughts and prep for the next chunk.

[Carlucci]

CAREFUL! This could be a trap. Someone could be setting up us to tout this “fact” over and over, and then a video will magically appear showing that the teleprompter was working, and that will only give the “she-didn’t-write-her-speech mantra another news cycle. In HD on CNN, there were several angles that showed the teleprompter, and I’m pretty sure it was in synch with her voice every time they showed it.

I want this to be true as much as anyone, but until I see a flawless, trusted source, I’m not going to go around repeating it.

[Sax]

He'll read anything that appears on the teleprompter.

[Gamecock]

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received from a wise Colonel was “no matter what happens, act like everything is going just the way you planned. Never get flustered, never draw anyone's attention to the problem. Do that and most people in your audience will never realize there is a problem."

Got that Jude? ;-)

[aft_lizard]

If you watched that speech, you need no source. You could see over her shoulder at one point that the prompter wasnt moving and that she had to shuffle speech notes.

[wolfcreek]

I saw glimpses of the teleprompter and it was flying.

What happen to the good ol’ days when a speaker needed only a small list to outline their speech?

[gridlock]

I noticed, about halfway through, she started referring to written material on the podium, from time to time. But it looked like she was only glancing at it, and kept her eyes up and her attention out.

Really well done. Bravo.

[Miss Didi]

[Maceman]

I noticed that she was referring to written papers in front of her, so it would appear that she had a print=out of the speech (or at least bullet points) in front of her.

In any case, she did an amazing job.

[Sergeant Tim]

I guessed there might be a teleprompter glitch when she began tracking her place in the speech with the paper copy in front of her. When she made the switch, she made a small face, shook it off, and her smile seemed to impossibly brighten all the more; she knew her speech and finished the job.

To me, it further indicates her experience, poise, and study; it was a flawless transition.

[gathersnomoss]

I did notice that she went for her paper copy. She had virtually all of it memorized.

What would Zero had done if he lost his mind, er uh teleprompter? She also talked about something that no politician has dared to touch. A hard stance on drilling, NOW, and nuclear, NOW!

[KavMan]

I posted yesterday that Kelly O’Donnell from MSNBC was reporting of a rolled prompter to Olbermann and they were both saying it happens to them too.

[Born In America]

Truly Reaganesque, well done Sarah!!!!