Extemporizing not Above Her Pay Grade

Sources now tell us that during last night’s speeches by Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, the teleprompters didn’t work. So they had to do much of their speaking extemporaneously.

How about that? They were winging it. But their speeches were so excellent, they infuriated liberal commentators.

We all know what happens when Obama has no teleprompter. They don’t call him “Uh-bama” for nothing. He rambles. He can’t collect his thoughts. He makes errors. He’s deadly dull. This shows you the difference between Giuliani the seasoned trial lawyer and Obama the ward heeler with a law degree.

I look forward to the debates.

Am I the only one who has a hard time believing “malfunction” is the right word? The teleprompters were supposed to stop during applause, and they didn’t, so the text got so far ahead of the speakers, they weren’t able to use it. I very much doubt TV production people let the machine decide when to pause. How would you program it to do that? I’m sure there’s a person making the decisions.

Is it possible this was sabotage? You can’t help but wonder. Maybe the “pause” button broke.

The wonderful thing about this week is that the landmines the Republicans have hit have turned out to be blessings for the McCain campaign. Hurricane Gustav brushed New Orleans, and it only served to showcase Bobby Jindal’s competence and the party’s willingness to put the needs of the citizens first. A filthy piece of libel forced Sarah Palin to tell the press her daughter was pregnant, and the vicious response made American hearts warm toward both of them. Now the teleprompter problem proves Sarah Palin is smart and tough, and that she has an amazing capacity to work under pressure. This was the most important moment of her political career, and the rug was yanked out from under her, and she didn’t merely survive; she conquered. She is turning out to be what Obama was supposed to be, but is not.

So often, adversity is like that. The things you fear the most turn out to be gifts from God.

More

Politico’s Jonathan Martin says the teleprompter was fine, but Fox and MSNBC confirm that it was screwed up. McCain’s people say only Sarah Palin’s speech was affected. Since Fox and MSNBC are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and they appear to agree, I believe them and not Martin.

Dirt

I got a very long, rambling comment about Sarah Palin’s negatives. Rather than publish anonymous, unauthenticated rants from anonymous web denizens, I will post a link to a more-or-less genuine news source, Salon Magazine, where you can see the dirt for yourself.

You can balance it against the clear terror of the left, and her 80% approval rating in her home state.