There was a little hiccup
yesterday at the White House
after President Obama's home
teleprompter reportedly malfunctioned
during a family dinner.
Onion News Network Washington
Correspondent Jane Carmichael
joins us now with more.
Jane, tell us what exactly
happened over there?
Well, last night in the middle
of a conversation with Malia
about raising her allowance
Presdient Obama's home
teleprompter suddenly went blank.
He sort of froze mid-sentence,
but after a few seconds of silence
Obama was able to pull up
his prepared remarks from memory.
So, it didn't differ
at all, basically,
from the copy of the
dinner conversation
that it had sent over
to reporters before hand?
That's right,
it was almost verbatim.
He hit all the points about Malia
needing to get at least a B in math
and trying to get
onto the soccer team,
just in a different order
than they were written.
Well, White House Deputy
Press Secretary Brenda Inglett
briefly addressed
this error today.
Let's take a look.
The President has hundreds
of conversations everyday
and it simply isn't feasible
for him to memorize the text
for every single one.
The prompter is
really just a tool
to help the President to
speak, blink, and breath.
Obama is always
open about the fact
that he works with a
team of talented writers
on every remark he makes.
Yes, absolutely the prompter
just helps make sure
he doesn't say the wrong
thing at any point every.
Exactly.
He would write his
conversations himself
but he is just too busy.
- He is the President.
He does make sure, though,
to look over and edit
any asides or off-hand remarks
he didn't personally script.
Of course, you know Jane,
it seems like the President
has gotten better at using the
teleprompter since the campaign.
- Yes, he sure has.
- Remember that pumpkin patch incident
before the election, when the
wind blew the prompter over
in the middle of picking
pumpkins with the girls.
That's right, causing Obama
to fumble around awkwardly,
drop the pumkin
he was holding,
and refer to
Sasha as Jennifer.
And, there was the
CAPS Lock incident.
Oh, yes. Obama nearly
shouted himself hoarse
over the course
of that speech.
There were various mix ups
where teleprompter operators
displayed the wrong lines.
Once it caused him to say,
"I played a little basketball
myself in high school,"
after sampling a piece of
Cape Cod salt water taffy.
-The GOP had a field day with that one.
- It was awful.
Obama was furious about it.
He had his staff put a long
angry rant into the teleprompter
for him to scream at them.
- I remember that.
But, you know also, Jane,
we should point out
that Obama is not the first president
to use scripted interactions.
Ronald Reagan was known for
using que cards, for instance.
Yes, that's exactly right.
And, of course, Joe Bidden is
known for reading his remarks
off of his arm, where he has
written them in magic marker.
Exactly, right.
Well, Jane thank you
so much for that report.
- We appreciate it as always.
- Thank you Ana.
Far from caving to criticism
the president has increased
his reliance on the teleprompter,
sending it alone on low-priority
diplomatic meetings
and photo opps.
Well, right after the break
we'll talk to a Philadelphian
who knows all the best
places to get murdered.
Still ahead this hour:
Real-life 'Transformer'
electrocutes child.
Playlists
Label
