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Taking the lead of conservative hate radio, Sarah Palin has, over the past year, berated President Obama’s use of the teleprompter. She has constantly and consistently mocked the President’s use of a teleprompter, conveniently ignoring the fact that almost all public officials use the teleprompter when making prepared public statements.

After criticizing President Obama as a “charismatic character with a teleprompter” at the Tea Party Nation Convention in Nashville, it became quickly clear who needs a teleprompter. And it is not President Obama, who demonstrated considerable non-teleprompter assisted skill in his recent meeting with Republicans and his subsequent town halls.

Mrs. Palin approached the lectern at the Tea Party convention with her script in hand. It looked to be about a half inch thick stack of a prepared statement. When she began speaking, it was clear that she was reading from her script. She was, almost sounding like a robot, reading the entire speech. She was looking down at the script during most of the speech in a obvious effort to not lose her place. She was reading, not from a side stage teleprompter, but instead from a script on  the lectern.

Then she did it, she lost her place in the script. She blurted out:  “The world looks to Alaska as that shining beacon of hope.” She lost her place in the script more than once and Sarah’s frustration and embarrassment showed when her face began turning red and her voice began to weaken.  It was clear that she was unprepared and not very confident.

To her credit, Mrs. Palin did seem to recover as the speech went on. She became more competent after her early stumbles – especially with her favorite zinger against President Obama. But then the question and answer session began after her reading of the speech.

The questions for the question and answer session, according to the emcee, were submitted online by Tea Partiers at a social networking site – your favorite gathering place for adolescents.

After a couple of questions, Sarah Palin looked down at her hand where she had scribbled some  notes. What? Was she coached by Willow and her teen age Facebook friends? Is Sarah Palin 14  years old – reading robotically with a cheat sheet on her hand?

I am sure that FOX News is putting a teleprompter in that studio they are building for Mrs. Palin in her Alaskan home. This way, they figure, she can look in the general direction of the cameras and not get caught reading her palm again. It should be clear to FOX that Sarah Palin needs a teleprompter as she has trouble reading a written script from a lectern.

Sarah could use a teleprompter to help prevent her looking as amateur as she did at the Tea Party Convention. But she will never be able to use one during public appearances. She has ruined it for herself. How could she ever face the public, using a teleprompter, when her entire political platform consists of criticizing President Obama for using one?