It was a dream come true for the rightwing media, prompting reports from Drudge, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and of course, throughout the conservative blogosphere: Teleprompter-dependent President Obama thanked himself during a speech. And as the rightwingnutosphere knows, only a moron uses a teleprompter.
Unfortunately for them, there was no gaffe. From The Washington Independent:
Did the president really become so TelePrompTer dependent that he accidentally thanked himself after a speech? No. Harnden has the pool report from Obama’s appearance with Irish Taioseach Brian Cowen.
Then it was Cowen’s turn, and he was in for a surprise. ‘We begin by welcoming today a strong friend of the United States,’ he said–then stopped in surprise as he realized he was reading President Obama’s speech off the teleprompter. ‘Why don’t these things work for me?’ he asked, as the crowd roared. ‘Thank you for having us. Who said these things were idiot-proof?’ Then he got his bearings and gave the same talk that he delivered in the East Room. When he ended, at 8:12, Obama stepped to the microphone and said, ‘First, I’d like to say thank you to President Obama…(much laughter). Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, everybody.’ Then we were escorted out.
It was a joke that bloggers mutated into a “gaffe.” IHatetheMedia.com even wrote a FOIA request asking the White House to “free the tape.” If it is “freed,” of course, it’ll reveal that the bloggers at IHatetheMedia don’t know how to read or do reporting.
Morons.