Palin improvised as teleprompter balked by David Keene

Palin improvised as teleprompter balked by David Keene

September 5, 2008

Palin improvised as teleprompter balked - American Conservative Union chairman David Keene describes the tense, behind-the-scenes scramble when RNC officials discovered the teleprompter wasn't properly loading Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speech text.

Those backstage who knew what was going on were even more impressed with her performance than the audience. One of them said later almost in awe of her handling of situation said, “She really is the real deal.”

Hat Tip: Journalists Tapscott-Mark Tapscott

Related: 20080903 Sarah Palin Speech on Sept 3 at the RNC

AK Gov. Sarah Palin videos on Kevin Dayhoff YouTube web page
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Good site for McCain/Palin info
Kevin Dayhoff YouTube web page
September 1-4 2008 Republican National Convention

Sarah Palin really is ‘the real deal’ By David Keene

American Conservative Union 9/5/08 5:32 PM As the word that Sen. John McCain was about to name Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate began to leak out early last Friday, conservatives were ecstatic and the mood of those converging on St. Paul began to change.

Many of those arriving to attend this year’s Republican National Convention were less than enthusiastic about their nominee for president. But they headed home ready to work their hearts out for him and Palin.

The conventional wisdom is that few people vote for or against a candidate for president because of the vice presidential candidate. The last time a running mate made the winning difference was arguably 1960 when Lyndon Johnson tipped the scales in favor of John F. Kennedy by delivering Texas “the old-fashioned way.”

This year might be different, however, as Palin has not only energized the Republican base, but has come out of the box swinging. Who she is and what she represents could very well change the nature of this fall’s contest.

Palin’s formidable oratorical talent was on display as she delivered one of the most electrifying convention speeches since Ronald Reagan took the podium in Kansas City in 1976.

She wowed those in the hall and the 37 million Americans watching her on television with a performance that was all the more impressive to those who knew what had gone on behind the scenes.

National party conventions are scripted and planned to the minute and this year’s GOP convention was no exception, but things started going wrong when former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani began speaking.

Giuliani had agreed to a time limit imposed on him by convention officials and gave them a script to be loaded on the teleprompter that complied with their parameters, but he had no intention of stopping when his time was up.

Convention managers were forced to improvise. They dropped the video biography of Palin scheduled to precede her speech, but then discovered that the “hard” or typed copy of her speech was back at her hotel.

As Giuliani went on, they hurried to get it to the hall and finally handed it to Palin just as Giuliani wrapped up and pushed her out onto the stage. Here, they discovered that Palin’s speech text wouldn’t load into the teleprompter properly.

This was her big test and everything around the governor seemed to be coming unglued, but few in the hall ever knew it. She worked from the text, improvised and threw in a few things on her own and began to wow the crowd even before the teleprompter came back on line.

Those backstage who knew what was going on were even more impressed with her performance than the audience. One of them said later almost in awe of her handling of situation said, “She really is the real deal.”

Indeed she is. What’s more, she changes the game…

[…]

Read the entire column here: Sarah Palin really is ‘the real deal’ By David Keene

20080905 Palin improvised as teleprompter balked by David Keene