Teleprompter

A van containing presidential communications material has been recovered and is awaiting the arrival of President Obama, who is bringing his bus tour in support of the jobs program to Virginia. A spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency confirmed the theft and recovery in an email on Tuesday. The incident, which is under investigation, was first reported by NBC12 in Richmond, Va. “A government vehicle was stolen and has been recovered,” the spokeswoman said.  “No classified or sensitive information was in the vehicle.

Foster Friess, a wealthy Republican who helped fund Rick Santorum's presidential run but is now supporting Mitt Romney, used gun imagery Wednesday to describe the campaign against President Obama. “There are a lot of things that haven't been hammered at because Rick and Mitt have been going at each other,” Friess said during an interview on Fox Business Network. “Now that they have trained their barrels on President Obama, I hope his teleprompters are bullet-proof.” Friess told ABC News that he regretted the statement immediately after making it. The retired mutual fund manager has spent nearly $2 million on GOP candidates and causes in the 2012 campaign, the vast majority funding a "super PAC" that backed Santorum.

There are many ways to get a crowd riled up in New Hampshire, but Michele Bachmann cut to the chase in her first Granite State appearance as a presidential candidate Tuesday. “Live free or die!” she shouted into the microphone as she stepped on stage—bringing many in the crowd to their feet. A day after her debut as a 2012 contender in Iowa--where she surged to the top of the field in a Des Moines Register poll released this weekend--the fiery Minnesota congresswoman drew some 300 people to the small, wooded town of Raymond, about 22 miles from New Hampshire’s coast.

Rick Santorum, after finishing far behind Mitt Romney in Illinois, turned his focus  Tuesday night to winning his home state of Pennsylvania, which votes in five weeks, styling himself as the only trustworthy conservative and delivering a populist appeal aimed at blue-collar voters. After mentioning that he had called Romney to congratulate him, Santorum took aim at the front-runner in his election night speech, implying that he was too wealthy and not tough enough to take on President Obama.

Foster Friess, a wealthy Republican who helped fund Rick Santorum's presidential run but is now supporting Mitt Romney, used gun imagery Wednesday to describe the campaign against President Obama. “There are a lot of things that haven't been hammered at because Rick and Mitt have been going at each other,” Friess said during an interview on Fox Business Network. “Now that they have trained their barrels on President Obama, I hope his teleprompters are bullet-proof.” Friess told ABC News that he regretted the statement immediately after making it. The retired mutual fund manager has spent nearly $2 million on GOP candidates and causes in the 2012 campaign, the vast majority funding a "super PAC" that backed Santorum.

Hubert Schlafly Inventor of the teleprompter Hubert "Hub" Schlafly, 91, a key member of the team that invented the teleprompter, died April 20 at a hospital in Stamford, Conn., after a brief illness. Schlafly helped start the TelePrompTer Corp., eventually becoming its president and accepting an Emmy Award for the company in 1999 — after winning one himself in 1992 for his contributions to the cable television industry. Schlafly was born Aug. 14, 1919, in St. Louis and graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied electrical engineering.

With reference to the June 25 article "The Death of Z Channel--What Now?," I was sorry to read no mention of the birth of the Z Channel. Perhaps some readers might be interested in how it all came about. The Z Channel was the brainchild of myself, the first (1974-76) programmer; General John Atwood, president of Theta Cable, and George Storer Jr., a Theta Cable executive. Incidentally, the name, Z Channel, was thought up by Hal Kaufman, who headed the advertising agency Theta used, and who replaced me as programming head when I went to 20th Century Fox. Kaufman hired Jerry Harvey as his assistant, and when he became ill, Harvey took over.

"Channel 4 News Live From Seoul" was one of the most ridiculous farces I have ever seen on television. The station's newscasters were halfway around the world, and they were telling us what happened in Los Angeles each day? This publicity stunt merely proved that those newscasters are not reporters. Rather, they are just pretty people who know how to read a TelePrompTer. Paul Warneke, Torrance

Now you can take your guitar on the road and polish up your pickin' with the help of the little Guitar Sidekick ($29.99). A clamp that mounts on a guitar neck, the Sidekick can hold an iPhone or other smart phone or media player in place so you can take video lessons, tune your guitar, follow a lyrics teleprompter or use other music apps. The company's website provides links to video tutorials and accompaniments. Rolling Stones, anyone? Info: Castiv

Mounting evidence suggests that Bush's problem is much more profound than being "born with a silver foot in his mouth." The debate confirmed my worst fears. His garbled syntax, bizarre mistakes, memory lapses, inappropriate language, malapropisms, and inability to concentrate reinforce a pattern that has emerged during the last several years. Citizens of both parties, instead of treating his "awkwardness" as amusing or endearing, should be asking tough questions about his ability to govern.

In a nod to his poor showing in the GOP debates, Rick Perry declares in his latest campaign advertisement that he's a "doer, not a talker. " "If you're looking for a slick politician or a guy with great Teleprompter skills, we already have that, and he's destroying our economy," the Texas governor says in the 30-second spot, which will air on broadcast and cable television in Iowa. It's classic campaign playbook: turn your biggest perceived weakness into a strength. The implicit argument here is that like President Obama, other presidential candidates -- perhaps front-runner Mitt Romney -- may be more polished performers.

A van containing presidential communications material has been recovered and is awaiting the arrival of President Obama, who is bringing his bus tour in support of the jobs program to Virginia. A spokeswoman for the Defense Information Systems Agency confirmed the theft and recovery in an email on Tuesday. The incident, which is under investigation, was first reported by NBC12 in Richmond, Va. “A government vehicle was stolen and has been recovered,” the spokeswoman said.  “No classified or sensitive information was in the vehicle.

There are many ways to get a crowd riled up in New Hampshire, but Michele Bachmann cut to the chase in her first Granite State appearance as a presidential candidate Tuesday. “Live free or die!” she shouted into the microphone as she stepped on stage—bringing many in the crowd to their feet. A day after her debut as a 2012 contender in Iowa--where she surged to the top of the field in a Des Moines Register poll released this weekend--the fiery Minnesota congresswoman drew some 300 people to the small, wooded town of Raymond, about 22 miles from New Hampshire’s coast.

Hubert Schlafly Inventor of the teleprompter Hubert "Hub" Schlafly, 91, a key member of the team that invented the teleprompter, died April 20 at a hospital in Stamford, Conn., after a brief illness. Schlafly helped start the TelePrompTer Corp., eventually becoming its president and accepting an Emmy Award for the company in 1999 — after winning one himself in 1992 for his contributions to the cable television industry. Schlafly was born Aug. 14, 1919, in St. Louis and graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied electrical engineering.

Now you can take your guitar on the road and polish up your pickin' with the help of the little Guitar Sidekick ($29.99). A clamp that mounts on a guitar neck, the Sidekick can hold an iPhone or other smart phone or media player in place so you can take video lessons, tune your guitar, follow a lyrics teleprompter or use other music apps. The company's website provides links to video tutorials and accompaniments. Rolling Stones, anyone? Info: Castiv

The night formerly known as Night Three of the Republican National Convention was dedicated to "Reform and Prosperity." But more important, it was the party's, and the country's, first substantial look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who in no time at all has become not only a national politician but a subject of controversy and a figure of symbolic import. She was the night's story, down to how well she would handle speaking off a teleprompter: "But we will see, because we're open-minded about what we're going to be anticipating," CNN's Wolf Blitzer said.

I can see why Sammy Hagar likes Ronald Reagan--they're so much alike. Hagar boasts "I can't tell you what's going on in the world today," then proves it by saying Reagan is "spontaneous," "not rehearsed or planned." See Sammy, some of us rock fans do "give a damn" about politics. We can distinguish between an act, like Reagan "forgetting" if he approved selling weapons to Iran, from reality. We can easily see that the Prez is lost without his TelePrompter. Actors aren't spontaneous, Sammy.

The night formerly known as Night Three of the Republican National Convention was dedicated to "Reform and Prosperity." But more important, it was the party's, and the country's, first substantial look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who in no time at all has become not only a national politician but a subject of controversy and a figure of symbolic import. She was the night's story, down to how well she would handle speaking off a teleprompter: "But we will see, because we're open-minded about what we're going to be anticipating," CNN's Wolf Blitzer said.

SACRAMENTO Senate leader John Burton was slipped Gov. Gray Davis' State of the State speech the night before the governor delivered it. Burton got the raw TelePrompTer version, including stage directions. Little notations to "look there and bow ... point to them and applaud." A wily Capitol veteran with unmatched sources, Burton may have been the first person outside the governor's inner circle to obtain a coveted copy of the text. Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg, for example, didn't see the speech until one hour before Davis delivered it Tuesday evening to a joint session of the Legislature.

President Clinton opened his State of the Union Address Tuesday night with a joke on himself about a mix-up with the TelePrompTer the last time he spoke before Congress. "I am not sure what speech is in the TelePrompTer tonight, but I hope we can talk about the State of the Union," Clinton said to laughter. He was referring to his address to Congress last Sept. 22 outlining his health care program.