Rumors have been swirling through the media about whether Sarah Palin's teleprompter broke for her hit speech at the Republican National Convention. The fact check is, yes.
First, what is the teleprompter? All modern major politicians, like Barack Obama, have their speeches pre-written in collaboration with a speechwriter. The pre-written speech is then put up on a teleprompter, which is like a hidden scrolling TV screen, but visible to the speaker only. The politician then reads the speech off the teleprompter when giving the speech. That is what Barack Obama does, and of course did in his well-received convention speech. Indeed, he is considered among the best speech readers.
Second, did Sarah Palin's teleprompter break during her speech? The facts we have found are yes, the teleprompter was broken for part of the speech, and she spoke from memory.
"Halfway through Sarah Palin's speech tonight at the RNC, people following the speech noticed she was deviating from the prepared text.
"According to sources close to the McCain campaign, the teleprompter continued scrolling during applause breaks. As a result, half way through the speech, the speech had scrolled significantly from where Governor Palin was in the speech. The malfunction also occurred during Rudy Giuliani's speech, explaining his significant deviations from his speech.
"Unfazed, Governor Palin continued, from memory, to deliver her speech without the teleprompter cued to the appropriate point in her speech."