McClatchy: Pawlenty teleprompter statement wrong

Posted at 10:32 AM on February 20, 2010 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Pawlenty travel, Tim Pawlenty

Yesterday, Gov. Pawlenty criticized President Obama for needing a teleprompter to talk to grade school children (you can listen to Pawlenty's full CPAC speech here):

"President Obama was in a grade school classroom speaking to elementary school children and he was using a teleprompter,"

"That's not a joke. That's a real story." (listen to full speech here)

But McClatchy is reporting that Pawlenty's statement is, in fact, false (and have video to prove it):

The tale spread by bloggers over the Internet and in some media, including the Comedy Channel's Jon Stewart, blended together two Obama appearances Jan. 19 at the Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia, to make it appear he used the teleprompter when speaking to a classroom of 30 pupils.

In reality, Obama sat on a chair and spoke with the pupils without the device.

In a different classroom, he used the teleprompter to give scripted remarks on education to television cameras.

Why do these types of fact-checks matter? AP says it can sour people to public policy.

Side note: Pawlenty is scheduled to appear on Meet the Press tomorrow morning.

Here's what the show says about his appearance:

One year after Pres. Obama signed the stimulus bill, when will the U.S economy finally turn around? What more needs to be done to get Americans back to work? And as Conservatives meet this weekend in Washington, what is the future direction of the Republican party and who will emerge as its leader? Plus, as Republicans hope to see strong gains in this year's midterm elections, what does the GOP need to do to convince voters they are ready to take back control of Congress? We'll have an exclusive conversation with an often-mentioned potential 2012 Presidential contender, Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.

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