GAFFE! GAFFE! GAFFE! GAFFE! GAFFE!

A minute or two ago, the president called Fox's Major Garrett "Garrett" rather than "Major." Are Drudge and Politico and Murdoch going to turn that into a multi-day "gaffe" story? Are we going to be reading that this is a major act of rudeness that explains why Obama's poll numbers are down in the next Zogby or Rasmussen poll?

...No, they're going to shriek about "human life sciences." And, well, fine -- let them. They're completely out of step with the country in their disgust at the use of embryonic stem cells.

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UPDATE: Oh, right, of course:



They were bitching about two seconds of laughter a couple of days ago, so now they're bitching about a lack of emotion. Whatever.

And, of course, since these are Obama-bashers (the Drudge headline goes to an AP story by Ron Fournier), the obsession is with ... THE TELEPROMPTER!!!!

...he didn't look angry. Nor did he sound much like a pitchfork-wielding populist.

"At the same time, the rest of us can't afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit. That drive is what has always fueled our prosperity, and it is what will ultimately get these banks lending and our economy moving once more," he said.

It was a carefully modulated statement, and Obama -- relying on a familiar crutch -- read it off a flat-screen monitor perched at the back of the East Room.

The teleprompter was no help during the question-and-answer session (reporters don't signal their intentions), but Obama was no less careful during that give and take.

...Calm. Cool. Careful.

One of the few times he summoned raw emotion came after a reporter demanded to know why it took him so long to express outrage over the AIG executive bonuses.

"It took a couple of days because I like to know what I'm talking about before I speak."

Even better, he likes to have it up on the teleprompter.

May I just say that right-wingers are reacting to Obama's teleprompter these days the way the monkeys respond to the monolith in the early scenes of 2001?

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UPDATE, WEDNESDAY MORNING: Drudge said "boring"? From Drudge's lips to the "liberal media's" ears.

New York Daily News:

President Obama's dull delivery during press conference fails to inspire

...Having been chided for laughing off some serious questions on "60 Minutes" last weekend, Obama seemed intent on stifling virtually all emotion -- and running out the clock with a flurry of wonkish explainers and recycled answers....

Daily Beast:



New York Times:

...This was Mr. Obama as more enervating than energizing, a reminder of the way he could be in his early days as a presidential candidate, before he became defined by rapturous crowds.

... Throughout his time in public life, Mr. Obama has confronted questions about whether he was too detached, too analytical, too intellectual. In the campaign, he was as likely to be compared to Adlai E. Stevenson as he was to John F. Kennedy....

Drudge -- ruling our world again....

(And to Kenneth Bazinet and David Saltonstall of the Daily News: did you watch the damn 60 Minutes interview? Or did you just get all your information on it from the orchestrated-rage performance-art piece in the right blogosphere? Obama was just like this throughout most of that interview -- hell, Obama was just like this throughout most of the Jay Leno interview. You could look it up.)

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UPDATE: Silly me -- even though I've seen enough horror movies to know that you can never be sure the villain's really dead, for some reason I didn't recognize the stinking corpse-hand rising up out of the grave. But DougJ did:

It’s not an accident that so many righties settled on the "Obama is boring" meme this morning....

This is a classic Rovean technique -- attacking your opponent where he is strongest....

Rove! Of course! His technique, if not his direct guidance. And I missed it.