Rick Santorum, March 12, 2012:

I always believed that when you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter. Because all you’re doing is reading someone else’s words to people.

When you’re running for president people should know, not what someone’s writing for you after they’ve had pollsters and speechwriters test, focus group it, and all this kind of stuff, but you’re voting for someone who is going to be the leader of our government. Not of our country, but of our government. And it’s important for you to understand who that person is in their own words, see them, look them in the eye. Have a chance, as I’ve done, get around and talk to people. Get a chance to see what’s there and hear what’s on my heart and in my mind. Have a chance to answer questions as several of you did.

That’s what it’s supposed to be about. You’re choosing a leader. A leader isn’t just about what’s written on a piece of paper, or on a website, or what 30 second TV ad they can run. You’re trying to get a judgement of who that person is.

Michael Gerson, Chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush, on speechwriting:

“It is a process in which a leader refines his own thoughts, invites suggestions by trusted advisers and welcomes the contributions of literary craft to political communication. […] It is actually a form of pride — in a politician or anyone else — to believe that every thought produced by the firing of one’s neurons is immediately fit for public consumption.”

The idiotic statement by Rick Santorum above is one of the best arguments for Teleprompters you will ever hear. Setting aside his embarrassing self-contradiction, the statement is full of stupid grammatical errors and ludicrous elocution (the leader of the government, not the country?). Based on his demonstrated inarticulateness, I certainly hope that Santorum refrains from using a Teleprompter for the rest of the campaign, but I would bet Mitt Romney’s $10,000 that he won’t.