Prompter Leaves Bush Speechless

Electronic prompting devices can be wonderful aids for public speakers, scrolling their texts on glass screens in front of them while audiences marvel at their flawless delivery. Wonderful, that is, when they work right.

It’s a different story when they don’t.

President Bush was midway through a commencement speech at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday when his prompter broke down, stopping the rolling words--and him--in their tracks.

“And therefore, our goals must also include security and stability,” the President declared, then paused. “Security, for fully--security and stability . . . (five-second pause) . . . security,” he said and then gave up.

Gasping with exasperation, he told his audience: “The text is going crazy on this machine here.”

Finally, he found his place in the text and was able to resume.