[Swan217]

Originally Posted by dlavery

In general, a valid comment. However in this particular case it really was not their fault. The transcript was prepared from the video/audio feed, and not by anyone in the room. Even though it was known in advance and very clear that Brian and Steven were going to be part of the program, they were not miked for the event by the WH sound team. We could hear them very clearly in the room (and when they said that the game was named "Lunacy" the whole room burst out laughing). But they were not picked up by the fixed mics on the cameras at the other side of the room. So we should cut them some slack.

-dave
.-.

Good point Dave. I didn't realize that the fixed mics were further than the video mics. It's a shame that they didn't mike Brian and Steven; you guys did a very good job demonstrating the robot as well. I was bouncing off of the walls to see the proverbial wheels in the President's head turning when he was "inspecting" the robot.

My favorite part was where he was essentially reading off Dean's talking points. In fact, other than hyping the Recovery Act (keeping Detroit from becoming a complete wasteland since 2009! ) his entire speech could've been a Dean Speech

It's clear from the context that pretty much everything the President said regarding the robot was in jest, from "keeping an eye on those robots in case they try anything" to "Where are they aiming right now?" to "This is all stuff you can get at Radio Shack?" As far as laying off the press, however, I give no quarter. We need to spoonfeed talking points to the press to keep them from Rita Skeetering us. Elevator speeches too - everyone should have one.