Salon made a list of all the wacky and irrational myths about Obama. Here are two goodies:
Myth: Obama can't function without a teleprompter, even uses it for answers at press conferences.
Who's spreading it: Rush Limbaugh; TeleprompterPresident.com
What they believe: "Barack Obama's use of teleprompters is becoming legendary. He doesn't go anywhere without them and rarely, if ever, speaks without their assistance." This has been a theme of Rush Limbaugh's since early in the campaign last year. Sean Hannity has joked, rather ickily, on Fox News about whether Obama sleeps with the teleprompter between him and Michelle. Right-wing bloggers argue Obama is totally incompetent without the prompter and can't speak off the cuff. The theory is widespread enough that a Web site has been devoted to it: TeleprompterPresident.com, which not only studiously collects Obama's bloopers but also retails other preposterous Obama conspiracies. (Note the nice Photoshop job in this "picture" of Air Force One flying over New York City's skyline.)
What is real: Presidents have been using teleprompters for more than 50 years, and notecards for even longer. It's true that Obama uses the prompter, specifically, more than most of his predecessors. He uses them for casual announcements and the lead-ins to press briefings, and on the campaign trail last year, he even set his teleprompter up in the ring of a rodeo. Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen recently started reading from Obama's script, after an aide mixed up the two leaders' speeches.
But charges that he is "incapable of forming his remarks and speeches without reading them verbatim," or that he avoided one-on-one contact with U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown because the teleprompter would have made it awkward, are insane. Obama has written two books, given hundreds of unscripted speeches and interviews on the campaign trail, and even now goes on in great detail, and great length, during question-and-answer sessions with voters, lawmakers and reporters.
"Whether he's using notecards or a different method of reading his notes, I don't think anybody cares," a White House aide told Salon, after asking incredulously why this article was even being written. In fact, listening to Obama speak without notes, it's tempting to think his advisors want him to use the teleprompter in part because it keeps him from getting too involved in what he's talking about, rather than because he can't speak without it. At his first prime time presidential press conference, his answers dragged on so long he had time for only a handful of questions. But the aide wouldn't concede that his boss is -- left to his own devices -- a little wordy.
Myth: Barack Obama is the Antichrist.
Who's spreading it: Get in line. If you have an idea for a "Barack Obama is the Antichrist" Web site, the URL is probably already taken (www.barackobamantichrist.blogspot.com; www.obamaantichrist.blogspot.com; www.beastobama.com). It's also hard to blame any particular individual for preaching the bad news about Barack Obama being the Antichrist when a Google search for "Barack Obama is the antichrist" gets you nearly 800,000 hits and just searching for "Barack Obama" and "Antichrist" together gets you 2.2 million.
What they believe: That, um, the president is Satan. Or Satan's son. Or maybe he's just the warm-up act for Satan. At the very least, he likes the devil.
The evidence? Why, Nostradamus predicted his coming. Obama bears traits resembling the Antichrist, according to former "Saturday Night Live" cast member and current Christian wactress Victoria Jackson. He sends subliminal messages to his minions and to his master, Satan. Also, Jesus' biblical prediction of the coming of the Antichrist describes him as coming as "lightning from heaven"; that translates to "baraq o bama" in Hebrew. And if Obama were not the Beast foretold in Revelation, why would the nickname for his presidential limo be -- the Beast? And, why, on the day after his election, was the winning number in the Illinois lottery 6-6-6?
What's real: The winning number in the Illinois Evening Pick 3 Lottery on Nov. 5, 2008, was 6-6-6. And his armored-plated 2009 Caddy is nicknamed the Beast. But Obama is probably not the Angel of the Bottomless Pit, the First Horseman, or the Seed of Satan. If he is, well, then we're wrong about a whole lot of other things too. Read more, such as Obama created his own Hitler youth and Obama targeted republican-owned Chrysler dealers for closure, at Salon
