The first reports were right

We weren't paying enough attention to this one. The Telegraph's Toby Harnden tries to sort out how the Cowen-Obama teleprompter mix-up got turned into the claim that Obama had mechanically read Cowen's speech from the teleprompter. Basically an unclear wire report got laundered through a pre-existing Obama/teleprompter narrative and became a Rush Limbaugh talking point. But note that the Irish Times report on the actual event was correct. As a general point, it's good to begin debunking such shite with some actual reporting from someone who was at the event.