White House says it was surprised at the applause during Obama’s Tucson speech. Photo says otherwise.

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• Definitely inappropriate for applause period.

  Aside from that, I think it was just closed captioning... but... that big display could have inadvertently triggered applause anyway. Not all of it, but if a few people applaud, then the "applause" appears on that screen, people could have thought they were supposed to applaud and did so. That would certainly explain the odd timing and nature of the applause.

• Obama- "we have trillions in deficit" (applause) "socialisim is the way to go" (applause) "my wife is beautiful" (applause) "please, don't applaud" (applause) "who wants kool-aid?" (applause).
  This guy is unbelievable...

  Padme (Starwars)-"So this is how liberty dies, with [a] thunderous applause [sign]"

• Last night I spotted this picture on another website and submitted it as a tip here, IHTM being one of my favorite sites often presenting items I've not seen elsewhere and with a unique sense of humor, I just had to share. I never expected to see the picture as part of a segment however I can say that my impression when first seeing picture was that it was an Applause sign - not Closed Caption. Why? Well, it is most assuredly plausable.

  Those that argue that the Applause is actually closed caption make a good point. One also makes the tired 'Bush did it too' argument. Nevertheless until I see video proving it one way or the other I'll err on the side of plausibility.

• The only way to be sure is to have seen this live or have been in the place or see a video of this and see if the applause happened before or after the words were on the screen. If it happened before then yes it is closed caption which is descriptive of what just happened but if the applause came right after the words then yes it was a prompt. Seeing that it is on the screen I believe it was a closed caption as there is a box with the applause thing that is more appropriate in getting applause from people.

  I used to do this kind of work once and I agree it was closed caption unless we see a video of this and can note if the applause came before or after it was on the screen. Usually for a very very good typist they are able to get the words out within seconds of whatever was said or whatever is happening on the screen. If the applause was long obviously the words will remain until Obama started speaking again or the applause ended. Knowing how this works I say is closed caption.

  However it was still innappropriate for people to clap.

• Due to previous behavior by Obama and his entire administration, I have been conditioned to always think the worst whenever there is a question regarding them.

• Serious question here: Did none of you who piled on to this ridiculous smear attempt really not know what closed/open captioning is? And if you really had never seen it before (it's been in common use since the '70s or so) did you even think for a minute to do some research for yourselves before following the other lemmings off the cliff of looking ridiculous?

  Honestly, there are plenty of good reasons to criticize BHO; you don't have to stoop to such nonsense as this. Why don't you find something legitimate & relevant and begin a reasonable dialog? My god, TEA (Taxed Enough Already) parties start protesting in a year when federal taxes are the lowest since the Truman administration. C'mon. How do you expect to be taken seriously if you can't find something legitimate to complain about? There are legitimate issues; can't you manage to find even one?

  Oh look everyone! Obama dyes his hair! Pile on!
  http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/01/barack-obama-his-magical-mystery-mood-hair/#comments

  • Applause might be ok at a public memorial but not for the lines Obama was reading.

    But here's my beef, the President said, "....we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans..." I thought we were all Americans after 9/11. What's up with politicians (and others) telling us we are all Americans time and again? Maybe I look around at the electronic gear in the house and I think I'm Chinese?

    • "Applause might be ok at a public memorial but not for the lines Obama was reading."

      You should alert the authorities immediately regarding what's ok and not ok to applaud at a public memorial. Who do these grievers and victims think they are to mourn as they so choose? They have some nerve!

      • Considering that socialism in it various forms has been responsible for hundreds of millions of deaths over the years worldwide, it should be banned internationally. Between Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler Castro, Kim Jong Ill, & Mussolini, plus other regimes in Yugslavia, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, in the old Soviet Blok, & in Central & South America, my guess is the number dead is pushing a billion.

        The millions dead because of socialism is proof that it is a legacy that should be buried. Considering many in attendence at the MaKale Center in Tucson cheering during the memorial are socialists, it makes sense that would cheer during a memorial. Sort of like the Wellstone Memorial at Williams Arena in 2002, which was the new blueprint to turn a public memorial into a pep fest. Yeah, people mourn in their own way, because it is a personal thing. But it is clear that when politics is involved, the progressive left(i.e.- Amerikan socialists)will turn any public memorial into a pep rally. Once again, history repeats itself.

  • I meant to include this link. I would have expected anyone commenting on the media to know about the ADA law regarding closed captioning:
    http://www.captions.org/caplaw.cfm

• UPDATE: What do you think? Is the “Applause” indicator in this image a prompt for the audience or is it closed captioning for the hearing impaired?

  Now that so many people have brought up the second possibility, we not sure. Either way the question remains: Why were people applauding at a memorial service?

  That leaves us with two options: Either the prompt was horribly inappropriate or the audience was horribly inappropriate. Take your choice.

  If it turns out to be closed captioning, we apologize to Robert Gibbs. If it turns out to be an applause prompt, we apologize to the friends and families of the victims on behalf of the audience.

  • Anyone ever use the closed caption feature on their TV? When the hearing hear applause the closed caption prints applause on the screen like this;
    (Applause) so the non hearing can read it and know what going on.

    Now, what may be completely stupid about this is the dumb ass college students in the nose bleed sections took this closed caption (Applause) read out on the jumbotron as a que to clap, or whopit up.

  • Additionally, you had an opportunity to gain some credibility as a media critic, if that's what is intended by your running a site called "I Hate the Media"; but you botched it by jumping on a groundless smear blitz. If you did know about traditional media, you could have easily put it to rest. But you don't know the first thing about media, apart from what you read on other blogs, as evidenced by this post.

    You had a chance to be a credible, authoritative voice, but you took the easy way out. You're just one more ill-informed bloviator.

    • Another satisfied customer. Super.

      • It's not too late.

  • You're a professional media critic, right? Why not research the event's compliance with the ADA closed captioning law yourself? Easy, right?

• It is hard to know the motivation, it could have been for propaganda purpose, a genuine applause cue or even some sort of closed captioning.

  But, Ive learned over time not to trust "liberals" and never give them the benefit of the doubt.

• Waited for the polls to come in before going to the pep rally.

  Waited for T-shirts with OFA theme to be printed and delivered.

  Is known for astroturfing crowds.

  Occams Razor would dictate that the Obama Regime did put in applause notes for the kick off of his 2012 Campaign. Sometimes 1+1=2.

  • Roger that, jukin.

• I have written a lot of speeches for politicians. You write in comments that should garner applause and in the draft for the speaker you note it so they can take a pause. When you are broadcasting subtitles the speech should be cleared of these kinds of speaker notes. Since this was a pre-written speech, and not impromptu (like television news) the speech would be entered in to the television from the final draft. There would not be a "live" stenographer typing in the subtitles as the president spoke. My guess is they forgot to clean up the draft before they entered it into the broadcast set up. you can tell when the stenographer is doing it live because there are usually a lot of typos and phonetic spelling. So, I think it's more likely that the applause cue was there before the speech was given.

  • Obama strayed from his pre-written speech by adding the words, "it did not".

    QUOTE
    And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, IT DID NOT, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.
    UNQUOTE

    Politicians OFTEN stray from pre-written speeches, so ONLY A FOOL would not have a live stenographer type in the subtitles. So unless you can produce a screen capture WITHOUT the words "it did not", I'll continue to NATURALLY assume the words on the Jumbotron were descriptive, and NOT proscriptive.

    All reasonable people will do the same, but there are unreasonable people on both sides of the political spectrum. There's just a hell of a lot more of them (IMO) on the Liberal side.

    • I chalk it up to sloppy staff work. Only a fool would not have a live stenographer, which makes my point.