Jan Brewer's 'painfully awkward' broken-teleprompter pause

The video: Politically speaking, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is best known for advocating her state's notoriously strict immigration law. But as an orator, she is beginning to develop a reputation for clamming up at public events. At a speech in Mesa this week, Brewer was delivering a pre-written address when her teleprompter malfunctioned, leaving her silent for about seven seconds. "As we limit the growth of the public sector and restrain unnecessary regulation, stimulate the engine of free enterprise," Brewer began, before breaking off and anxiously looking around the room. She finally continued by remarking, "Well, it looks like my teleprompter broke," which drew chuckles from the crowd. (See the video below.) She was then handed a printed copy of her speech. The silence recalled Brewer's infamous performance at a gubernatorial debate last year, in which she nervously struggled to speak during her opening statement. (She won the race by 12 percentage points anyway.)

The reaction: Wow, says Justin Elliott at Salon. "Painfully awkward." Indeed, this was "yet another embarrassing moment" for the governor, says My Fox. But this time, unlike her performance last year, she "laughed it off and recovered." This incident just underscores the ridiculousness of conservatives attacking President Obama for using a teleprompter, says Hypervocal. It's "funny to see members of the right-wing echo chamber fall victim to their own attacks ." Watch Brewer's gaffe:

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