What the Obama School Teleprompter Photos Really Show

(Jan. 25) -- President Barack Obama needs a teleprompter even when he's talking to children.

Conservative bloggers are gleefully spreading this story, saying photos prove their claim that Obama always needs a script.

A few examples:

Gateway Pundit: Sad: Obama Brings Teleprompter to Speak to 6th Grade Class

Moonbattery: What Kind of Idiot Needs a Teleprompter to Talk to Sixth Graders?

Riehl World View: Is This Obama's Pet Goat Moment?

It's red meat for the president's critics. The only problem is, it's not true.

Here's what is true. Obama did bring teleprompters along for his Jan. 19 visit to Graham Road Elementary School in Falls Church, Va. They were set up in a classroom where the president made a statement to reporters about expanding his Race to the Top program to improve schools. That happened after he chatted with the sixth-graders in a separate classroom -- with no teleprompters.

Kristoffer Tripplaar, Pool/Getty Images

President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited students in Falls Church, Va., Jan. 19 ...

The White House Press Office told AOL News on Monday -- and photos confirm -- that there were two separate events in different rooms. Here's how The Financial Times' Anna Fifield described the visit in her pool report:

The President and Secretary Duncan spent about 20 minutes taking questions from the children (out of pool's earshot). ... They then came into the brightly-decorated -- "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look at the letters we know in this room!" -- classroom next door to make remarks on Race to the Top.

"You guys look really cute in those chairs," the president said when he entered the room to find the news photographers sitting in chairs meant for very small children.

Obama with teleprompter at Graham Road Elementary School

Kristoffer Tripplaar, Pool/Getty Images

... then the president went to a separate classroom at Graham Road Elementary School, where teleprompters were set up, to make a statement to reports.

Video posted on sites such as Right Pundits as evidence of Obama's alleged teleprompter dependence actually shows the journalists, not students, in those little chairs. Another piece of official White House video shows the president entering a different room and meeting with children. (Click to watch)

Some bloggers posted updates backing off the original story slightly, but still ridiculed the president for using the teleprompter to make brief remarks to the media.

"We're talking about giving a prepared statement and answering a few questions here, not the Gettysburg Address," said a post on Ace of Spades HQ.

JammieWearing Fool, one of the blogs that helped spread the misleading picture, grudgingly acknowledged in an update that Obama used the teleprompter to speak to reporters, not kids -- but took this parting shot:

"What's the difference between a bunch of sixth-graders and his adoring White House press corps? Answer: Sixth-graders have more credibility."