I can't stand Will Farrell, and so haven't seen this movie. However, my suspicion is that they stole this character from Ted Baxter on the old Mary Tyler Moore Show. He certainly would read anything he was handed (I don't think they had teleprompters then), and was dimwitted enough not to be aware what he was saying.
Eh. The movie overall was pretty mediocre. It did have some hilarious scenes though.
The "Gangs of New York"/"Westside Story" news-team rumble was brilliant.
It seems that Barack Obama is channelling Will Farrell's character. How appropriate.