MSNBC's Hardball Behind Latest Obama - Osama Confusion

OSAMA-BAMA LIVES

Time To Stop Blaming Right For These Gaffes







With yet another example of Osama / Obama confusion airing on network television, can we finally put to rest the idea that conservatives, especially talk hosts, are somehow behind this persistent phenomenon?

Since Chris Matthews and MSNBC can hardly be considered part of a right- wing cabal, his Hardball gaffe will be difficult to pin on FOX News, Roger Ailes and Rush Limbaugh. But your Radio Equalizer has little doubt they will try.

Hardball's on- screen blunder actually made it appear Osama bin Laden had been accused of plagiarism by the Clinton campaign. Does that make Obama a terrorist? Ha ha, just having fun with our Media Matters / HuffPo friends.

Via TVNewser, here's the clip:





When reviewing the previous Obama / Osama slip- ups, it appears that liberals (and their mainstream media allies) have actually edged out conservatives, at least slightly, in making this surprisingly easy mistake. In December, it was a CNN morning anchor guilty of the name switcheroo, while Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck have also made this error.

In the latter two cases, both Romney and Beck were widely chastised by the left. Earlier in 2007, CNN had made exactly the same gaffe, with even more embarrassing results.

And of course, the granddaddy of them all is Ted Kennedy's mega- mix-up, which occurred during a 2006 speech:





Even though Kennedy started it and several of the subsequent examples have come from MSNBC and CNN, there's little doubt this will continue to be blamed on Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives. Here's what he had to say about this back in December:

RUSH: Did you hear what former Senator Bob Kerrey had to say about Obama? He said, "I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim," Bob Kerrey said to the Washington Post. After the
Clinton campaign says, "We're going to get rid of all these kind of references to his being a Muslim and drug dealer and all this," here comes Bob Kerrey using the middle name! I keep getting accused of calling him "Osama Obama." Ted Kennedy called him that! We just made a joke out of it in the parody, but Ted Kennedy called him that in answer to a question at the National Press Club. "There's a billion people on the planet that are Muslims, and I think that experience is a big deal," Bob Kerrey said. The New York Post headline is this: "Kerrey's Praise of Barack a Big O-Bombo."

Here's Media Matters slamming conservative talkers for repeating Kennedy's gaffe over a year ago.

Yet, according to Volokh, even Microsoft spell- checkers can be faulted for turning "Obama" into "Osama" with the use of certain programs.

Rather than a right- wing plot to smear the Dem presidential contender, can we finally agree that confusing Obama with Osama is a surprisingly easy mistake to make? Otherwise, why would it occur on CNN and MSNBC?


FLASHBACK: Remember the Osama Mama?

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