Not This Again: Fox Newsers Confuse Obama and Osama
Remember during the lead-up to the 2008 presidential election, when Pres. Barack Obama didn’t’ have nearly the name recognition he has now?
He has a somewhat difficult name, and it sounds a bit like Osama bin Laden. There were slips of the tongue then…and now that confusion is back this week on Fox News.
Earlier this week, Glenn Beck was ranting about the terrorists, and dropped this line: “You’d either have to be living in a cave in Afghanistan next to Obama, and you can’t hear anything that Osama is saying because of the goats…”
And this morning, Geraldo Rivera said this on Fox & Friends: “I am concerned about not listening to the generals. I said during the surge, first of all I gave the benefit of the doubt to George W. Bush during the surge, I give the benefit of the doubt to this President, Osama bin…” He then immediately caught the mistake, stopped talking and put his head in his hands.
Look, there’s no implication here that either of these were intentional. Beck was really caught up in the speech (as you’ll see below), and this line came just before he started getting…emotional. Rivera clearly meant nothing by it. And it’s not a Fox News problem by any stretch – here’s a good look at all the mistakes made, on networks from NBC to CNN, when it comes to Obama/Osama confusion.
But still? He’s been President for almost a year now. Let’s all try to really concentrate on that one letter after the “O”.
Here are the clips:
The slip-up comes at 1:40 in the video:
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14 comments
Tacoma Chuck says: We Americans are just not that good with Muslim names. But then, we parents and grand parents are just not that good with our own kids names on occasion.
Hell, even though my kids are half Mexican-American, I cant get my tongue to do that rolling thing to get some words right in Spanish.
As long as we are dealing with those damned human beings in the news business, human mistakes are going to happen. But it is fun to feel superior while insulting others over their mistakes. Nearly as much fun as the language nazi’s on these boards making spelling mistakes while correcting others.
Puter Boi says: Hey Krak!
Slow news day, huh? Cheer up…things will get better….or worse….
GO YANKEES!!
Jim R says: I’ve always been more concerned with Fox’s proclivity to run chyrons identifying indicted or otherwise in trouble Republicans with a (D) next to their name.
It could make innocent mistakes like this seem more than they are when considering the source.
Gianrico says: It is a sign of our arrogance and ethnocentrism not to attempt to learn the proper pronunciations of foreign names. One of the questions I was asked by the judge when I became a naturalized citizen was whether I wanted to change my name. I replied “to what? Smith?” He could see the humor in the answer and absurdity in the question.
I don’t think Geraldo meant anything by it. A slip of the tongue happens to all of us. But there has been a tendency from some in the air waves to use a man’s name as a pejorative to isolate them from “us”. It is deliberate malevolence and used to be divisive. It’s so obvious that it would be redundant to point out the guilty ones.
Nachi says: Ah, Fox. The dark dungeons of Murcuh shine forth in all their intellectual splendor. And the rancid masses do love it so. Yup.
TfT says: Everybody makes mistakes….gosh I remember when Obama said he had visited 57 states.
i remember when Kennedy called obama osama.
i think after 8 years of Osama Bin Laden it is almost impossible to not have a slip up. They do it in Italy too, on the news and talk shows.
ImNotBlue says: Nachi says:
October 30, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Ah, Fox. The dark dungeons of Murcuh shine forth in all their intellectual splendor. And the rancid masses do love it so. Yup.
MURDOCH… say it with me now, Nachi… MUR-DOCH.
Funny that while posting your latest Dungeons and Dragons-esque screed against… um, rancid people (I guess)… because of a mistake of the tongue… you (once again) can’t figure out how to spell MURDOCH correctly. So… tell me more about this “intellect” you apparently think you have.
hey man says: I can’t believe Geraldo is still covering the middle east.I think the last time I watched him he was drawing a line in the sand and getting in trouble for it.But he is a full pro middle eastern scholar now! I’m sure we all are much more informed now.Something is sad tho,for years and years we still can’t get over the begining’s of the war that don’t matter that much now.
I bet it’s embarrassing writing stories like this. The headline, no doubt, implies some sort of nefarious actions that are unique to Fox News. Then you end by saying, there’s no evidence that it was anything but an accident and that you have several clips of other news organizations making the same mistake.
Okay. Well, why the headline? Why single out Fox in the story (oh no, not again!), and why are the only embedded videos from Fox? You link to other mistakes from NBC and others, but you no doubt realize that few viewers will watch the linked videos.
Sort of makes you look like a Fox hater. You decrease your possible audience by alienating most Fox News viewers, and you alienate those who like fair commentary online, because this certainly isn’t at all fair.
I dunno, I write for my own small website, so maybe it’s different to work for a larger organization. I think I’d probably be embarrassed to even turn a story like this in.
**as seen on another site’s comment thread**
..”Look’s like Jerry Rivers is just as dimwitted as ever!”
Sheesh!
martinac says: I think this is not new. Previously a remember a few Obama’s name is in news because of his name. But why this thing is repeatedly happening? I sometimes think that this news readers are making this blunder knowingly to attract attention. Hope not so.
homie says: Here’s a suggestion. Try preceding the uttering of his name with the word ‘President” with a capital ‘P’.
President Obama. It’s not rocket surgery.
ImNotBlue says: homie says:
October 31, 2009 at 1:14 pm
homie… where were you when Olbermann referred to “Mr. Bush” instead of “President Bush” EVERY SINGLE TIME?!
Double standard?
As for when commenting about the President… I don’t think it’s a sign of disrespect, rather just one less word we have to type. Not a big deal…
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