Mitt Romney plays the Name Game with Obama
By John Amato Wednesday Oct 24, 2007 11:01am
Logan blogged about this already, but The Daily Background sent in the video. It seems a little far-fetched to think that Romney just made a mistake by mixing up Barack Obama with Osama bin Laden. He starts off by saying Osama and then switches.
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“Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. That’s the central place he says, ‘come join us under one banner.’
You be the judge.
UPDATE: As always, the media gives Republicans a pass. Media Bloodhound
Rather, it sounds like Romney may have intended to slip Obama's name in there, a premeditated talking point, but muffed it. Thus, "Osam -- Barack" instead of, say, "Osam -- Obama" or "Obam -- Osama." What's worse, even more of a stretch of imagination, is that Romney, ostensibly failing to grasp his first mistake, then repeats "Barack Obama" instead of Osama bin Laden in his following sentence.
Curious, indeed...read on
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guilty
Intentional maybe? Seems like it. The giveaway was when he actually had the name right at first
No else has EVER, ever confused Obama's name with that of Osama.
Ted Kennedy, for instance, would never do such a thing.
Oh, wait.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=APx2YJ-_jos
Dumbest "issue" ever.
I just think he's an idiot. I think he thought he was wrong when he said Osama and switched to Obama.
Bigoted, narrow-minded, right-wing whack job.
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, that he is genuinely stupid.
pete592 @ 6:
Are you referring to Mitt Rommel or the commenter at #4?
The wealthier you become the stupider you get.
Brian @ 3:
Of course it is... He's pandering to every type of bigot that will take the bait!
Mitt is a scumbag!
This is the inevitable consequence of the desperate attempts of the right-wing hate machine to smear Senator Obama for everything from his last name, his middle name, where he went to school, and whether he's 'black enough'.
Romney seems to harbor the illusion that he might still get the nomination. It's kind of sad, really.
What's really interesting here, is he didn't say Obama bin Laden. He literally said Barack Obama.
And he said Osama first.......it almost sounds like he intended to say Barack Obama, said Osama accidentally, then corrected himself.
Mitt, come join us on earth...On second thought-
Rusty Shackleford @ 12:
He's acting
Presenting Jesse Jackson, the newest member of the right-wing hate machine:
"Jackson accuses Obama of 'acting white'"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/20/wrudy220...
Well, I think Ms. Pelosi should immediately demand a grovelling apology from him (Oh, sorry, I forgot, he's a Republican, she would never make such a demand from a member of the opposition partry)
what I didn't know was that Chelsea Clinton had anything to do with The Museum of Modern Art.....!
He switched from Osama to Barack. Linguistically it doesn't even flow well enough to suggest a slip. Phonetically you almost have to force yourself to backtrack and say "Barack." For example, the O and the B sounds are produced by the same movement of air over the vocal cords and out of the mouth, however the B is a bilabial stop. So, if you were saying "Osama" first, you'd have to literally stop your breathing and purse your lips to make the word "Barack."
This would suggest to me that this was done on purpose.
Odd,
A guy named "Mitt" playing name games with Obama. Makes for a childish presidency for him.
Yet I think Mitt got Osama'a message wrong a little bit as well,
I think Osama was compelling all the fighter to fight under one banner (organize and fight together). Not as Mitt puts it as, "come together, joiin al Qaeda and fight".
A slight difference but allows unity of those that normally would not agree with one another long enough to organize in unity fighting.
But what can one expect of someone named "Mitt" that can't get others names correct when speaking of them.
He couldn't be doing that on purpose could he?
This is so obviously intentional you would have to be brain dead to think otherwise. Not only did he start off with the correct name, but then he went on to say not just Obama, but Barrack. Surely, one may believe that in a moment of brain lapse that one may confuse Obama and Osama, but to say Barrack Obama specifically, to say his entire name? You cannot be fooled by that. You cannot even play that off as a slip of the tongue. These republicans are master propagandists.
What the hell is a "Moma"?
aaww come on , do'nt you want a baffoon runing the government ,
like say may be one who does'nt know that there are three seperate groups of people living in Iraq
you know it's worked out rather well for SOME people
"party"
Another thing besides the osama-obama remark. Hasn't GW been calling Iraq the central front on the War on Terror? Hasn't he said repeatedly that we fight them there so we don't have to fight them here? How could we stabalize a country when we are supposed to be fighting terrorists in that country so we don't have to fight them here? Now I don't know the context of Romney's remarks but is he attacking obama for what bush has been saying (and others) all along?
To his credit he did not say, as Chris pointed out, Obama bin Laden, and more to his credit he didn't say Barack Obama bin Laden...
It's not as bad as when he's in bed with his wife and yells out, "Oh yeah! Do me, Steve!"
Razzamatazz @ 19:
He probably meant to say obama, not osama, but since he started to say osama he tried the correct himself and used Barack Obama. I could understand the slip, because most of the discussion about terrorist center around osama, so you would be more compelled to say osama than obama.
Absolutely intentional. Why not use either Mr. Obama or Senator Obama and bin Laden or Osama bin Laden. I think it might be time to give it back to the republicans and throw all decor out the window by doing the same thing. Instead of the bloggers being the only ones to get dirty let the democrats do it as well.
Here's the $64000 question:
Will Mitt Romney apologize?
This seems like a pretty clear candidate for an apology, because either he f'ed up or he's a jerk or both.
I think it was a mistake. He's still an empty shell of a human being who would be nothing but bad news as president, but this was a mistake.
Barack Barack Bo Barack Banana Fana Bo Farakc Fe Fi Mo Marack
Barack
123 said 'Dumbest “issue” ever.'
maybe. but the kind of 'issue' (or non-issue) that the wingnuts would leap all over if someone 'accidentally' to milt as adolf romney...
doug @ 18:
As somebody on this blog (I think) said before, MOMA is in midtown, not Chelsea.
AbbeyHoffmansGhost @ 29:
Same reason why people say hilary, rudy, giuliani, romney, huckabee, bush, cheney, limbaugh, hannity, Oliely. I see the use of one name all the time when referencing someone in politics.
he slipped. he meant to say Barack Obama nice and clean, but slipped and said it correctly - and then had to correct himself. it's like trying to introduce yourself with a fake name and your real one slips out first before you have to correct it.
he was trying to make a "mistake." and it's pretty damn vicious.
123 @ 4:
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The President of the United States is supposed to be the CEO of the Executive branch of our government. Even giving Gov. Romney the benefit of the doubt here, mistakes of this ilk are unacceptable when the CEO is conducting policy speeches. The world and the country watch and listen when the President speaks for us. At best, this is a matter of incompetence and we've had too much of that over the last six years already.
Obama: I Would "Take Up Arms Myself" To Prevent Another 9/11
Thats preferable to ignoring the warnings and intelligence and taking a one month vacation.
That would make no sense. Romney's name doesn't rhyme with "Adolf". Obama's name, on the other hand, does rhyme with Osama.
"Milf" Romney, or, for that matter, "Clit" Romney would at least make sense, as both of those examples could be confused with Mitt.
At any rate, who the hell cares? This is the most pertinent problem plaguing the country?
telecom @ 31:
I don't buy it, since he used "Barack Obama" and not just "Obama".
And if I were Romney's speech writer, I'd use "bin Laden" just so my candidate didn't trip over himself.
Barry Halpern @ 37:
Corporations have become more powerful then government.
Chris Huston @ 13:
That's what I thought. Like he had rehearsed it (to say Barack) and have it sound like a slip. But, screwed up and instead of letting it go, tried to correct it. He is a very bad actor. Maybe he needs some improv classes.
But wait did Mitt have his hand over his heart while the anthem played? And did he wear his flag lapel pin? Because THAT is so incredibly important I don't know how anyone could even THINK about anything else until we get THAT resolved. You have to make sure of these things otherwise you might end up with a candidate who does insane things like think on their own or end the illegal occupation of a foreign nation.
You're right. I'm kidding myself. There's no such person.
As for the verbal "slip" you'd have to get an affidavit from god to make me believe it wasn't on purpose.
Mitts future depends on Americans having an irrational fear of Islam
Romney' first name ought to be MUTT not Mitt
Zitt Romney?
Why don't you just tie him to the roof of your car and drive him across the country. Roof! Roof!
What a disgusting bigoted pig Romney is!
They all look the same to you right Mitt?
It's a good thing Romney didn't flub a lame joke in such a way that radio talk show hosts could "misinterpret" his comments and think he was attacking the troops!
Remember, slips of the tongue are only important if they're Democratic tongues -- whoops, sorry, I meant "Democrat" tongues!
osama, sama, bo bama
be, ba, bo bama....... saaaama.
let's do shirley
Although I detest this man and his religion, I now doubt he did it on purpose. That would be stupider than stupid.
Long hours on the campaign trail, perhaps lack of sleep...people can say dumb things when under stress (just ask me...).
Daisy Zimmerly @ 46:
More like "twit" romney.
Personally I'm fond of spoonerisms. I call him Ritt Momney.
Bush set the bar so low on mispronunciations that anything goes now.
The dumbing-down of America has trickled up to the highest levels.
You know, I might have given it to him if he said "Obama". But to actually say his first name as well? I mean, come on.
There's only two real options here:
1.) He knew what he was doing and name dropped him on purpose to malign and misinform.
2.) His head is so far up his ass that he would actually think Obama would call on Jihadists to do anything.
They're both ridiculously horrible and scary from someone who is running for President.
"Oh lighten up!"
Ritt Momney, I love it!!!!!
Yeah, probably was deliberate, but then again we're talking about a guy with an IQ of what? ... 85? 90?
Nice haircut, dumbass...
You mean Mitt Rommel made that quote?
Sure it wasn't Rudy Mussolini?
(See, I went to 3rd grade, too!
Kinda like...
Mitt Romney is Moron...err...Mormon....
He's either that stupid or he's that calculating. In either instance - I wouldn't want him for president.
Besides - I don't think he's anatomically correct.
*
Ain't no way that was a mistake!
If you think this was all just and "innocent mistake", I've got some beachfront property in Idaho I'd like to sell you. It's called "name association" folks. At least T.K. apologized immediately after he mistakenly said Obama instead of Osama. That's called a mistake. To start off correctly with Osama and then change to what he knows is not correct is nothing but an intentional conflation.
I am more alarmed that Mitt would pose with someone who cannot spell "momma" or the other version "mama". I mean, you have two choices. It's really hard to get it wrong. And spelling it "moma" doesnt make for some clever sounding name change. Maybe O'Momma would have made some sense.
lewisnclark @ 57:
I don't understand why anyone thinks this man is attracttive, or handsome. He's completely obnoxiously plastic and contrived. That comes through on a person's expression - and when you're that plastic - it negates the effect of good features.
It's nauseating to look at him - he makes me want to vomit - seriously. I'm disgusted by his demeanor and what it represents.
Also - someone needs to tell him that he's NOT charming and engaging. He clearly thinks otherwise and THAT is also part of the problem. He expects his looks and smile to do most of the legwork for him in this compaign. He's disgusting.
*
He's simply appealing to his base. In this case, knuckling-dragging, gun-lovin', Bible-tottin' rednecks. This will play perfectly. And the more the Left complains, the better it will play.
This country is packed with lowest common denominators...and they love stunts like this. In fact, they eat it up like greasy fast food.
The dumbass is doing it on purpose. Same thing with JK Rowling's declaration of Dumbledore being gay.
Its all for the press.
What an idiot. He can't even pretend to use the wrong word without screwing it up...
And he wants to be president? I've had enough Bushisms to last for like, thankyouverymuch!
doug @ 18:
That girl needed to be bitch-slapped. It speaks directly to their juvenile mentality when they go after the children.
*
Yellow Elephant Safari @ 8:
I would assume both.
Mormons accept black people as human beings now don't they?
L.A. Confidential @ 44:
As does the future of many politicians in this country. That is a very good summation.
Relax folks Obama ain't going to get the nomination anyway. After the primaries the GOPers can then pretend to get confused by saying "Hussein Clinton" instead of "Hillary Clinton".
What you are seeing here is called propaganda. Romney just happens to be bad at it. Which is good for us. However, I would suggest picking up a copy of Mein Kampf if you want to get inside the heads of the republicans. (only slightly joking)
When Mitt's not wiping dog shit of the windshield he's spewing bull shit at the podium.
Americans can be such fuckwits, it is beyond farce, tragedy, were're in black comedy territory here.
This guy is the second coming of Bush: No public speaking skills, absolute moron, religious zealot, stuffed shirt, silver spoon... How did he ever get to be Governor?????
L.A. Confidential @ 44:
The GOP's future depends on Americans having an irrational fear of something and the conservative bed- wetters fall for it everytime. Islam is the new gay marriage.
Mitt's a scumbag, like the rest of the republican candidates. No level they won't sink to. Nice hair though.
navyswan @ 73:
Dick Cheney uses Mein Kampf and 1984 as how to manuals.
Bill @ 76:
Deibold?
I like the tone-deafness of Mitt "I-wear-magic-underwear" Romney's campaign, vs the witty comeback by Obama's campaign:
Romney's campaign refused to make him available later at either of his final two stops to discuss the matter.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "Apparently, Mitt Romney can switch names just as casually as he switches positions...
“Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. That’s the central place he says, ‘come join us under one banner.'"
"Under one banner." That phrase reminds me of the book Under the Banner of Heaven, which explains what a wacko bullshit religion ol' Mitt adheres to.
Ruthless People @ 79:
I was only slightly joking until I googled Mein Kampf and read a little out of Chapter 6, aptly named "war propaganda". It was creepily familiar.
"Propaganda in the War was a means to an end, and the end was the struggle for the existence of the German people; consequently, propaganda could only be considered in accordance with the principles that were valid for this struggle. In this case the most cruel weapons were humane if they brought about a quicker victory; and only those methods were beautiful which helped the nation to safeguard the dignity of its freedom."
He actually goes into some detail how a war must be framed as a struggle for the existence of humanity, etc for the propaganda to be successful. Creepy.
That woman's sign makes no sense, Chelsea doesn't own the MOMA (Modern Museum of Art).
I think we should all start making the "mistake" of referring to this douchebag as "Prick" Romney.
Definitely intentional. And if it's not, can we really afford to have another wordsmith like this in office. Give me a break.
Ah...the results of No Child Left Behind home skoolin'.
MargeAggedon @ 52:
Along those lines, how about Judy Riuliani?
So what are my choices?
A. He did it intentionally, and so revealed himself to be a first class pr**k.
B. He can't keep 2 names that are in fact nothing alike (Barack = BinLaden?) straight, and so revealed himself too stupid to lead a nation.
Can we call him any of the following?
*Romnidroid
*Mahmoud al Romney
*Timothy McVeigh
*Mark Foley
*Rohm(ney) Emmanuel
*Al Sharpton (sorry, Al, just playing to his base, you dig?)
*Warren Jeffs
Doesn't "Mitt Romney" sound remarkably like "Jeffrey Dahmer"?
Two thoughts entered my mind:
1. Romney can't get away with the idiot act like Bush can. Bush is a natural idiot. Romney's act is transparent.
2. Even if this WAS a mistake, it was grossly negligent. Can we really risk another 4 to 8 years of embarrassment in the international community by someone who speaks so carelessly?
He's playing a rather juvenile game, that Sh!tt Romney!
Mitt constantly has "gaffes" but the beltwayists are always covering for him with Matthews "well sculpted" and O'Reilly's "straight back like Reagan" remarks
And he sinks lower, and lower, and lower. Maybe he's mortgaged the
housemansions to support his losing campaign. Maybe he's wasted the boys' futures. They might actually have to get jobs becasue of his ego. What a douche.The intellectual base of the GOP has reduced to people who can be trained to associate a presidential candidate with the world's most sinister terrorist through a conflation of names.
He switched from Osama to Barack. Linguistically it doesn’t even flow well enough to suggest a slip. Phonetically you almost have to force yourself to backtrack and say “Barack.” For example, the O and the B sounds are produced by the same movement of air over the vocal cords and out of the mouth, however the B is a bilabial stop. So, if you were saying “Osama” first, you’d have to literally stop your breathing and purse your lips to make the word “Barack.”
This would suggest to me that this was done on purpose.
Razzamatazz, excellent breakdown! Exactly what I hit on if you follow the link in John's post:
It's also worth examining the precise construction of his alleged blunder on Monday: "Actually, just look at what Osam -- Barack Obama -- said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq." It's certainly a curious order in which this "confusion" occurs. Had Romney begun by saying, "Just look at what Obam -- Osama bin Laden said just yesterday," it would be somewhat more believable it was said in error. But the order is extremely awkward, demanding a rather difficult verbal contortion: Romney utters the first two syllables of Osama's first name, then verbally pivots to deliver the Illinois senator's full name, which starts not with the similar sounding "Obama" but rather with "Barack." There's absolutely nothing natural about this transition: "Osam -- Barack..."
Next time around I'm voting for competence. Anyone who confuses a U.S. Senator and the most sought after terrorist isn't competent. If Romney is trying to be cute, it isn't funny when we've got men and women dying while fighting terrorism. So that shows lack of judgment - which is the same as lacking competence.
Mistaking single sounds (Osama vs. Obama) is common. Mistaking entire words, (Osama and Barack) is NOT. You generally only mistake entirely dissimilar (such as Osama and Barack) words in 3 instances and even then, they usually have some similarities (they rhyme, start with the same letter, etc):
1) you use a word combination from a commonly coupled words: (saying "put it up stairs" instead of "up there" - upstairs is common that once you start to say "up" you slip into the more commonly said phrase) THIS WAS NOT THE CASE
2) Swapping words in a sentence, "I bought the store at the raft". Here, all the words are right, just the order was wrong, THIS WAS NOT THE CASE
3) confusing words that the mind categorizes together (related in meaning): "I saw a mickey mouse film" when you meant Donald Duck. This happens because both words are categorized by your brain together as Disney characters. This is the only justifiable type of mistake that Mitt Romney could have made and it requires that his mind actually categorizes Osama Bin Laden and Barack Obama together. Maybe Mitt does think of them both under the definition of "America Haters" "brown people" or something a typical idiot Republican might think, and if it was this type of mistake, its a very telling mistake as to how he thinks of a United States Senator. And if he actually does equate terrorists with elected United States Senators, then he has no business running this country. I hate bush and I hate osama, but I'm not going to accidentally mix up their names. My mind still categorizes the two people in very separate ways.
Nylund, you're exactly right. I totally agree. Either Mitt Romney is a much bigger hatemonger than we already thought. Or he thinks his audience are hatemongers and dumb, as well. So he tries to woo them by smear techniques that are as stupid as they are successfull - since our so-called Liberal Media totally fails to grasp it.
This should be his macaca moment, sinking him for good. Alas, it will go entirely unnoticed (except by the evil extremist blogosphere, of course...)
shouldn't we start applying the godwin principle to these clowns.
but anyone can have a slip of the tongue-just ask larry craig-ba, dum, bum....but seriously, just the other day i was saying something about george w. hitler, i mean adolph w. butch.
hmm. wonder if he is butch--opinion poll: is sweet george a catcher or pitcher?
Sadly, Ted Kennedy did it, too.
republicans: too stupid to spell "momma."
'nuff said.
Jesse @ 100:
True, but he didn't start to say it correctly then consciously go back and "correct" himself.
I think Romney suffers, like GWB, from blue blood syndrome: Diminished intellectual and moral aptitude resulting from too much moneyed inbreeding, combined with constricted empathy and delusions of grandeur resulting from personal isolation and social deprivation within the inbred group that are reinforced by unearned wealth and privilege.
Tim in Japan @ 101:
Indeed, I was wondering what they had against Chelsea's Museum Of Modern Art
navyswan @ 83:
Actually that comes straight from the NeoCon bible by Strauss. In which he pretty much makes the case that only neo-cons know what is good for the people, since the "people" are dumb as bricks... lying to them with propaganda is not only warranted, but it is actually the *right* thing to do.
The ironic part? Strauss, the person almost single handedly responsible for inserting this neo-fascist doctrine distinguished under the more marketable "neo-conservatism," was himself a German Jew who had fled the nazi persecution in the 30s. Ain't that a bitch....
If the special bin Laden unit had been left in place...he'd be caught by now.(I read article on missing capturing him AGAIN!! in Tora Bora of all places(sic).
But more to the point, this unit callled our #1 terrorist...UBL. so, his name is really Usama bin Laden. Mitt should have had that sign proof read before posing.
Though Iraq , Iran and Al Qaeda don't win our favor..at least pronounce the names right. It irks me to hear educated people do this, it sounds so uneducated.
Obama begins with the long 'o' sound. Ubama begins with the long 'u' sound. Or some may say the 'ooo' sound like oooo weee. Sorry thats the best I can do .Nothing alike whatsoever
Would you not guess some of the things these clowns will say and do to get any kind of attention on their failing campaigns?
There's nothing left we can do -- the Hilary Dems sit back and watch Barach get GESTAPO'd by the propoganda outlets. I think it's time to get rid of my Obama website on ebay. Sighhhh....
Clearly intentional. As others have said, if he had said "Obam...Osama," then I would give him the benefit of the doubt. But saying the right thing and then saying the wrong thing and adding "Barack" in front of it is clearly intentional. That is why you can't compare this to Ted Kennedy's mistake.
But it's not surprising. The guy is a total fraud and is doing everything he can to become president. In a way, I am hoping he becomes their nominee.
Just imagine the first conversation with a foreign leader, if elected president, and asked a tough question by them: "Well, golley-gee, I'll have to ask my lawyers on that one."
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