Eagan versus Obama: the prequel

Published Nov 21 2007, 04:46 PM by Adam Reilly

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Over at Blue Mass. Group, there's been much discussion of Herald columnist Margery Eagan's conflation of Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden yesterday.

Therein, my friend and ex-colleague Dan Kennedy says he's sure Eagan's gaffe was accidental, and that he's made a few such mistakes himself. Having made plenty of my own, I'm prepared to give Eagan the benefit of the doubt as well.

That said, it's interesting--in light of Eagan's Obama/Osama slip--to review this exchange from the Sept. 14 installement of WTKK's Eagan & Braude show. The subject of the day was this: what's being discussed more, the NFL's Sept. 13 penalizing of Bill Belichick and the Patriots for Videotapegate or President Bush's Sept. 13 speech on Iraq? Let's pick it up from the 9:15 mark (click here to listen yourself):

Eagan: No one really wants to talk about George Bush, would be my question. You know why? Because if you saw the speech, he was in a full-throttle, Mad Magazine look--

Braude: No, he was. He looked like Alfred E. Neumann.

Eagan: It was the eyes darting, the look of uncertainty, the look of 'Oh my God, can I get through this speech without goofing it up. It’s one of those--and actually, you know who makes me feel that way? Not to the same degree--

Braude: Who?

Eagan: But you know who also makes me feel that way?

Braude: No I don’t.

Eagan: Obama. He makes me very nervous. When he’s doing a speech he’s different; he’s very good--

Braude: He’s not great in debates--

Eagan: But when he’s giving these off the cuff remarks, or if he’s in a debate, it’s the same kind of thing. 'Oh, can you get through this'--

Braude: I can’t believe you could say that. While I agree he’s not good in debates, I think there’s an intellect differential that is about as big as the Grand Canyon. Are you kidding?

Eagan: Well, there may be an intellectual--there may be an intellect differential, but he does not inspire confidence in his words. He makes me very nervous.

Braude: What do you think--what’s the thought--

Eagan: He inspires, you know, wet behind the ear. He reminds me of a kid in 4th grade the same way George Bush reminds me of a kid in 4th grade--can you get through the spelling bee?

Braude: You are out of your mind.

Eagan: I’m not out of my mind. This guy is--I cannot believe--

Unidentified male: Osama Obama--

Braude: That’s the other guy.

Eagan: Very smart people support this man.

I think it's safe to say she's not a fan.

Bloggers > reporters?

Rove: here's how we beat the bitch

4 Comments

• Aging Cynic said:

  Somehow, many of our Hibernian brethren have no trouble with "Siobhan" and "Cholmondeley" but Osama and Obama trip them up. Go figure.

  November 23, 2007 2:33 AM

• O-FISH-L said:

  Aging Cynic, nice of you to single out the "Hibernians" as the only ones who could ever mispronounce an unusual name. Right. The fact is that the name Obama chooses to go by is uncommon, and very similar to the name listed first on the FBI's most wanted list.  Any confusion might be resolved if the media had the temerity to use Obamas middle name "Hussein" but that might be a hate crime.  Give John "Kerry" credit, at least he knew his real name Kohn would never fly, so he changed his name to that of Ireland's most beautiful county.  Hilarious, but politically shrewd. Not uncommon among Democrat nominees for President.  Who could forget Gary "Hart" real name Hartpence?

  November 23, 2007 2:40 PM

• Aging Cynic said:

  A little defensive today, Fish? Don't shoot the messenger. It just struck me as ironic, is all. I never said they're the ONLY ones. Similarly, I listen to Howie Carr but to hear him mangle any non-Anglo-Saxon name makes that Phi Beta Kappa key a little less shiny, (while he's playing "OsamaObama" by Teddy, yet).  And don't even get me started on Mike Barnicle.

  November 23, 2007 5:32 PM

• Chop Chop said:

  >> Give John "Kerry" credit, at least he knew his real name Kohn would never fly, so he changed his name to that of Ireland's most beautiful county. Hilarious, but politically shrewd. <<

  Actually, John Kerry did not "change his name" to Kerry; an ancestor did that early in the 20th century.

  Sen Kerry claims that he didn't even know for a long time that his grandfather was born with the name "Fritz Kohn" (in what is now the Czech Republic).

  Kohn emigrated to the United States and changed his name to Kerry in 1907. He was a successful businessman though ended his life by committing suicide in a hotel room.

  November 24, 2007 10:14 PM

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