Ashcroft has a slip of the tongue:
Ashcroft was talking about the patriot act, which he wrote, when he referred to Senator Barack Obama.. as Osama. He quickly apologized for the error. People interviewed after the speech say they felt he skirted most of the issues brought up.
That sure looks like an innocent mistake to me, the kind I make all the time. I know I have written Osama when I meant Obama and vice versa, and fortunately caught the mistake before posting. He looked mortified the minute he said it, looked like he was really uncomfortable, and then apologized. It would be really unfair to try to use this against Ashcroft.
Somewhat related, I am in the PA ad market, and I am seeing a ton of Obama commercials. The one that I have seen the most includes a line about Obama organizing in conjunction with Christian churches, so it is safe to assume his campaign is still dealing dealing with the Muslim issue (and most likely still will be in his second term, should he win).
Roket
New Rule: Every time a paid public speaker makes a slip of the tongue, whether intentional or not, their fee shall be reduced by $5,000. That would put an end to it. After all, if they’re getting paid, that means they’re professionals.
zack
I take this as just a slip of tongue too. After all, Obama supporter Ted Kennedy made the same slip. I agree. It would be unfair to use this against Ashcroft. And yes, despite Wright he’s still dealing with the “Muslim” meme. Ed Kilgore:
So he’s got to deal with the “Muslim issue,” the “patriotism issue,” the “race issue,” and, of course, the all-important “bowling issue.”
Which one will be the most lethal to him?
Wait a minute. Did anyone else notice that none of those are actual “issues?” They are smears and distortions that he must react to. Not one of them is an actual policy position or stance on a real political issue that he’s taken.
Real issues – the ones that actually affect people’s lives – are simply not relevant in political campaigns anymore. Has anyone mentioned that John McCain is a war hero yet?
cbear
Especially if you’re a calico cat and value your life.
jake
Fixed. The only reason he doesn’t get the title of Worst A.G. Evar is because he was followed by A.G. Gonezo.
And from TPM:
Ashcroft was too busy making sure the statue of of Blind Justice wasn’t flashing a nipple.
Tom in Texas
I was honestly happy to see John Ashcroft go. Man was I wrong. Whether or not I agree with his policies, it’s clear the man respected the Constitution enough to step down rather than watch the DoJ sink to its current state.
cbear
I know what you mean—every time I go to write a comment regarding AShcroft, I accidentally write ASshole.
Funny how that happens…I hope nobody takes offense.
Tim F.
To be fair to John Ashcroft, it’s possible that he still doesn’t know who Osama bin Laden is.
Cris
I know I have typed “Ocampa” when I meant Obama. Can the candidate afford to be associated in the public’s mind with the least-loved of all the Star Trek series?
Rush Limbaugh
Does anyone know whom Ashcroft was speaking to? I was kind of surprised (but pleased) by the negative reaction.
Ah, religion, the great unifier, the bringer-together of people, the force of love and understanding.
tBone
It was at a college, I believe. The damn dirty liberal faculty was obviously successful in brainwashing the students there.
I think it was an innocent mistake on Ashcroft’s part too, and he was obviously shaken by the reaction. Still, I think anyone associated with the Bush administration deserves to squirm in public a little. I’ll take my schadenfreude where I can get it.
Susan Kitchens
Aaah, the Freudian slip. Where you say one thing but mean
your mother, er,Osama, um,Obama..ahem… another.p.lukasiak
as Susie avers, there is a difference between an “innocent” mistake, and a “Freudian” one. One suspects that in private, people like Ashcroft are perfectly comfortable with calling the candidate “Osama Obama” (or at least hearing him called that), and what we saw here was the public manifestation of the kind of stuff that “respectible” Republicans only say in private.
cbear
Respect the Constitution?????
All due respect Tom, but you gotta be fucking kidding me.
Respecting the Constitution means abiding by the oath you took upon assuming office:
John “Oil Me up” Ashcroft was the Attorney General of the United States of America for 4 years—-4 goddamn years in which the Bush administration was dismantling the very Constitution he swore to support and defend.
Oh yeah, everybody got the warm and fuzzies when it came out in May of 2007 that he had refused to sign off on ONE blatantly illegal program, in early 2004 .
Jeez, I must have missed the part where he courageously came out and revealed the treasonous plot to his fellow citizens and resigned his office….since, you know, he didn’t leave until February of 2005.
Here’s a couple of choice excerpts from his resignation letter:
“Nothing in my life compares to the high honor of serving America as Attorney General in your administration.}
The rule of law has been strengthened and upheld in the courts.}
I am grateful to you for the profound honor of serving under your clear, principled leadership.
May God continue to bless, guide, and direct you and your family as you lead America forward in freedom.}”
Yeah, he’s a real patriot.
Fuck him, and fuck every other lowlife, scum-sucking, gutter rat that has aided and abetted the treasonous monkeys in this administartion in their quest to trash the very document that has sustained our country for 220 years.
He was, and is, nothing more than another dishonest, dishonorable, gooper asshole… who in a just society, would be shunned by decent people everywhere.
Notorious P.A.T.
He respected it a lot more than his successor, that’s for sure.
TenguPhule
That’s not hard. A dead seagull respected the Constitution more then Gonzo.
jake
He was at Skidmore.
… Never mind, cbear beat me to it.
ThymeZone
Um, can’t tell if this is tongue in cheek, or not. I have never made this mistake, any more than I have written Coke when I meant Cole.
Ashcroft is a complete fucking asshole, a stupid little man who has the distinction of being the only sitting US Senator ever to lose a bid for reelection to a dead man.
and ….
Really great that folks, having no information, can just make some up and pull it out their asses. Thanks, Paul.
Just Some Fuckhead
Me too. I regularly catch myself accidentally typing Obama bin Barack. *blush*
Incertus
Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage will see to that, since she will be satisfied with nothing less than the nuking of anyone whose name rhymes with Hussein or who thinks that Islam is anything other than the avowed enemy of whatever she’s blathering about at the time.
jake
Yep. Just please God don’t let her pick up those pom-poms again.
The horror. The horror!
Incertus
Look at it this way, Jake. If she’s cheering, she’s not typing, and either way she’s opening herself up to mockery. It’s a win-win.
Asti
Well, perhaps if rightwingers wouldn’t use the “Osama” joke line so much, it wouldn’t have become such a habit in the first place. While Ashcroft may have flubbed, I wish I had a nickle for everytime a rightwinger did this exact thing on purpose.
Zuzu
It’s totally his fault for having such a hard-to-pronounce name.
SwiftKids – Barack Obama
Richard
I admit it is pretty pathetic when you miss John Ashcroft as the “good” Attorney General from the Bush Administration.
And while some 10% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim I’d relax on the issue. One in ten Americans also can’t find the United States on a map. They’re probably more or less the same demographic. I doubt they can find their polling location either.
J. Michael Neal
John Mitchell? Ed Meese? Ashcroft barely makes the top three worst AGs appointed by a Republicn in the last 40 years, even if you exclude Gonzales.
Bob In Pacifica
Sorry, I think it was on purpose and I’m using it against Ashcroft. I’m just not allowed to use it on airplanes.
jake
I hadn’t looked at it that way. Added bonus: A lot of Wingnut bloogers will suffer wrist injuries after watching the mini-skirted atrocity and they’ll be unable to type. Win-Win-Win.
Ed Meese: Fat blustering porn obsessed buffoon. Not afraid of a statue’s tits. John Ashcroft: Not fat porn obsessed creep who brought us the PATRIOT Act. Scared to death of inanimate tits.
I need a scorecard to tell these asshats apart.
And I never once heard anyone say “Gee, I wish John Ashcroft were still A.G.” after Gonezo had smirked his way through another Congressional hearing. But since people are uncomfortable with attempts to rank the awfulness at the DoJ, I’ll just say members of the Bush Administration exhibit an amazing level of suck and leave it at that.
The Other Steve
Best response to this is to point out that Republican obviously have no idea who the real enemy is.
Tax Analyst
Lib’ruls
J sub D
When there are so many legitimate things to give grief to this totalitarian asshole over.
Lulu
You say Osama
And I say Obama
You say Yo-Yo Ma
And I say, Yo Mama!
Osama, Obama,
Yo-Yo Ma, Yo Mama,
Let’s call the whole thing off!
John Redworth
I agree that he looked mortified but I would bet that this is the little pet name that Johnny calls Obama in private. It would be no different than if I accidently said “Asscroft” and then corrected myself… Or called Cheney the Dark Lord of the Sith…
frigg
It disturbs me to side with Ashcroft, but I gotta.
His immediate horror/shock reads rather genuine. Dunno if it was the fear of his mis-step, or the fear of a youTube rainshower over his mistake…not for me to say. His utter fast-forward nightmare was rather apparent. It seems like he had flabbergasted his own socks off.
Folks, quit belly-aching over these blog-friendly non-issues, tell the planet wtf ashcroft actually initiated with the Patriot Act.
Dude shoulda stuck to covering up bosoms on marble and singing his uplifting tunes; he might be able to avoid the tribunal that way.
Pb
Wait, you mean John “Patriot Act II” Ashcroft? The man with the charisma and integrity to lose against a dead guy? Yeah, fuck that guy.
me
But how do we know George Bush (either or both) isn’t a Muslim? Sure, he says he’s a Christian, but mightn’t he be covering it up? HW could have secretly converted whilst he was in Indochina. Supposing it doesn’t go EVEN FURTHER BACK.
Gentlewoman
Missouri’s Finest Hour. :)
Zuzu
Yeah, what are the chances of the wingnuts ignoring a picture like this if it was Obama doing the kissin’ and hand-holding?