Posted on 02/08/2006 5:35:49 AM PST by frankjr
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams told The Hill that he wrote Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) letters of apology last week after he confused the two men at the State of the Union address.
During NBC’s broadcast, Williams noticed Obama on the House floor and identified him to the viewing audience. Unfortunately, it was actually Ford.
“I made a silly and honest mistake, and knowing both men I knew instantly what I had done,” a contrite and gracious Williams said in a phone call. “I obviously should have corrected it, but the proper time never arose.”
Williams isn’t alone. Rewind to last’s year’s State of the Union. Another reporter asked Obama’s office why he hugged the president. Again, it was Ford.
People mix them up plenty, even though the Capitol Rotunda separates the two men on most workdays. And “they don’t look that much alike,” one Senate staffer said. That they get confused at all is “pretty amazing,” one House aide lamented.
Neither Ford nor Obama’s offices would comment.
The two lawmakers are good friends, and Ford even campaigned for Obama in 2004.
If Ford is successful in getting himself elected to the Senate this fall, the mix-ups may deepen.
How could he get these two confused ? One is a Stepinfetchit fundraiser for a Klansman, and the other is a White guy.
I will give them a break when they get on National TV and admit that they have been pushing the liberal agenda with lies and distortions against conservatives. If they did this then at least some confused people would have the educated choice of what stations they watch.
Nowadays, passing for black is all the rage.
They are both just pawns of the Dimocrat party, so what does it really matter? I have trouble telling the difference between Kennedy, Leahy, etc.
We all look alike.
That's Derek Jeter on the left.
Funny, they don't look Druish!
I say give them enough rope and let them hang themselves, then they can't blame it on the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, LOL! The rabid rants of Rather and the NY Times are a good example, they only make themselves look like fools. Rather is off the air and the NY Times circulation has hit rock bottom and they are about to be prosecuted for the NSA leak. Sometimes when your enemy is shooting himself in the foot, it is best to just stand there and smile : )
I thought Stepinfetchit and white guy were both Obama?
Naw, Ford is the white guy, Obama is the Hawaiian guy.
This incident reminds me of the funniest thread in the history of FR, about the AP article in which they printed a picture of a random black guy and claimed it was Obama. Unfortunately, some of the pictures posed by FReepers have little red exes now, but the thread is still funny over a year later: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1278458/posts
Maybe he's not all white. Barack Obama is half white himself.
Well, if one views them from some distance, and doesn't have too good an eyesight to boot - then it ought to be excusable. I, for one, mistake people with unpleasant frequency.
any chance we can put up a picture of Jimmy Carter side by side with a horses ass because I keep getting them confused?
IF any conservative had done this, OH how the liberal media would make political scandal out of it.
As it turns out it was a member of the liberal media who is so racists that apparantely all young black men look alike to him.
The whale may not agree.
Well, it is understandable how Williams could confuse the two. However, had it been a conservative who committed this mistake we would have heard "sure, all racists think all blacks look alike!"
Call me a racist but I always got Spike Lee and Cornell West mixed up myself. Maybe that was because they both make sounds like the wrong end of a horse.
Please come over and clean up the snorted Pepsi from my keyboard!
In order to keep Brian Williams from being confused in the future, all African Americans in Congress will now be required to wear large numbers on their backs and chests so they can be easily identified from the program.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.