Why Do Our Senators Keep Calling Ed Snowden 'Eric Snowden'?

from the and-if-they-can't-get-that-straight dept

Wed, Jun 3rd 2015 1:45pm — Mike Masnick

Three times in the past two weeks, Senators debating surveillance reform on the Senate floor have referred to Ed Snowden* as "Eric Snowden." This includes Senate Intelligence Committee boss Richard Burr, the NSA's own Senator Barbara Mikulski and Senator Dan Coats. All three of them have spoken out angrily about Snowden's revelations. Mikulski has called him "Eric Snowden" multiple times (in that speech, as Dave Maass points out, she also claims that NSA employees "work 36-hour days" and "10-day weeks" -- so perhaps Mikulski's issues go beyond just remembering people's names...).

Yes, people make mistakes, but it seems fairly bizarre that three separate Senators, all of whom are seen as staunch defenders of the surveillance state, can't even get Snowden's name right. It makes you wonder what other details they don't really pay much attention to. And, of course, it's not just a recent thing. The Guardian has an article noting that a bunch of others have made this mistake as well going back further than just the past couple of weeks, including Senators Lamar Alexander and Rand Paul, and one-time Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Either way, it must be interesting times for people actually named Eric Snowden. Kevin Collier, over at DailyDot, has put together a fantastic interview with one of a few Eric Snowdens out there, asking him how he feels to be called a traitor to the country by Senator Richard Burr. The interview is hilarious as the 70-year old sculptor in New York seems to handle the situation in the best possible way. Here's just the opening snippet, but really, go read the whole thing:

So Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) just said that you, Eric Snowden, are a traitor.

Eric Snowden: Well, you got that right, I’m a traitor. What’s he gonna do about it?

And Sen. Barbara Mikulski—

Oh, from Maryland.

That's her. She said, and she’s referred on the floor to “Eric Snowden” several different times in the past few weeks—

That is so odd! Maybe I have a bunch of fans, a fan base I wasn’t aware of.

Meanwhile, another Eric Snowden (this one works at Adobe) seems perplexed by all of this:

It's a bit of excellent comic relief to a bizarre situation. But, really, the question remains: why do our elected officials, who are supposed to be experts, have so much trouble remembering Snowden's name?

* Some people have asked why we refer to him as Ed, rather than the more regularly used "Edward" and it's as simple as this: he always appears to refer to himself as "Ed" from the very first video interview that he conducted with Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. Thus, we refer to him as Ed, even as pretty much every other media outlet calls him Edward.

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Filed Under: barbara mikulski, dan coats, ed snowden, eric snowden, lamar alexander, mitt romney, rand paul, richard burr

51 Comments

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Mason Wheeler (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 1:53pm

They can't seem to get any other basic facts right on this subject. Why be so surprised when they get this one wrong too?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 1:58pm

I'm surprised the government's media mouthpieces haven't started calling him Edward Joseph Snowden to try to associate him with the three-name-referenced assassins such as John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mark David Chapman, and James Earl Ray.
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Baron von Robber, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:04pm

Erik Snowden! A name that will live in infamy with the likes of Jody Stalin, Adam Hitler, Charlene Manson and The Rock Obama!

-
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:11pm

And how many Ed or Edward Snowdens are there in the world?

I imagine all of them have been cringing since this episode began. I wouldn't be surprised if any petitioned to legally change their name.
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Chris Brand, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:18pm

Could be a printing error
in the script they're all reading from.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:19pm

Re:
I wouldn't be surprised if any petitioned to legally change their name.

To Chelsea?

Personally, I think many Ed Snowdens are probably quite happy to be associated with a whistleblower. Since it's just the executive branch who's got it in for him, the name probably doesn't cause any issues at airports etc. -- just more work for the TLAs to track movements.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:22pm

Re: Could be a printing error
The thought crossed my mind too. I'd be curious to know if any conservative think tanks have made the same mistake.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:28pm

I'm sure this Eric Snowden troublemaker is in cahoots with Buffcoat and Beaver.
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That One Other Not So Random Guy, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:29pm

Re: Could be a printing error
We have a winner!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:32pm

more to the point, why do they keep calling him 'traitor'? if anything, they have betrayed the people they were elected to protect and work for, whereas Snowden has done his best to bring what those lying fuckers in the government, the Senate and the Courts have been doing for decades, contrary to what they said they were doing and contrary to what they should have been doing! a prime example being the total bullshit spouted yesterday by McConnell!
what really needs to happen is for these old fuckers to be ousted from their cushy little numbers and some fresh blood elected! perhaps then the antiquated ideas will be tossed and some new input happen to remove the cold war attitude that is present at the moment!!
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:41pm

Re:
Erik Snowden is a regular Bernard Arnold.
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John Fenderson (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:41pm

It seems obvious to me
it seems fairly bizarre that three separate Senators, all of whom are seen as staunch defenders of the surveillance state

The mistake has an obvious source: it must have been on the sheet of talking points that the NSA provided to them. What would be bizarre (in a good way) is if they even looked at any information other than those talking points.
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alex, 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:54pm

Re: It seems obvious to me
Totally agree.

Most Senators are only the mouth pieces of those that provide them money, protection and/or assurance of re-election. I'd bet that not Ten of them have really read/remember/understood/accepted/believed in the Federalist papers, Rights of Man, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

We should just move on.. nothing more to see except a footnote to the ongoing corruption and incompetence of the US Congress.
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GMacGuffin (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 2:56pm

Godwin
It's all a subtle psych. Eric sounds like Erich and there were some Nazis named Erich (e.g., Traub, Priebke), so when people hear "Eric Snowden" they will subconsciously think of Nazis and be subliminally repulsed.
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Nom du Clavier (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 3:27pm

Re: Godwin
It's obvious they're practitioners of magic and wishful thinking. "Give something a name and you give it power."

Therefore misquoting his name would take away part of his power, afraid he might otherwise go bump in the night...

/s
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Lurker Keith, 3 Jun 2015 @ 3:33pm

Re: Could be a printing error
I don't know if it was an error (I don't doubt there's a script, since multiple people keep making the same "mistake"). If someone's clever enough over there, they could have intentionally botched the name to prevent people from getting proper Google results.

Now I said clever, not smart. Had they been smart, they'd realize that wouldn't work, because Google adapts & Eric would still link to the real Edward stories.
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lucidrenegade (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 3:39pm

Re:
... or Barrack Hussein Obama.

Always got a chuckle out of that one during the 2008 campaign. Always from some right wing nut-job / Faux News.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 3:41pm

When they talk shit about him they use the correct name.
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nkman (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 3:43pm

I think we need to broaden the search
We need to arrest anybody who's E. Snowden! Public safety demands it. Perhaps he's now Ellen Snowden. Traitors are well known for having sex change operations.

In any case getting rid of them all is necessary "Pour encourager les autres"
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 3:45pm

Re: Re:
I originally was going to mention that, but I think that one was technically due to the middle name being Hussein and what associations they could make to dictators/Muslims/foreigners/terrorists/etc. that all chain together in the minds of rapid conservatives.
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Rapnel (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 4:30pm

petulance
they're likely doing it on purpose feeling they're somehow getting one over. like a child or a bully might. it's a means of belittling their, uh, targets.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 5:20pm

why do our elected officials . . . have so much trouble remembering Snowden's name?

every one of them an aggy at heart.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 5:42pm

So if they're not looking for Ed Snowden, can he leave Russia free of harassment?

/sadsarc
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rab (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 6:00pm

Re:
... or Barrack Hussein Obama.

Always got a chuckle out of that one during the 2008 campaign. Always from some right wing nut-job / Faux News.

But that's his actual name... what's so funny about that?
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Stephen, 3 Jun 2015 @ 6:01pm

It's not just senators. Check out the final paragraph of:

http://www.macon.com/2015/06/03/3777290_do-we-deserve-the-liberty-and.html?rh=1

The second paragraph of:

http://www.mtexpress.com/opinion/editorials/patriot-act-needs-daylight/article_303d7780-f505-11e4 -af98-ef02fe44e236.html

And the label on a familiar photograph of:

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/u-s-government-monitored-phone-calls-to-cana dians-in-sweeping-1990s-surveillance-program

And then there's the headline (and lots of other places) in:

http://www.nj.com/hudson/voices/index.ssf/2013/06/poll_is_eric_snowden_a_whistle.html

Perhaps it's something psychiological.
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Socrates, 3 Jun 2015 @ 6:13pm

Didn't "the rock" serve in the 60'
I choose to go to M in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because I am hard
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 6:52pm

Remember, the United States kills people based on metadata
NSA representatives have admitted they kill based on metadata. NSA defenders cannot even get basic metadata (first name!) right about a well known public figure. Somehow this does not inspire confidence in the defenders or the NSA.
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 7:22pm

Well...
Well, idiots will remain idiots. This is just proof that most Congresspeople (Senators and Congresspersons) are idiots, and don't know what the fark they are talking about!
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Zem, 3 Jun 2015 @ 7:36pm

It's because he is a viking.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 10:13pm

Re: petulance
Maybe his superiors in the intelligence service has mentioned a dislike for being called Eric? Trying to goat people to act irrationally or trying to slowly tear them down psychologically is the first rule of "minimalisation".
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Mocaman, 3 Jun 2015 @ 10:50pm

Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2015 @ 11:02pm

Plot twist, his real name is Eric.
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HoleTurth, 3 Jun 2015 @ 11:37pm

The real question is why Erik aka Eric has been referred to as Ed? What is so significant about "ED"? Could it stand for "End of Democracy" perhaps? Could it be "Eternal Doom"? Think out of the box comrades and look for the hidden motives...
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PaulT (profile), 3 Jun 2015 @ 11:55pm

Re:
Well, Mr. Ed was a horse in an old TV show... wait... horse? Horsemen? The apocalypse is upon us!!!!
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2015 @ 1:29am

They all got the same photocopy of the same paper with the same talking points to repeat...

(they do not read their emails, they have someone to print it for them)
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2015 @ 3:24am

I have heard a few talk radio host on conservative shows refer to him as Eric as well. Maybe they are listening to too much radio.
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Bt Garner (profile), 4 Jun 2015 @ 3:59am

Puppets can only say what the person with their hand up their ass is making them say. Perhaps we are seeing that many puppets all have the same 'puppeteer.'
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Kevin Picott (profile), 4 Jun 2015 @ 5:12am

At least he's not being referred to as "Edward Joseph Snowden". Then he'd be part of the three-name conspiracy; John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, James Earl Ray, Mark David Chapman...
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Shadow Firebird, 4 Jun 2015 @ 5:27am

The most optimistic reading I can give this is that none of them can be bothered to obtain their own informed opinion, and instead they just copy each other?

Even *without* any conspiracy, this is bad enough.
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bratwurzt (profile), 4 Jun 2015 @ 6:13am

Or maybe this is a ploy to avoid defamation lawsuit... ;)
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ericcl (profile), 4 Jun 2015 @ 6:24am

On behalf of the Association of Erics International, Ordo Universalis, I do hereby accept Eric Snowden into our ancient and hallowed Order, with all the rights and responsibilities incumbent upon him. Keep up the good work, brother Eric.
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alan turing, 4 Jun 2015 @ 9:31am

ISIS ISIL
It's kinda like that. A subtle slap in the face. A passive aggressive poke.
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an Aggie, 4 Jun 2015 @ 9:34am

Re:
It's Aggie but insightful anyway.
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John Fenderson (profile), 4 Jun 2015 @ 9:37am

Re:
They have hearts of agate? I'd be surprised if their hearts were that pretty.
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bmarsh (profile), 4 Jun 2015 @ 9:44am

Ed vrs. Eric
In the immortal words of Miss Emily Latella:

It's "Eric" Snowden, not "Ed?"

never mind...
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Tim, 4 Jun 2015 @ 3:14pm

Mike, your "70-year old sculptor" link is broken.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2015 @ 8:52pm

A clue as to how clueless our government is.
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Agent K, 5 Jun 2015 @ 11:40am

36-hour days / 10 day weeks is Galactic Standard Time? Silly humans.
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Sheogorath (profile), 5 Jun 2015 @ 12:34pm

Re: Re:
I believe lucidrenegade was stating that there was humour in which news outlets were useding the President's full name, not the name itself.
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Lurker Keith, 6 Jun 2015 @ 2:14am

Re: Remember, the United States kills people based on metadata
The Government also has claimed part of why they couldn't stop the Boston Bombing was because, though at least one brother was in some database, the name was misspelt.

Confirmation: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/congressional-report-confirms-boston-bomber-misspelled-security-databa se/story?id=23068330

If spelling errors can render surveillance ineffective, it's useless, if for no other reason than the potential for simple human error (especially when dealing w/ foreign names, which can end up spelt differently when transliterated). Unless, as some keep stating, catching terrorists isn't the goal of said surveillance.
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Edward, 12 Sep 2015 @ 3:09am

Re:
Edward Snowden=Rewards end now
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