Why Do Our Senators Keep Calling Ed Snowden 'Eric Snowden'?
from the and-if-they-can't-get-that-straight dept
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:
Meanwhile, another Eric Snowden (this one works at Adobe) seems perplexed by all of this: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.
* 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
Reader Comments
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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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But that's his actual name... what's so funny about that?
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-
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Didn't "the rock" serve in the 60'
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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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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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Could be a printing error
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Re: Could be a printing error
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Re: Could be a printing error
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Re: Could be a printing error
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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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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It seems obvious to me
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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Re: It seems obvious to me
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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Godwin
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Re: Godwin
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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I think we need to broaden the search
In any case getting rid of them all is necessary "Pour encourager les autres"
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petulance
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Re: petulance
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every one of them an aggy at heart.
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/sadsarc
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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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Remember, the United States kills people based on metadata
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Re: Remember, the United States kills people based on metadata
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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Well...
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(they do not read their emails, they have someone to print it for them)
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Even *without* any conspiracy, this is bad enough.
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ISIS ISIL
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Ed vrs. Eric
It's "Eric" Snowden, not "Ed?"
never mind...
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