“Gunny” Bob called Sen. Obama “Osama,” misled on amended FISA vote

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

On his August 7 show, Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman referred to Sen. Barack Obama (IL) as “Osama,” echoing other conservative commentators who have used the name of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden when discussing the Democratic presidential candidate. Moreover, Newman falsely claimed that “most Democrats” voted in favor of the amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill sent to President Bush, when the majority of Democrats in both chambers of Congress voted against it.

Before asserting that Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama (IL) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) “voted for protection of terrorists” by voting against the amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman called Obama “Osama” during his August 7 show. As Colorado Media Matters has noted, Newman similarly has referred to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as “Obama.” Newman's latest remarks echo other conservative commentators who have used bin Laden's name when referring to Obama.

Newman also falsely claimed “most Democrats” voted in favor of the amended FISA bill sent to President Bush, when in fact the majority of Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate voted “nay” on the bill Bush ended up signing into law.

From the August 7 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: Isn't it interesting, [caller], that this weekend the Democrats, many Democrats -- not Hillary or, or Osama, excuse me, Obama, because they voted for protection of terrorists -- but most Democrats voted to give President Bush the very powers with the upgraded FISA Act that they were saying they wanted to impeach him for. Isn't that very interesting?

CALLER: It seems that when, that when they need to use him for something, they relax their hold.

NEWMAN: Yeah, and yeah -- because it benefited them. And that's exactly what they did. [Caller], thank you. Yes, this weekend -- and the vote frankly wasn't even close -- an upgraded Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, bill was sent to the president. Passed no problem in the, in the Senate and in the House. He signed it into law which gives him, gives our intelligence assets, without a warrant, the right and ability to listen in on terrorist conversations. Hillary and Obama voted against those protections for America and for protections for Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda did not want that bill to pass, obviously, because it gives us a bit of a leg up.

Colorado Media Matters noted that during his July 23 broadcast, Newman referred to bin Laden as “Obama” and said his use of the senator's name when speaking of the terrorist leader was “no Freudian slip.”

As Media Matters for America has documented (here, here, and here), numerous conservative commentators have used bin Laden's name when referring to Obama. Colorado Media Matters also has noted that Fox News Radio 600 KCOL host and program director Scott James and KOA host Mike Rosen both have called Obama “Osama.”

In addition to calling Obama “Osama” on his August 7 show, Newman falsely stated that “most Democrats” voted for “the upgraded FISA Act” sent to the president. In fact, in the U.S. Senate, 27 Democrats voted against S.1927, the FISA bill eventually signed by Bush, with 16 voting in favor and six not voting. In the House, 181 Democrats voted against final passage of the bill, while 41 voted to pass it and nine did not vote.