Editor's Note: Obama is not Osama

I KNEW something like this would happen. I'm just surprised that more jokes and perverse statements haven't been made sooner.

Imagine this. Both CNN and Yahoo News have mistakenly(?) mislabeled Barack Obama’s photograph with Osama bin Laden’s name. The Yahoo News photo page caption of Obama actually reads, “Osama bin Ladin and al-Qaida.” Now, forgive me for being suspicious, but I find it hard to believe that this is actually an unintentional goof up. I believe that somebody at CNN or Yahoo News wanted this to happen. The CNN error occurred on January 1 and the Yahoo News blunder happened on January 3—what a way to start the New Year, huh?

Seems I’m not the only one who thinks this whole mess is intentional. Some TPM Café readers have voiced their own suspicions about the mix up:

Jay Ackroyd:

It's more reasonable to suppose that there are interns or other low level employees who either find this funny, or who are actually venal--pulling dirty tricks on behalf of either Republicans who fear Obama they way they feared Dean, or a Democrat presidential candidate, for the same reason.
I'd assume that everything passes by three sets of eyes, the writer, a copy editor and an editor before it goes live. This would take a prankster intervening after the editor signs off.

Zionista:

Funny how no one ever confuses the good senator's name with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Also a source of comedy for those who would like to smear Obama’s reputation is his middle name—Hussein.