MINNEAPOLIS–I asked Governor George Pataki just now about a speech he gave yesterday in which he briefly conflated the names Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden and, intentionally or not, got a laugh out of the audience of convention delegates.

“That’s totally untrue,” he said. “I would never do that.”

Asked if he meant that he had not done it purposely, he said, “I didn’t do it, period.” Then he added, “The word ‘Os’ came out and I stopped. But that’s a lot better than Joe Biden or Ted Kennedy did.”

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