Obama Bin Laden or Obama's Bin Laden VIDEO: Bob Schieffer's misspoke but not in the way people think.

No, Bob Schieffer Didn't Say Obama Bin Laden

No, Bob Schieffer Didn't Say Obama Bin Laden

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The Slatest
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Oct. 23 2012 3:59 AM

Yes, Bob Schieffer Misspoke. No, He Didn't Say Obama Bin Laden.

During last night's foreign policy debate, Bob Schieffer stumbled over Osama Bin Laden's name while posing a question to Mitt Romney about what needs to be done in Pakistan. Plenty of people on Twitter and around the Web appear to think that the moderator managed to mash together the president's first name with the former al-Qaida leader's last name to create an "Obama Bin Laden" hybrid. (The Huffington Post, for one, wasted little time posting the video under the headline: Bob Schieffer Makes 'Obama Bin Laden' Gaffe During Presidential Debate (VIDEO).)

The problem—well other than the obvious that making a verbal stumble that plenty of others have made before, both when speaking and typing quickly, isn't really that big of a deal—however, is that isn't what Schieffer said. If you listen to the tape, you can hear the veteran CBS journalist say "Obama's Bin Laden." It's still a safe bet that's not what Schieffer was hoping would come out of his mouth, but it's certainly better than the alternative.

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Here's the game tape for you to watch and listen for yourself:

Josh Voorhees is a Slate senior writer. He lives in northeast Ohio.