“When Lovett and Favreau got their meeting, Obama seemed pleased with the script. “He’s like, ‘I love all these jokes, I think everything is great, I’m ready to go tonight – I have one edit,’” Favreau recalled. Riffing off the president’s full name, Barack Hussein Obama, the speechwriters had written a bit about how there were a lot of Republicans eyeing the White House who also had problematic middle names: “Did you know that his real name is Gov. Tim bin Laden Pawlenty?”
“’Here’s the thing,’” Favreau remembered Obama saying, “’I would just get rid of bin Laden and go with another bad guy.’” Favreau wondered why they would do that.
“He’s like, ‘I think bin Laden’s been done, it’s old, let’s go with Tim Hosni Pawlenty – that’s going to be much funnier,’” Favreau recounted Obama suggesting.”
Read more via US News & World Report: Right Before Bin Laden Died, Obama Refused to Joke About Him
Listen to the full Washington Insider podcast featuring Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett.
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