Oops -- Marcy Kaptur Mistakes Bernanke for Paulson

This is Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio):

Last Thursday, she was at a House committee meeting (HT QandO) and started asking this guy some questions:

The guy is Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The problem is, this is what she asked:

The Ohio Democrat, at a House of Representatives Budget Committee hearing, said she wanted to know what Wall Street firms were responsible for the securitization of subprime mortgages.

She then asked: "Seeing as how you were the former CEO of Goldman Sachs ..." But the only person testifying at the hearing interrupted.

"No, no, no, you're confusing me with the Treasury Secretary," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Kaptur backtracked:

"I've got the wrong firm? Paulson, Oh, OK. Where were you sir?" Kaptur said.

Bernanke noted that he was head of the Princeton University economics department.

"Oh, Princeton, oh, all right, sorry. I got you confused with the other one ... I'm glad you clarified that for the record," she said.

Kaptur had confused Bernanke with this guy, Henry Paulson:

He doesn't look very much like Ben Bernanke.

Darn. Too bad this "Paulsen" is no longer with us, because he might have had a lot of fun at the hearing:

If a conservative congressman or congresswoman messed up as Kaptur did, his or her mistake would be Leno-Letterman-O'Brien-Stewart-Colbert material for days.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.