I promise you, that is in no way because they are similar people. Their names aren’t even similar!
But I do hear or see their names and get them mixed up.
To give you one example: I saw the pit thread “Dear god, thankyou for not electing Sarah Palin” and within it the phrase “Watch Bill O try to spin Sarah Palin’s breathtaking ignorance as a good thing.” and immediately thought…
“Hmmm that’s strange. Why would Barac’s running mate say it was a good thing? Maybe he thought it increased Barac’s chances of winning”
Until I clicked the link. No that’s Bill the FOX guy. Joe is/was Barac’s running mate.