Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Sarah Palin Rewrites History on Paul Revere

SARAH PALIN: "He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS4C7bvHv2w

What is even more laughable than this latest Palin word salad is the lengths that Palin apologists have been going to claim her comments are somehow factual:

"Clanging church-bells in the middle of the night probably did warn
British spies & double-agents that something was afoot. Sarah was
referring to the Revolutionary spirit of resistance to British rule as a
"warning" to the British that the colonists were fed up, and not gonna
take it any more. And, can any Sarah-bashing know-it-all provide video
or links to news reports of Paul Revere's Ride? Sarah Palin's history
lesson is as good as anyone's alive today, and she surely is a pretty
teacher."

"Palin has more knowledge about America in her little finger than the
lamestream media has in its entire libtard body."

"The point she was making is a political one, not an historical one. The
point is that Revere's actions were in open resistance to the British, a
warning to them that they weren't going to take away our freedoms
without a fight."

"Palin may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it's obvious
she's getting a fair bit of mileage out of trolling her detractors with
these nuggets of feigned missteps."

"Text books have been be so "rearranged" that the indoctrinated left
have NO clue about history....sad for them! GO SARAH!!!"

"I understand that Palin's statement that Revere was riding to "warn the
British" can be understood to mean that he was warning the colonials,
given that they likely still considered themselves British citizens."

Politicians misspeak all the time, but they usually know the truth and they usually correct their mistakes as soon as they realize they've made one. The difference is that Palin is a moron who really doesn't know anything, she never admits to a mistake and her supporters will go to any lengths to justify her statements.

Come on. Let's be real about this. Palin doesn't know what any 5th grader knows about American history.

Here's what Sarah Palin said last week about the Statue of Liberty:
"This Statue of Liberty was gifted to us by foreign leaders, really as a
warning to us, it was a warning to us to stay unique and to stay
exceptional from other countries. Certainly not to go down the path of
other countries that adopted socialist policies"

Huh? The Statue of Liberty was a "warning" to us?

Later she said:
"It is, of course, the symbol for Americans to be reminded of other
countries -- because this was gifted to us, of course, by the French --
other countries...warning us to never make the mistakes that some of
them had made."

So, France gave us the Statue of Liberty as a warning not to be like the French.

Ironically, some "scholars" have come out of the woodwork to throw Sarah a lifeline on her Paul Revere gaffe because she inadvertently almost got one thing right:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2011_0606you_betcha_she_was_right_experts_back_palins_historical_account/
"In fact, Revere's own account of the ride in a 1798 letter seems to back up Palin's claim. Revere describes how after his capture by British officers, he warned them "there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time for I had alarmed the Country all the way up.""

However anyone who asserts Palin knew about this letter ahead of time is delusional. Her distorted syntax and verbal stumbling, along with her deer in the headlights look while speaking, leaves no doubt that she was making things up. And while she almost got one thing right, she certainly got the rest of it all wrong.

Palin said "he who warned the British."  The phrase "he who" - used after the introduction of a historic figure as the subject matter - is always followed by whatever that person is most well-known for. The purpose of Revere's ride was not to warn the British.

Revere rode to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock
Revere didn't ring any bells or fire warning shots
Revere didn't ride his horse through town
Revere didn't "warn" the British, "that they weren't going to be taking away our arms"
Revere lied to his captors when they had a gun to his head. He didn't warn them of anything.

Fox News's Chris Wallace asked Palin: "You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don't you?" You could see Wallace nervously smiling in stunned disbelief as Palin doubled-down.

Palin still claims her answer was correct but she also claims she responded to a "gotcha question." She can't have it both ways. And what was this supposedly "gotcha question?"  This: "What have you seen so far today, and what are you going to take away from your visit?"

Right-wingers have been twisting themselves into knots trying to justify Palin's comments. They even started a battle over editing the Wikipedia article on Revere in order to rewrite the history to match Palin's comments. What is most disturbing about this latest Palin gaffe is the same thing that is most disturbing about all Palin gaffes; her unwillingness to ever admit to an error and the lengths her and her supporters will go to justify every stupid thing that spews from her pie-hole.

Another blog post by Ken Padgett
Ken Padgett on Facebook