Lincoln Founded What?

America Akbar, all hail our dufus in Chief!

So now the media will erupt for weeks on end about what an “idiot” and “fool” and “know-nothing” Obama is, just like it erupted over Sarah Palin’s (accurate) comments about Paul Revere?

It’s even worse, because Palin’s (accurate) comments were made in an on-the-fly interview whereas Obama’s were in a prepared speech.

And all the enlightened conservative pundits who bashed Palin endlessly over Revere now will denounce Obama’s historical ignorance, right?

Wikipedia on Republican Party.


Meanwhile, now that it is clear that Obama and his prepared speech were wrong-


Sarah Palin says she was more right than wrong.

The Christian Science Monitor sort of agrees:

She was always kind of right. Look, from the point of view of strategic communications, Revere’s ride did indeed warn the British that fighting in the colonies was going to be tougher than they’d thought. That’s a sort of meta way of looking at it, we suppose, but that’s what they teach in the colleges these days.* If we were her that’s the defense we’d use – it has the virtue of being both logical and vague enough to avoid further discussion.

She remains kind of wrong. The historical record says nothing about Revere talking to the British about guns, specifically. So for Palin to say he said “you won’t be taking our arms” is technically non-factual. The Second Amendment was not yet in existence – that was passed under the administration of President Charlton Heston. Plus, Revere didn’t shoot anything from his horse. Church bells might have been ringing, though.

She can't win on this subject. Here’s something Palin’s advisers should tell her: “When you get into an argument about details with a media that buys its pixels by the barrelful, you’re always going to lose. And prolonging this discussion isn’t going to win you any votes if you run for president or viewers if you make another reality show. All it does is emphasize one of your negatives – many voters aren’t sure of your grasp of details. You need to change the subject.”

How should she handle more questions? Just say “Paul Revere’s ride was a wake-up call for the British. Now, I’d rather talk about our national debt than what a silversmith said two centuries ago to soldiers of a country that’s our closest ally today.”

Wikipedia explain; Meta- (from Greek: μετά = "after", "beyond", "with", "adjacent", "self"), is a prefix used in English (and other Greek-owing languages) to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter.

So, what we know now: Palin's off the cuff remark is at worst ambiguous, Obama's rehearsed remark fit his purpose but does not fit with history.

* Emphasis mine

Update: What's that, .....it..smells....like....like...... it smells like...... coverup!

INTERESTING: PBS presents what they claim are Obama's remarks "as prepared for delivery and released by the White House". Their version omits the news that Abe Lincoln was "founder of the Republican Party", although that phrase appears at the White House site and other transcripts.

They further claim that it was a error which took some time to correct.