“He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”
Sarah Palin and her family visited the Old North Church and apparently wanted to dazzle her fans with her knowledge of American history. The above is Sarah Palin’s version of Paul Revere’s ride. I guess they don’t have history books in Alaska because she sure is off the mark.
Sarah Palin now tells us she didn’t mess up. From USA Today:
Sarah Palin defended her account of Paul Revere and his midnight ride, insisting that his warning essentially represented a message to the British that the revolutionaries weren’t going to back down.
“I didn’t mess up,” the potential GOP presidential candidate said this morning on Fox News Sunday. “I answered candidly and I know my American history.”
It really isn’t that Palin doesn’t know squat about the American Revolution. If she were president she would have an entire staff of educated people around her to make up for her woeful ignornance. It is, however, her arrogance and inability and unwillingness to do something about these weaknesses that makes her an unfit candidate.
Tis a good thing that she quit being governor of AK. She is too stupid and ignorant to hold any public office.
Palin says it was a Gotcha question, a-la “What papers do you read?”
Huh…
– 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.”
– Boston University history professor Brendan McConville said, “Basically when Paul Revere was stopped by the British, he did say to them, ‘Look, there is a mobilization going on that you’ll be confronting,’ and the British are aware as they’re marching down the countryside, they hear church bells ringing — she was right about that — and warning shots being fired. That’s accurate.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2011_0606you_betcha_she_was_right_experts_back_palins_historical_account/
I LOVE it! Which of the 57 states was she in by the way when she said this? 🙂
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.”
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2011_0606you_betcha_she_was_right_experts_back_palins_historical_account/
Just because the popular history doesn’t cover it doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Revere told the Brits that the militias were waiting, probably in an attempt, under questioning, to doubt their own mission capabilities.
Yea, and I feel certain that great historical scholar, Sarah Palin, had been studying Paul Revere’s papers. NOT.
The ride was to warn the intelligensia of the approaching British. The Virginia ‘Paul Revere,’ Jack Jouett, did the same thing.
http://www.ushistory.com/story_jack.htm
This entire Palin event is what we might call a ‘stretch.’ She would have been better off if she wanted to slip in a 2nd amendment plug, talking about Lexington and Concord. Even that would be a stretch.
This is how revisionist history gets started, trying to justify something political. Shame on Palin.
Try the Paul Revere House in Boston:
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.html
She had just come from a lecture about it. It was probably part of that lecture and she applied it, however clumsily, to today.
And how is linking Lexington and Concord to the 2nd Amendment “a stretch”? The British were coming to seize our arms.
God Bless Ms. Palin.
I think her 2nd Amendment bona fides are well established.
Because it was Sarah Palin who said it… duh. 😉
While you’re there, be sure to buy something from the gift shop!!
How do I become as erudite as this person?
Actually Slowpoke, I have always found historic homes to be a reliable source of information. Usually those homes are associated with the local historical preservation societies. I was thinking of the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace, Monticello, and Ashlawn, just to name a few.
Is that what you do? Spend all your time in the gift shop?
I don’t recall if the Paul Revere House has a gift shop or not but I expect since he was a Silversmith there is a pretty good one with lots of relicas of period pieces.
How can you continue to defend the indefensible? Palin needs to simply not try to talk about things she knows little about. She could have said many things that wouldn’t have made her look ignorant. She could made comments about being in the cradle of American freedom.
And Cargo, I doubt seriously if the Old North Church has altered their historic stance that much. A lecture? bullcrap. Perhaps Palin was doing what she does best–shrieking and screeching rather than listening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZXXxGCHLzY
I’m not continuing to defend anything! If I could pick one thing for the left to focus on, it would be Sarah Palin. Funny thing is, all the incredibly uneducated things Obama says when he strays from the “teleprompter of power” just get overlooked.
Hmmm, like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws&feature=related
Or this? This guy doesn’t even seem to know when the constitution was written. Apparently he thinks it was written over 20 centuries ago 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiRhHqlzaG4&feature=related
So, having been shown that she DID NOT misspeak and that she WAS correct, you are still stating that she was wrong?
Your bias is showing.
Lots of scrambling here. Blame Obama. Blame Moonhowler.
I haven’t been shown crap. You have shown me nothing. Why not pull a rabbit out of a hat and tell me Sarah Palin really didn’t just babble all over herself in that video.
I have shown you what the Paul Revere House says about the famous Paul Revere ride. That isn’t good enough. Ever been to the Paul Revere House? It isn’t Stuckeys.
Just what am I supposed to be biased against? Historical fact or some politician babbling a bunch of crap and showing she is simply not presidential material. And yes, she was babbling. You all should be embarrassed for her and embarrassed for yourself for falling for this BS. There isn’t a woman on this blog who doesn’t recognize it for what it is.
Dan, the big difference is, any of us can misstate a word or two. Did you know what he meant? I* did. I expect he corrected himself then or perhaps later. I doubt if he would insist ‘centuries’ was correct.
Palin is incapable of accepting that she is wrong. Again and again she proves this. She is always right, in her own mind and in the minds of those who support her regardless.
She babbled crap and won’t admit she was babbling crap that was a mish-mash of inaccuracy.
You know, I am like that about Bill Clinton. However, I am not going to try to justify his Lewinski problem. It happened. He was wrong and I have to move on. Basically, I don’t care if he was an immoral pig. That’s just one of those situations that are hard to justify. Yet he remains one of the most popular presidents ever.
You need to move to the point where you just say you like Palin and don’t care if she is an ignoramous and proud of it. Once you get to that point, you will be able to move on.
Biased against Palin? Because I don’t see any posts about babble from President Present.
She was correct in that Revere told the Brits that the militias were waiting for them. What BS are you talking about?
Furthermore, if she’s so dumb, and she’s not running for office, why is the press so adamant in chasing her down everywhere she goes? She didn’t call them nor tell them where she’s going. They are chasing her. Apparently the Democrats are afraid that she might actually get a following, therefore, they do everything to make her look bad.
Your link does not go into any detail. He told the Brits that the militias were alerted during this time: “Revere was held for some time and then released.”
Its those mocking her that are ignorant of history.
When Obama spoke of the 57 states, he had just come from a lecture about the states and U.S. territories (sarcasm). When he spoke of the laws written 20 centuries ago he was speaking about all the geneology of U.S. law beginning with the Jewish-Christian traditions (WAG). When Palin spoke of guns, she was trying to gets votes.
Palin/Cain or Cain/Palin 2012
We must be identified by IP because an errant member of my household posted under my ID after I thought that I’d cleared my cache/cookies last night. The above Censored post is a bunch of BS (from VA).
ITS A CONSPIRACY! Who are you really Censored? Which one is which? Is this like the time there were two Captain Kirks and we had to tell the difference between them?
“When Palin spoke of guns, she was trying to gets votes.”
Um, she’s not running for office, remember, whoever you are?
‘She’s not running for office?’ Then she needs to go home and study or attend summer school or something.
Palin/Cain makes me want to start looking for property in Canada. I would want to change my citizenship out of embarrassment.
Chew on this one:
Here is the music to it:
http://www.ushistory.com/listen_jack.htm
Jack Jouett’s Ride”
lyrics by Tim Sparling & Allen Werneken
There’s something moving in the moonlight June night in 1781
Jack Jouett said, “Sallie, there’s British on the road,” and he knew what must be done
He had to warn Thomas Jefferson and Henry, and Harrison and Nelson
Who had just declared their independence from the very ones
Who would kill them if they found them there
So he just kept riding
Forty miles and forever and a road
From the Cuckoo down to Charlottesville
From Louisa through Virginia
Through the Blue Ridge riding still
Forty miles and forever and a road
Monticello and the swamp from Castle Hill
From Louisa through Virginia
Through the Blue Ridge riding still
Keep riding
As the quiet of the first light pushed the night to make the mountain dawn
Red Coat Colonel and the Green Dragoons arrived to find them gone
There was never a doubt when he and Sallie set out Jack Jouett had a place in time
Where one man’s will is living still when freedom was on the line
So he just kept riding
Forty miles and forever and a road
From the Cuckoo down to Charlottesville
From Louisa through Virginia
Through the Blue Ridge riding still
Forty miles and forever and a road
Monticello and the swamp from Castle Hill
From Louisa through Virginia
Through the Blue Ridge riding still
Keep riding
If he was not there that night on the back of that old horse
If Jack had decided not to ride
From Louisa through Virginia
Forty miles and forever and a road
From the Cuckoo down to Charlottesville
Jack and Sally they had a place
When freedom was on the line
From Louisa through Virginia
Jack he just keeps riding
Well Jack keeps riding
Still keeps riding
Just keep riding
music and lyrics by Tim Sparling & Allen Werneken
© 1995 by Tim Sparling and Electron Farm Publications
It is amazing the lengths to which Palin’s supporters go to defend her. She is uneducated, not very smart, careless and imprecise. She has a future in used car selling.
Cargo said: Biased against Palin? Because I don’t see any posts about babble from President Present.
Why would you? We are talking about Palin. I don’t feel he babbles. He mistates occassionally but he doesn’t babble. She babbles. See above video for example.
Always good to hear from the Mensa folks!
I am a history major, and I can attest that the British were intent on disarming those they felt disloyal to the crown. As a matter of fact, after scattering the assembled militia at Lexington Green, the British did seize a small abount of powder, shot, and muskets. Then they marched on to Concord, where they were again confronted by the militia, this time at the bridge in Concord.
“I am a history major, and I can attest that the British were intent on disarming those they felt disloyal to the crown.”
A more accurate statement would be, my degree is in History.
You know, I don’t really care whether the woman makes mistakes about history. Of course, she could admit that she was wrong once in a while. What I feel about this is:
Palin has absolutely no presidential qualities. Driving through the US in a gaudyly painted bus with her kids, dressing up in black leather for Roaring Thunder, lunching with, of all crumbs, Donald Trump, upstaging Romney in New Hampshire (I’m no Romney fan, but for pete’s sake, let a fellow Republican have his day!) and telling Chris Wallace that she might have stepped on some toes but so what – giggle, giggle. She’s very good at giggling. This is presidential timber?
(an aside / her voice makes me cringe and she keeps on and on and on and ….) Wallace sat there and giggled along. Blood pressure rising.
Why the press are at her feet is beyond me. She is having one heck of a good time and Sarah-PAC is paying for it all. I don’t think for minute that she’ll run for president. Why would she?
Just like Huckabee, she’s rich and (in)famous and has everybody’s attention. Can you see her cooped up in the White House with all the restrictions that go with the presidential office?
Here’s my complete waste of space comment. She’s both right, and wrong, which is quite an accomplishment!
Revere’s “ride” served three key purposes: (1) warn Hancock and Adams so that they could escape capture and likely death as traitors, (2) ensure that the arms at Concord were not lost, and (3) notify the militias, especially those further to the North and South, that they needed to get moving.
She forgot the past about protecting Hanckcock and Adams and getting the militias to move to defend Lexington and Concord. She got the part about protecting the weapons depot in Concord, warning the countryside, and letting the British know that they’d have a fight on their hands.
The bells she references ringing were the church bells that began to toll as Revere and his fellow riders warned each community they passed on their way to Concord. I’m not sure taunting the British was one of Revere and his cronies primary objectives, but the ringing of church bells across the countryside certainly did let them know that the protests were more just rhetoric from a handful of vocal rabble.
So she gets a C+ / B- from me. She was correct, but selective, and missed a few major points.
@Cargosquid
I’m the one who sat to your right…though I’m to your left.
M-h, thanks for fixing the post.
I think Palin flubbed her history for two reasons. She isn’t exactly known for having a depth of knowledge. Sound bites are her friend. Secondly, she could have expanded on what she’d said to make sure that her point was understood but only if she had enough knowledge of the material to begin with. Um, that history knowledge thingy, uh, keeps getting, um , you know, in her way.
He doesn’t babble? 🙂
Maybe not when he is reading directly off of a teleprompter. But off of a script is a different matter, what do you call this, in our own VA no less… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxBX8sz3tO8
I don’t know what’s funnier: Sarah Palin or watching lefty heads explode.
The funniest part of that video is while he is babbling, bumbling and stumbling all over his words you can hear one women yell out something. He response makes me laugh every time… it’s at about the 30 second mark, priceless.
Regardless of Mrs. Palin’s abundance or lack of brains — she is clearly all about Sarah – thrusting her pregnant teenaged child into the gobal view, abandoning her Governership on the 4th of July no less and her obviously mercenary plan to build herself and Todd a small fortune makes Sarah Palin mostly all about Sarah Inc. not the USA. She’s not stupid she’s smug – she doesn’t have to do any research about anything to make money and she knows it. So who is the fool?
@Dan Cooper
Some of that might be funnier if more time had elapsed since Bush’s presidency. His was a tough act to follow.
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/bushquotes/a/dumbbushquotes_3.htm
In his book, Dan Quayle blames his handlers for the “potatoe” incident getting out of hand. He didn’t blame them for his mistake; he couldn’t; but he effectively diverted the criticism away from himself for blaming his handlers for not warning him that the press was about to mock him mercilessly.
Now rather than trying to pass they blame, they just get in your face and tell you that they didn’t make a mistake. Yes, Iraq was filled with WMD that was a threat. Yes, the mission was accomplished. Yes, Paul Revere rang bells and fired warning shots. I read that some people are trying to change Wikipedia now based on what Palin said.
El Guapo makes a point.
You know, the fact that everyone feels it necessary to clarify what Palin says is problematic.
Some folks here will defend Palin no matter what she does. I will like Bill Clinton regardless of what he has done. The difference is I don’t try to make chicken salad out of chicken sh** where he is concerned. There are some things there are no excuses for. Twisting history is inexcusable.
Picking fault with Obama to defend Palin is just …well…pathetic. [best Jon Stewart voice] Deflecton!!!
Juturna, you are exactly right. Anyone who thinks Palin is stupid doesn’t understand the expression wiley like a fox. It’s all about Sarah. Some people are just attention hogs.
She is not presidential. Thank goodness its the independent moderates who pull an election, not the far right.
@Dan Cooper
I call it what everyone does when they are continually interrupted.
Let’s say that her critics are right. She misspoke.
Apparently she has more contact with the press than many other politicians. And this is all they can find that’s less than perfect?
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/04/palin.tour/index.html
And here’s Chris Wallace’s interview.
http://www.therightscoop.com/full-interview-sarah-palin-on-fox-news-sunday/
Hey Moon,
Out of the candidates or possible candidates who do you like?
Kim S,
That was a fair assessment. Here is her problem, she is not known for being a “holistic” thinker, in that, she often has these “filler” words when she speaks. Sort of reminds me of mcdonalds “hamburgers” compared to Wendy’s burgers. McDonalds clearly has soy or something as a filler, not sure what, but they are alot less fattening. Sara Palin speaks in “filler” language. It may be an Alaska dialect issue, but whatever the case, I always feel like she is reaching to find some ability to create a coherent thoughtful sentence in lieu of a simple soundbite.
Hah, this is mighty rich. The minute Palin opens her mouth, the critics jump all over her, claiming she is grossly ignorant of American history. Then, when the historians start coming in saying that she was essentially right about the church bells, the shots, and the Revere warning to the Brits, now she is only lucky and still an ignoramus who has trouble putting a coherent sentence together. Man, this anti-Palin business never ends. Even when the critics are shown their own unfamiliarity with the actual history, they still try to do a verbal kneecap job on her. I am afraid that, if Palin ever does disappear from the scene, all these critics are going to wind up with a severe case of the DT’s. I don’t care what one thinks of her politics; but she certainly does know how to get the media and the critics twisted into knots. Fun to watch. She’s turned those media people into little puppies begging for table scraps.
The historians have not said Sarah Palin is right. 🙄 That is wishful thinking and some doctoring of Wikipedia. Fortunately the Paul Revere site has been locked down.
Nice try, Wolverine. I stand by the title of this thread. She is the gift that keeps on giving.
Here ya go: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/268933/what-sarah-palin-got-wrong-and-we-did-too-joel-j-miller
Good article on the situation, but the gems are in the comments.
She garbled what she learned but, she basically covered the part of the history that dealt with her political point.
17 live, unscripted interviews in one week and THIS is all they’ve got?
And some historians did back her: Boston University history professor Brendan McConville said, “Basically when Paul Revere was stopped by the British, he did say to them, ‘Look, there is a mobilization going on that you’ll be confronting,’ and the British are aware as they’re marching down the countryside, they hear church bells ringing — she was right about that — and warning shots being fired. That’s accurate.
I think that she did a soundbite’s worth of info from the lecture, in which they probably spoke about the British soldiers being warned that they were discovered when the bells sounded and warning shots fired. Is it possible that the lecture also covered Revere’s statements to the Redcoats?
@Cargo,
You are trying so hard, just like Sarah, to make this all work. It won’t.
She is trying to bend and twist history to fit her political agenda and it didn’t work.
If anyone has to work this hard to prove a point then they should try something different.
Moon,
I’m just linking to a site that kinda agrees with you…..
The comments disagree with you.
She was right, but garbled the delivery.
Notice, however, that the media haven’t pushed any of the OTHER interviews…..