Palin: history and Paul Revere’s ride
Palin commits an Obamaism and mispeaks on history:
[Paul Revere] 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.
Nope, not especially articulate. And of course it was the colonists Revere warned. And although Obama has also been both inarticulate and historically inaccurate so many times that it would support a small cottage industry, and the MSM continually covers for him while attacking Palin, that doesn’t make her correct.
But how wrong is she, anyway? One of the main goals of the British regulars was to seize armaments the colonists had stored in Concord. And there were bells:
A few minutes later, they were all startled to hear the heavy crash of an entire volley of musketry from the direction of Lexington’s meeting house and then the Lexington town bell began clanging rapidly! Jonathan Loring, a Lexington resident captured earlier, turned to his captors and shouted “The bell’s a’ ringing! The town’s alarmed, and you’re all dead men!”
What’s more, the colonists were British at that time, and considered themselves to be so (although I don’t claim that’s what Palin was referring to). But there is more historical accuracy in her admittedly disjointed statement than most people are aware of, since most of the facts have been lost to the public in legend, myth, and ignorance.
But hey, it’s so much more fun to trash Palin than to actually try to learn anything, isn’t it?
What scares me is that so many people think that she deserves the republican presidential nomination, and that people actually think she could beat Obama.
Tom, how can that possibly scare you more than the fact that Obama is in the White House?
This analysis is why I like Neo so much.
The truth of this matter is Palin misspeaks and the people who actually get history wrong are her accusers.
Palin is just not gifted in extemporaneous speaking, but then how many “gifted” politicians whom are would you rather not be. It seems to be the number one reason why so many charlatans get elected. You prefer a Rangel to a Palin?
The truth is that Palin is a sound and clear thinker whose policy statements withstand scrutiny even by the left. Further, Palin does have a genius for political activity. But first and foremost, she is trustworthy and doesn’t come off as a politician. That isn’t going to hurt her.
And even as many people follow the media established fallacy of her “stupidity,” it is those people who are more likely stupid, or, at the least, susceptible to manipulation. From a couple misspoke statements, may people rightly conclude as they do? I suppose you could have followed Churchill and every now and then something like this would be spoken.
No. Sarah isn’t going to win extemps, but her intellect, character, and genius place her well into the running.
At least Palin knows she can not take her tour through all 57 states.
Hey Tom, it scares me that the Ivy League coached articulators infesting the ruling class have successfully hoodwinked so many Americans into thinking wisdom, intelligence and leadership has an easily recognisable facade.
check out Legal Insurrection on this. Apparently she’s correct.
1. If it is a gaffe (cf. Lulu), it’s no worse than what Columbia/Harvard alum Obama regularly makes, which is cold comfort: Here in the early years of the twenty-first century, the American elite is a walking disaster and is in every way less capable than its predecessors.
2. If reported correctly, this is more serious: Meanwhile, Palin’s claim of $8 billion a day in additional imports is absurd. That amounts to 80 million barrels a day at $100 a barrel–and the entire world’s consumption is about 85 million barrels a day. If Palin took out a calculator, she would see that her own estimate of 200,000 barrels a day amounts to just $20 million a day.
Lulu,
Thanks for the tip.
I’ve been thinking about this bus tour, which has been interpretted as a completely political move. But what if it wasn’t. For the first time in her life, Palin has the money and time to visit the historic sites she has heard about all her life. She has kids she would like to have experience this. Knowing that she would be hounded no matter what she did, she may have decided to turn the tables on the press, as well as use the opportunity to publicize issues she cares about. I’m pretty sure she enjoys seeing the press in an uproar, but they would never allow her to travel anonymously like any other sightseeing family. She just figured out a way to keep them at bay. I bet she and her dad have been reading history books and talking with the kids to prepare them for the trip.
On gs’s point 2: It is easy to get magnitudes of 10 wrong when you’re under the spotlight. Quick, what is 800 times 400?
But Palin should have those facts at her command and I’m giving her an aide in assuming she got it wrong because she was doing some on the spot multiplying. Also, since I’m assuming she knows oil is around $100 a barrel, then how hard is it to just add two zeros.
Maybe she meant per year. Well, add another two zeros (we’re up to 2 billion) and multiply by 4 (3.65 rounded to 4) and get 8 billion.
Could Sarah be outsmarting herself? Misspeaking again?
Yeah, Palin’s not a great orator. No getting around that.
But the same people who mock and deride her assured us three years ago that not only was Obama a gifted orator, but he was also brilliant.
Tom:
She’s the best we’ve got, by a large margin.
Addendum to my last comment:
As to whether or not she can beat Obama, if people who are dependent on the government were not allowed to vote, she would win by a landslide.
Therein lies the problem. America started out as a republic; now we are a democracy. Democracy is not a stable form of government, and is doomed to fail. The Founders were well aware of that.
As Lulu said Legal Insurrection has pointed out that Palin was right- Rever DID warn the British. He warned them in person with words, and the colonials warned them by ringing bells and yelling to the British that they were armed and ready to fight.
Palin has the campy, “aw, shucks, I’m a mama grizzly bear” thing so down pat, she’s lulled the libs into believing she’s an idiot. (not mention, quite a few conservatives who don’t bother to look too hard)
This is another “1773” moment.
I will DIE laughing when the press finally figure out that Palin’s America bus tour is nothing more than that, and they’ve wasted all that time following (and covering) her every move, waiting for her to make an announcement that will likely never come.
Oh, she’s running alright. She’s not just having fun with the press, she’s teaching them a lesson. It’s no fun being in Siberia. See Greta inside the nice snug Igloo?
Some think that “Mama Grizzly” is a gimmick. No way folks. Barracuda is her soft feminine side.
Watched Palin’s interview on Hannity tonight. This bus tour was a family outing, but she didn’t mind using it as an opportunity to tweak the noses of the MSM.
She didn’t sound like she’s running, but she is determined to use her position to try to push the national Republican Party people farther to the right. She’s upset, as most of us are, by the old time Repubs in D.C. trying to co-opt the new House members who were sent there by the TEA Party. She indicated that it takes constant pressure to keep the RINOs from sliding left. She’s right!
Asked about her opinion on the GOP field thus far, she followed Reagan’s 11th commandment. She talked only about their good points and said she looked forward to a vigorous primary campaign where the best candidate will rise to the top. Yesss!
Asked if she had a time table for when she had to come to a final decision about running, she said she doesn’t adhere to the typical political time table. So, I read that as saying if she decides to jump in it would be on a gut feeling that the field is missing something she can offer. As usual, she came off as in control and on message. Amazing political instincts.
As I said at American Digest last night:
I’m not a “Palinbot,” but it’s this kind of stuff that pushes me into being a warrior for her. If anyone here saw the round-up of reactions to this on Patterico, there is no other way to describe it except “psycho.”
I don’t even care whether she was right or not. Politicians make gaffes; as we all should know from having the undisputed number one heavyweight champion of the gaffe in the position known as “Vice President” as we speak. Palin stumbles a lot, but I’ve never seen her say anything as stupid and flat-out wrong as what Biden was saying on an average day in 2008.
And some of Obama’s gaffes should be legendary – Palin has never said anything like “57 states,” or like Obama’s whopper about the liberation of Auschwitz. And lets not forget “corpse-men.” Or the “Austrian” language.
Palin stupid for stuff like this? You gotta be freaking kidding. These people are despicable, dishonest hypocrites – there is no other way to say it. Palin muffles a historical reference – not even 100% wrong – and we are to all reflect on how devastatingly small she is mentally. But no matter how many complete and utter inanities fly from the pie-holes of Biden and Obama, we are to trust that it was just brilliance fatigued.
Please, spare us the sanctimony. The obsession with this woman is sick, sick. I wonder if liberals will ever recover from it.
Palin was correct. Revere was captured by the British, and told them, with a pistol pointed at him, that 500 colonists were on their way with 1500 more to come.
When his captors hear a shot, bells, and then a volley, they released Revere and fled.
Read Revere’s account here:
http://ahp.gatech.edu/midnight_ride_1775.html
More here:
http://www.paul-revere-heritage.com/midnight-ride.html
As far as I can recall, “The British are coming!” is from the movies and what Revere called was, “The regulars are out.” And yes, I thought the fact that he was captured and warned the British that the colonials were out and ready to defend themselves was common knowledge. It’s like “1773,” she was right and the pundits, once this was pointed out, said nothing–how humiliating to be shown up by Sarah Palin.
As to her extempore speaking, item # 1,294 on the “If this were Bush…” list is that if it were Bush, “teleprompter” would be a national joke.
And for little-known details of Paul Revere’s activities that night, check this out:
http://books.google.com/books?id=e5vUmVPHhWgC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22the+midnight+slide+of+paul+revere%22&source=bl&ots=qf8rnv2jDb&sig=PWyv8bTQYvrxF4YMuIuKCLWAh9c&hl=en&ei=rNHMS5uVNI6gM_OCvcQF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22the%20midnight%20slide%20of%20paul%20revere%22&f=false
Biden wrote the speech for her.
“If reported correctly”
gs, you are such a kidder!
One has to wonder how much our vision of Revere and his midnight ride is skewed by Longfellow’s poem.
I am by no means old, but I clearly remember having to memorize, “Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere”.
But Longfellow never wrote of Revere’s arrest, now did he?
I imagine “liberals” (i.e., Staatshtuppers) would probably not want Palin or any other pro-freedom spokesperson to bring up the American Revolution, period. Note how the mere idea of a modern “Tea Party” gets them in a dither. Think of what the Revolution was: a revolt of armed tax rebels against an oveweening state, that was touched off when minions of the state tried to seize their armaments. I’ve always thought “liberals” must look at that famous statue of the Minuteman and have a visceral reaction akin to mine when I see Michelle Obama. “Liberals” are the New Tories.
Roy Lofquist: I agree completely. She’s running, and will make the official announcement when she’s bloody good and ready. (Hint: she may make the announcement when she perceives it will be most embarrassing to her MSM antagonists.)
In the meantime, having been blindsided by the press in 2008, she is now giving herself a graduate education in how to run end-runs around them — and she’s passing the course with flying colors.
No doubt there are other Republicans with fire-in-the-belly comparable to hers. But nobody in recent memory has been vetted as thoroughly as she has, and nobody has had the baptism-by-fire that she has. (As has been pointed out before, President Obama could not take one tenth of the abuse that Sarah Palin has, let alone keep smiling as she has.) This qualifies her uniquely.
It’s possible that she won’t be on the ballot in 2012, and I’ll be very disappointed. But that’s not the way I’m betting. She brings something to the table that no one else can, and she knows it. She also knows that America needs what she has to offer.
respectfully,
Daniel in Brookline
Part Jeanne d’Arc, part Boadicea, and part Uncle Joe from Green Acres.
“What’s more, the colonists were British”
That would be too much of a stretch for me but it might help explain why he actually did ride out to warn the redcoats.
But there is no glory in letting your kith and kin (the British redcoats) march to their deaths in something that could almost be considered an ambush (which, according to the military norms of the time, was also not a really honorable way to win a fight… most armies still marched onto fields without defensive barriers, and formed into lines and took turns shooting at each other).