June 4, 2011

Everybody's talking about...

... Paul Revere.

Let me help you with the real "Legend of Paul Revere":
In a little town in Idaho
Way back in '61
A man was frying burgers
Gee - it seemed like lots of fun
But to his friend the bun boy
He confessed his misery
I think I'd like to start a group
So come along with me...
Wow. In the list of greatest songs telling the story of the singer(s), that's so far below...



... "Creeque Alley."

But I know, you want the real story of the real Paul Revere, which every jackass knows, is the poem by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, so here, listen carefully, because there will be a quiz:

151 comments:

Almost Ali said...

Paul Revere? How about the 16-year old girl who rode twice as far: The Midnight Ride of Sybil Ludington.

Here's Sybil on horseback! (Life-size statue located in Carmel, NY) There's also a stamp.

windbag said...

Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection links to some interesting information. According to Revere's own account, he DID stop and alert a group of British soldiers.

So, all the abuse hurled at Palin, just like the 1773 incident, are baseless. In fact, those who insulted Palin for her stupidity are now deserving of every insult directed toward her. Whether or not she should/will be President, she is demonstrating just how shrewd she is and how gullible the MSM and liberals are...blinded by their hatred.

Ann Althouse said...

"Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection links to some interesting information."

The first link in this post goes there, of course.

Mary Beth said...

Does she try to say things that are counter to what we were taught so that people will call her stupid until, whoops, she's shown to be right?

Is this to make her detractors look dumb or to show what a poor job the schools have done educating us about history?

Lincolntf said...

windbag, I just saw that. Rings perfectly true with the story I remember.
The money quote from Legal Insurrection, in Paul Revere's own words:
"I observed a Wood at a Small distance, & made for that. When I got there, out Started Six officers, on Horse back,and orderd me to dismount;-one of them, who appeared to have the command, examined me, where I came from,& what my Name Was? I told him. it was Revere, he asked if it was Paul? I told him yes He asked me if I was an express? I answered in the afirmative. He demanded what time I left Boston? I told him; and aded, that their troops had catched aground in passing the River, and that There would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the Country all the way up. He imediately rode towards those who stoppd us, when all five of them came down upon a full gallop; one of them, whom I afterwards found to be Major Mitchel, of the 5th Regiment, Clapped his pistol to my head, called me by name, & told me he was going to ask me some questions, & if I did not give him true answers, he would blow my brains out. He then asked me similar questions to those above. He then orderd me to mount my Horse, after searching me for arms..."

rhhardin said...

Revere lost it when he started using copper instead of silver on his pot bottoms.

PJ said...

@AlmostAli: Yeah, just because Ludington doesn't rhyme with anything she gets no glory.

Anonymous said...

Patterico has a pretty good mash-up all the really, really smart people who put Stupid Sarah in her place.

It's 1773 all over again.....

chickelit said...

How dare Palin confuse and besmirch the memory of Longfellow in Boston. Doesn't she know that there's a friggin' bridge named after him there?

Does she try to say things that are counter to what we were taught so that people will call her stupid until, whoops, she's shown to be right?

What if she did? Isn't that a common tactic of teachers? I recall more than than one employing that tactic to undermine a student's own smug version of the truth.

That Boston talking head sure looks smugly now.

Beta Rube said...

How did a ne'er do well hippie folk singer get an AMEX card in the early 60's?

I love the song but I have always wondered.

Amexpat said...

The sweet pretty things are in bed now of course
The city fathers they’re trying to endorse
The reincarnation of Paul Revere’s horse
But the town has no need to be nervous

chickelit said...

rhhardin said: Revere lost it when he started using copper instead of silver on his pot bottoms

I'm clad you said that because people forget.

People revere myth over truthful details.

Roger J. said...

Why do I think Ms Palin continues to set up the idiots in the MSM? In the final analysis, they know far less than she does and apparently their only source of knowledge is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The woman knows what she is doing and she is kicking some butt in the process.

chickelit said...

Paul Revere and the Raiders, Kicks

Roger J. said...

I did note that over on Volokh an interesting post about the NYT--in which some commenter takes off on our good professor. With any luck this will preciptate a blog war--ahhh-back in the good old days of usenet when flaming was an art form.

Rick said...

I enjoy these episodes of the press' fooliness being exposed, but how does it impact the public's perceptions of Palin? Isn't it likely that a small percentage of people who learn about the story at all find out that she was correct?

chickelit said...

@RogerJ: You mean this link?

traditionalguy said...

Palin deserves an award for encouraging all of the highly intelligent people that are routinely sneered at because they know far more than their elite betters who clong in ignorance to the pseudo knowledge that got them their degrees from indoctrination colleges. Maybe the GOP will in the end trash her because they fear a true intelligence that can spot their con games and and has no fear of them. But Sarah will still have our thanks for a brief moment of sanity in the psy-ops world of money and power.

Unknown said...

Mary Beth --

"Is this to make her detractors look dumb or to show what a poor job the schools have done educating us about history?"

Shotguns many times have two barrels and triggers.

Mary Beth said...

chickenlittle, I'm enjoying the traps she sets and am hoping that she is doing this on purpose. I hope she will continue until the media becomes wary about snarking over her comments.

If the media can be taught anything, that is.

AllenS said...

Loafing Oaf is still the dumbest fucking piece of shit I've ever seen.

Roger J. said...

Chickenlittle: precisely--thanks for your diligence and linking skills, both of which I am bereft.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Roger J. said...

In the final analysis, they know far less than she does and apparently their only source of knowledge is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

You give them too much credit. Their only source of knowledge is an old Chuck Jones cartoon.

Mary Beth said...

How did a ne'er do well hippie folk singer get an AMEX card in the early 60's?

I can't find it online but I believe I remember reading that Mama Cass' parents were wealthy. She had a card on their account.

ricpic said...

Up on her moose Sarah sped to tell all,
"Return to your roots or take a great fall!"

Fen said...

Our own LoafingOaf fell victim to his arrogant ignorance.

Who's next? Palin's is a gift that keeps giving. A week or month from now, Shiloh or J or Jeremy will wander in with stale talking points and entertain us again.

Its like arguing "climate change" with libtards who never heard of the CRU data hack. Yes, they're still out there. A target rich environment.

Of course, all this means that its time for another round of "liberals are smarter" petting. I always look forward to that too.

Hagar said...

I don't think Palin is "setting traps," but Ms. Sarah has a gift for looking at the basic information and picking up on aspects that most people had not thought much about before and then stating her take on the matter in her own words.

The Drill SGT said...

For your viewing pleasure, Michelle singing lead in her signature song, "Dedicated to the One I Love"

sweet :)

Calypso Facto said...

I would never have guessed that "blow my brains out" was such an old usage.

Maybe it came from one of those wicked early video games, like Grand Theft Pony.

Unknown said...

ricpic --

Up on her moose Sarah sped to tell all,
"Return to your roots or take a great fall!"


And those who didn't amassed in their cities,
With refuse, part human, piled up to their titties.

They looked out with pride and pompous acceptance,
of multi-cult pockets, refusing all entrance.

The morals expand as broad as their arms as they sweep them
in pride, 'cause the young girls will not longer keep them.

But, I see the refuse a much different ways.
Go live in the cess-pool, mine's out back, there it stays.

Hagar said...

which set some people to thinking, but make others upset to hear the verities they live by being challenged.

bagoh20 said...

They get it all wrong, even the criticism itself is off: She said that he warned the British that we were gonna fight. That's correct even if Paul Revere didn't actually warn them as he in fact did. The whole ride and following battles did exactly what she said, which is how I think she meant it - a general "Oh no you won't." to the British. But her critics are so blinded by their opinion of her that they stupidly committed an unforced error. That's something stupid people do. Remember that when you read, quote or direct others to these idiots. They aren't reasoning, they are emoting, like teenage girls talking about the girl from the other side of the tracks.

Roger J. said...

Love Longfellows poetry: it was the 18th of april in 75 and hardly a man is now alive who remembers the famous day and and the year of the midnight ride of paul revere (praphrasing here because i forget the details)---except of course the modern lefty media who have no conception of events except as a mechanism to bash Ms Palin.

Reading skills of the MSM? nope--not so much

They are engineers hoist on their own petard (a shakespeare reference in, I think, Romeo and Juliet)

The classics are great stuff.

edutcher said...

People forget phrases like, "poetic license", exist for a reason.

Almost Ali said...

Paul Revere? How about the 16-year old girl who rode twice as far: The Midnight Ride of Sybil Ludington.

How about Elizabeth Zane, who didn't even have a horse, and was chased by Indians, with a barrel of gunpowder under her arm?

Stick that into your imabic pentamenter.

PS Ann can't get away from Blogger soon enough. Word verification doesn't think iambic and pentameter are words.

bagoh20 said...

"Everybody's talking about..."

Oh, I bet this episode has already disappeared in some circles. Down the memory hole. Will there be even one apology from these people? Maybe a few attempts to spin their stupidity, but mostly, I expect silence, just like on the 1773 one.

Palin is the most effective arrogant elite killer since the Marxs brothers, and she's not even trying. It's all self-immolation by her critics.

She's like a football at a nerd party - just sitting there waiting to be picked up.

Fred4Pres said...

"Every jackass knows?"


First eating pizza with a fork and now Sarah Palin gets vilified for a comment (she was correct however that Revere did ride to give warning to protect the militia arms).

She misspoke, but it is funny and revealing how people want to tear her down.

Mark O said...

Wow. How I wish I had everyone here to make me look good when I foul up one of the best known American stories. Sure, when the British captured him he lied to them about American forces, but, hey, Sarah's so awesome. She meant to open new historical vistas to us all.

She has so much to recomeend her, but this quote was intended to convey that the Fathers, much as Sarah today, sent Revere to warn our enemies that we were Second Amendment armed and secure. Come on.

SLM said...

Amazing the people doubling up on stupid. She was reporting what she just heard from docents at an historic site -- probably realizing that it was contrary to what many think. Yet the simpletons still insist that she had it wrong, or misspoke, even when the evidence shows otherwise.

Synova said...

Well, Mark, you can disagree about the nature of it, or fuss that his intentions matter and his actions don't, or complain that her sentences were garbled...

...but clearly Palin has been educating herself about the foundings of this country, reading History at a level better than the poem we read in 3rd grade and again in 10th.

bagoh20 said...

MarkO, you have moved beyond a simple mistake of blind partisanship into the land of stubborn fools. Any excuse is now impossible.

Synova said...

Okay then, ;-)

She was actually listening to the docents at the Historical site.

Which *still* puts her at "more intellectually curious than most."

SLM said...

Synova, I think we're on the same side here . . .

exhelodrvr1 said...

No, Mark O, the fact is that the colonists did not want war, would have preferred to not have any bloodshed, and wanted to remain part of Great Britain. Thus Revere alerted the British that the colonists were prepared, so that a confrontation could be avoided.

Joe said...

BTW, the fact that Palin ate pizza with a fork, disqualifies her for any office, elected or not.

Mark O said...

You know, I like Sarah and generally defend her against foul attacks, but the defenses raised here feel like the "intellectual stammer" defenses of Obama's silliness. What about Revere's "ringing the bells" and "firing warning shots?"

I suppose I am to amend every history, including Revere's own, to show that he was really sent out, one if by land-two if by sea, to warn not the villagers but those British.

We can't get Obama out if this is how we deal with our candidates. And, I want Obama out.

Bill said...

Okay, I'm fine with Sarah. I'd happily vote for her if she winds up as the nominee. But that clip is painful. She seems to ramble and she looks like she's trying really hard to think on her feet and get all the details right.

Her point winds up sounding like Paul Revere's ride was a metaphorical warning to the British as much as a literal warning to the patriots. That's fine and valid although I'm not sure she started out wanting to stress that. And I certainly don't think this was an intentional rope-a-dope of the press.

It can happen to any politician but she's not any politician. I think she has excellent judgement and instincts but she needs to be able to handle think-on-your-feet, hostile questions or she's not going to make it. If she's running, it's only going to get worse from here.

edutcher said...

Mark O said...

Wow. How I wish I had everyone here to make me look good when I foul up one of the best known American stories. Sure, when the British captured him he lied to them about American forces, but, hey, Sarah's so awesome. She meant to open new historical vistas to us all.

She has so much to recomeend her, but this quote was intended to convey that the Fathers, much as Sarah today, sent Revere to warn our enemies that we were Second Amendment armed and secure. Come on.


Funny how he sounds just like PB&J/mccullough.

It's the newest FUD.

SLM said...

Mark O, you should really do some reading before you deign to comment.

This account in "Paul Revere's Ride" by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford University Press 1994), may be of interest to all those laughing because they purport to be so much better informed than Palin:

"A townsman remembered that 'repeated gunshots, the beating of drums and the ringing of bells filled the air.'.... Along the North Shore of Massachusetts, church bells began to toll and the heavy beat of drums could be heard for many miles in the night air."

Titus said...

That guy who you linked to has such a droll face but I love it.

Hagar said...

It is not that deep. She had just heard about Revere's encounter with the British troops and was still trying to fit that in with what she was taught in high school.

It's more interesting that she picked up on it that what started it all was the British commander's decision to try to disarm the rebels by seizing the militia's weapons and ammunition stores.

And yes, that does have something to do with the 2nd Amendment.

Carol_Herman said...

We have battle lines, now, as well! And, the Internet (our side) is WINNING!

Yes, you saw the grey underpants; because the Net lifted the image to "VIRAL."

Yes, ONE NATION, Sarah Palin's bus ... has driven the media crazy! And, you know the stories. The MSM wants to defame Sarah!

But you can't do this with Paul Revere!

It's the MSM that's weak on its history. Just as Krauthamper is weak on understanding Reagan's 11th Commandment.

We watch.

Some comment.

But the ability to be seen ... without flipping on your TV. Or opening some rag of a newspaper ... shows ya ... that the "motley crew" of the Internet has been beating and pounding the air heads of the MSM. Heads are exploding!

The MSM is as crazy as weiner gets ... when he spews "defense." Ass-holes have no idea of the power of visuals.

Great poem, professor. Great rendition. With FACTS!

"One if by land. Two if by sea." And, the MSM even tried to blame their own lousy driving ... following bus fumes, on the ONE NATION bus! Too funny.

You know, "I can see November 2012, from my front porch."

Anonymous said...

She just came out of the Old North Church tour. I'm betting dollars to donuts that she was repeating something that the tour guide had said...with a little bit of glassy-eyed mangling. Historic tours can drag on a bit.

Synova said...

"Synova, I think we're on the same side here . . ."

I didn't think we weren't. ;-)

In fact, that she'd been listening to a docent makes wonderful sense. Being garbled as she tries to work it into off-the-cuff remarks doesn't worry me. And while I hesitate to treat her like one of my kids when we homeschooled, I like the fact that she seems to have listened to the docent and thought about what it meant and how it relates to the larger context of everything.

Oh, sure, at some point nearly everything relates to the second commandment! But it's not really a usual thing for people (or children) to think about what any particular bit of information *means*.

This is why the comment that Obama takes every question more or less in isolation was so outrageous.

Palin... okay, I looked up her remarks on the Exxon Valdez the other day and it's a good example... as governor she's on the news being asked what she thinks because the Supreme court finally made their decision and she was sorry they'd limited the damages or something, glad it was over, and then went right to the consequences... not to Exxon or anyone else, but the economic impact, still, of the spill and the need to assure everyone that the fish were good to eat and people could get on with making their living.

I doubt she'd ever make one-off decisions as if anything could be considered in isolation from the larger picture or the direct impact on individuals, their freedom or their livlihood.

Synova said...

Commandment.

ugh. LOL.

Titus said...

I can't get over the picture of that guy at the link.

He is fucking creepy looking.

Carol_Herman said...

"Hoisted by one's petard." Is Shakespeare, all right. And, in his time, a "patard" was a reference to a fart.

The actual act of sending a soldier, though, trying to break into the castle's protective front door ... Did have one volunteer running. With a wire. And, his job was to place an explosive on top of the door's frame. When the wire was lit ... it often killed the guy transporting the device.

And, MarkO, I don't think you like Sarah. You may say you like her. But it's not true.

That Sarah got a defense is the magic of the Internet. And, how fast a Saturday Nite Skit turns the joke onto Tina Fey.

edutcher said...

Hagar said...

It is not that deep. She had just heard about Revere's encounter with the British troops and was still trying to fit that in with what she was taught in high school.

It's more interesting that she picked up on it that what started it all was the British commander's decision to try to disarm the rebels by seizing the militia's weapons and ammunition stores.

And yes, that does have something to do with the 2nd Amendment.


It has everything to do with the Second Amendment. Not everyone had a Pennsylvania Long Rifle (or Brown Bess or Charleville musket) over the mantle. Those who didn't would go to the local armory and be issued a musket. The Armories were also storehouses for additional powder and ball.

The National Guard Armories of today are the direct descendants of the armory at Concord.

This is why some people will tell you it's not the Second, but the Ninth, Amendment that guarantees the right of the people to bear arms for protection.

Titus said...

I love the women from Mama and Papas, especially Cass, natch.

But I don't care for the men.

Trooper York said...

Mark O is you basic concern troll false flag Moby type thingy.

You would never vote for Palin and that is ok. Save your vote for the Muslim socialist who wants to destroy the capitalist system and our democracy. He's more your cup of tea. So to speak.

RuyDiaz said...

Okay, I'm fine with Sarah. I'd happily vote for her if she winds up as the nominee. But that clip is painful. She seems to ramble and she looks like she's trying really hard to think on her feet and get all the details right.

Yes she conflates two bits of the same story--that's why she stops-and-restarts in mid-sentence.

1) Paul Revere was stopped by a group of Regulars in patrol. They were looking for riders, especially him. The warning was a 'don't you dare go ahead' type of thing. Since he was unarmed, the soldiers let him go.

2) The sound of bells and drums calling the militiamen warned the regulars that a fight may be coming.

So, she fumbled the story. Meh.

Her critics, however, look like morons by jumping at the opportunity to make fun of her, while remaining ignorant of the facts. What 'everybody knows' is incomplete, or wrong.

RuyDiaz said...

Paul Revere? How about the 16-year old girl who rode twice as far: The Midnight Ride of Sybil Ludington.

Here's Sybil on horseback! (Life-size statue located in Carmel, NY) There's also a stamp.


Paul Revere organized the whole thing. The credit properly belongs to him.

RuyDiaz said...

It's more interesting that she picked up on it that what started it all was the British commander's decision to try to disarm the rebels by seizing the militia's weapons and ammunition stores.

Yes. And another 'Sarah is ignorant' meme concerns this; some people remember that the mission of the Regulars was to arrest two leaders of the Continental Congress, and that's true. Except that the secondary mission was to seize storages of weapons and munitions. Ooops!

Lincolntf said...

Let's not fergit ol' Brown Betty.

rcocean said...

Hello? We're listing to this 60 second soundbite because the MSM thought it made her look stupid. For all we know she spent five minutes talking about Paul Revere and these are the only bad 60 seconds they could come up with.

The fact is, you can make any politician look stupid by following them around, recording everything they say, and then showing nothing more than the "worst" soundbites. Especially, when the quotes are ripped out of context, mis- characterized, or stripped of any intended irony or humor.

Finally, I'm getting a little tired of So-called elite conservatives always helping the liberals play this game. They did it with Reagan, they did it with Quayle, Agnew, Bush II, and the list goes on and on...

Freder Frederson said...

chickenlittle, I'm enjoying the traps she sets and am hoping that she is doing this on purpose. I hope she will continue until the media becomes wary about snarking over her comments.

So, assuming that Palin's statement wasn't just the random ranting of a blithering idiot who was trying to recall anything she had learned about Paul Revere (which of course is a giant leap of faith) and was a coherent recounting of his midnight ride. Please explain this to me. What the hell did she mean by this:

" uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells"

Because Paul Revere might have indeed warned some British soldiers but he sure as hell didn't ring any bells or fire any warning shots.

Hagar said...

The battles are what became important, so that is what the history books talk about and just mention what brought them about. Ms. Sarah picked up on it, and got us talking about the 2nd Amendment again in today's environment as well.

BTW, the frontier was a long ways from Massachusetts by this time, and I do not think these were established armories. I am pretty sure I remember them being described as munitions collected and stored by the "radicals" for this particular conflict.

Ralph L said...

But I don't care for the men.
Just as well they're dead, then.

I remembered Revere had been captured, but I never knew he'd blabbed. What a fucking wimp. And why wasn't that Brit officer court martialled for putting a gun to the head of a civilian?

Let's psychoanalyze this: did Palin pick that bit to warn the Brutish that SHE is armed and ready to fight?

Fen said...

I think she meant that Revere caused the bells to be rung, not that he actually did it himself. Look at the sentence - it doens't follow that she meant Revere was dashing across the countryside only to dismount, climb a flight of stairs to ring a bell.

But keep trying to dig yourself out. I'll be making popcorn.

Toad Trend said...

I just ate pizza with my son.

He ate with his hands, and I used the knife and fork as I always do.

Pragmatism!

But, I draw the line at Snickers. No knife/fork...the wrapper suffices as an eating sheath.

RuyDiaz said...

I remembered Revere had been captured, but I never knew he'd blabbed. What a fucking wimp.

He didn't babbled, he gloated; the soldiers were mad at him for being disrespectful.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

The whole "ate pizza with a fork" critique has to be the most bizarre Palin critique yet. "Hey, that hick rube bimbo who went to a farm school and hunts and guts fish is too much of an elitist to appeal to the common people!"

Greg said...

If you read David Hackett Fisher's book (see Google Books link at Legal Insurrection), you'll see that Paul Revere and his fellow riders were the "triggers" to a warning system of bells and gunshots. Thus, he had a hand, if you will, in the ringing of those bells and the shooting of those shots.

Garbled has her comment was (she looked distracted to me), Sarah was spot on. Meanwhile, her bitter critics on the left cling to their Longfellow.

Greg said...

Did I say Longfellow? I think I meant The New York Times, you know, Jill Abrahamson's Bible?

Toad Trend said...

@Martin

I see the whole knife/fork thing like this: Sarah Palin isn't good or smart enough to be a snob like us elites, so therefore how dare she eat pizza with a fork.

I don't exactly recall, but wasn't it John F'ing Kerry or Biden that did something extremely snobbish while trying to pass himself off as an 'everyman'?

Oh sorry, right, happens every day.

Milwaukee said...

Joe said...

BTW, the fact that Palin ate pizza with a fork, disqualifies her for any office, elected or not.


As long as we are quoting poetry,
"Men of the woods and lumberjacks,
The judged me by their appropriate tool.
Except as a fellow handled an ax
They had no way of knowing a fool. "

So Joe, is the fork your tool? Or does this comment go on the Weiner thread?

That was Robert Frost, by the way.

Fen said...

How I wish I had everyone here to make me look good when I foul up one of the best known American stories.

Here, I can help make you look good.

Show of hands on the libertarian/conservative side of the aisle: How many of you knew that Revere was captured by the British and warned/taunted them of their fate?

I know I didn't know that. I know that quite a number of us didn't. Or we learned it and forgot.

The difference is, we're not a bunch of arrogant smug limo-libs who deem ourselves an intellectual "elite" capable of ordering everyone else's lives.

Most of us, when the story broke, went to google the history of Paul Revere's ride.

But not the Libtards. They gathered on all their Moonbat sites to ridicule alin's "ignorance" and circle-jerk each other on how "smart" they are.

I don't know what camp you are in. But its one or the other. And from what we've seen, its the Left that's desperately trying to remove their foot from their mouth. Again. Its 1773 all over again. Thank you!

Then fun part is just starting. How many of these "progressive" bloggers are going to pull a Jill Abramson? How many will actually issue a mea culpa and apologize? How many of our own libtards will tie themselves into rhetorical knots to avoid becoming the target of their own contempt and scorn?

And if *that* gets boring, we'll have more breaking news this week about Weiners and premature tweeting.

Or the Union Punk's takeover of "our" State Capitol. (I have UPSed them a box of vermin to make their nights more interesting).

Its a good week to be reading Althouse.

edutcher said...

Hagar said...

The battles are what became important, so that is what the history books talk about and just mention what brought them about. Ms. Sarah picked up on it, and got us talking about the 2nd Amendment again in today's environment as well.

BTW, the frontier was a long ways from Massachusetts by this time, and I do not think these were established armories. I am pretty sure I remember them being described as munitions collected and stored by the "radicals" for this particular conflict.


The frontier was one thing, but upstate New York was the scene of some bloody Indian fighting, so they weren't that far removed and, remember, the Indian threat was from the Iroquois, not the Hurons up in Canada, as it had been during the French and Indian War.

I'd always heard Concord described as an armory. There were armories at the time in cities like Philadelphia (the ones in PA were formed only after the slaughter on the PA frontier in the French and Indian War), so it's very possible we're talking about a formal militia installation. What colonial obligations were to the Crown, I'm not entirely sure, but, if memory serves, militia companies were a part of life back then. Apparently as much for public safety as defense.

Phil 314 said...

Visited Boston for the first time a couple of years ago. We did the whole Freedom Trail and later the Revere stops to Concord. At that time I learned alot of truths regarding Revolution era Boston (that I have since forgotten). I can't vouch for all Palin said but its fair to say you shouldn't doubt the statements of someone whole just came out of the exhibit

Doesn't change my views of Palin but certainly reinforces my astonishment at the unshakeable convictions re: Palin from those on the left.

If you have such a conviction might it not be smarter to say "I hadn't heard that before regarding Paul Revere" and then let the fact checkers do their business.

bagoh20 said...

It's amazing how the "smart people" refuse to accept the situation on the ground that night, when the history is everywhere to read. It's not the simple story you remember from elementary school.

Palin was simply speaking with an understanding of the nuances of the situation which seem to be lost now.

Most Americans did not want war, they hoped the British would back down and were making a show of bravado in an attempt to do just that, while preparing to fight and juicing each other up if it came to that.

Therefore, what she said makes perfect sense and is accurate without being confused or rambling or anything else.

If Obama said this, the comments would all be the same, but with the commenters reversed.

Milwaukee said...

To suggest that Governor Palin is setting traps for her critics is to suggest a maliciousness in her I don't detect. Is it her fault that in their blind rage the critics mangle so much? How about a two-column chart showing President Obama's mistakes and Sarah's, and compare the media responses? He is not gaffe-proof, yet those mistakes are glossed over. Can we see the 57th state from his house?

Besides, the critics are so wound up, it would be hard to guess what will set them off. Wouldn't it be interesting if they all agreed to just let Sarah tour without following her? But that would require self-control far beyond their grasp.

RuyDiaz said...

Show of hands on the libertarian/conservative side of the aisle: How many of you knew that Revere was captured by the British and warned/taunted them of their fate?

I did, but only because I read David Hackett Fischer book. (David Hackett Fischer is probably one of the happiest people in the United States today.)

bagoh20 said...

I don't think Palin was talking about Revere's capture. She was saying that his ride sparked the fires that turned into bells ringing and shots fired which were all warning the British that the Americans were gonna fight and not easily give up their arms.

It seems simple, accurate and obvious. I don't get where the critics got so off base, except out of blind hatred.

Toad Trend said...

@Fen

"Show of hands on the libertarian/conservative side of the aisle: How many of you knew that Revere was captured by the British and warned/taunted them of their fate?"

I did not, and do not have any aversion to admitting that either. That IS the difference between this side, and the left. Theirs is ignorance borne of arrogance.

I have long held it is the arrogance of man in general that remains his biggest enemy. And of those 'led' by said arrogants.

Chip Ahoy said...

Oligonicella, I really like your poem up there.

David said...

Nice lip=sync by The Mamas and Papas.

edutcher said...

Milwaukee said...

To suggest that Governor Palin is setting traps for her critics is to suggest a maliciousness in her I don't detect.

I would tend to agree. The Lefties are so eager to prove Caribou Barbie is an idiot that they fall into their own trap. She seems to have a better grip on American history than the average public school grad and the Left just can't believe it.

BTW, I'd been taught in school that Revere and William Dawes had been caught and I seem to recall (we're talking a half century ago) that it was pretty well accepted that neither finished the ride.

Anonymous said...

It's no mistake people don't know correct American history.

re-writing history is a basic tenet of marxism.

Some say you can't change history.

Others say you must.

By others, I mean current occupiers of the White House

Chip Ahoy said...

It's all news to me. I was a poor student. Couldn't make sense of poems. I thought Paul Revere rode his horse really fast so that he could get to the tower and wave around either one or two lamps himself. I'd feel sorry for the horse being ridden unreasonably hard. See, I was lost at "march either by land or by sea." How does an army march by sea? That doesn't even make sense. I visualize solders marching out of boats and out across the water and the whole account dissolves.

PaulV said...

eductor, the British took Revere's horse, but he made it on foot to warn Hancock & Adams.

edutcher said...

As I say, I'm recalling 50 years ago.

Interesting.

1775OGG said...

Jeez, Sarah's comment is on a par with her comment about partying like it's 1773. Jeez, everyone knows the party started in 1776 after the Liberty Bell was rung, Jeez!

What's truly remarkable is the MSM ignorance about basic facts, like their putdown of her 1773 comments previously.

Anonymous said...

Please tell me that somebody in this thread has already linked to the Beastie Boys. Please.

Joanna said...

I DON'T CARE if Sarah Palin knows the story of Paul Revere. I want to know why some reporter was quizzing her on early American history/literature/folklore.

SHOULDN'T THEY BE ASKING HER ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT?? Or, at least, about Weiner?


FWIW, this is from wikipedia:
Revere did not shout the phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British army patrols; also, most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects.... Revere's role was not particularly noted during his life. In 1861, over 40 years after his death, the ride became the subject of "Paul Revere's Ride", a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.... In his poem, Longfellow took many liberties with the events of the evening.... Popular myths and urban legends have persisted, though, concerning Revere's ride, mainly due to the tendency in the past to take Longfellow's poem as truth..... Longfellow's poem was never designed to be history and there are few serious historians today who would maintain that Revere was anything like the lone-wolf rider portrayed in the poem.

Off-topic: I wonder if reporters have ever asked Obama about early American history/folkore. Or would that be racist?

galdosiana said...

@Fen: Great point. I also didn't know about Revere's taunting comments while in captivity until I heard about the Palin thing, which made me look it up. The Massachusetts Historical Society has a copy of his letter online in which he explains exactly what Palin was talking about. Cool story--better, in my opinion, than the romanticized version we've been taught since grade school.

I made sure to post that link on facebook, since the goons have been LOLing all day long about what an idiot she is.

Fen said...

Most Americans did not want war, they hoped the British would back down and were making a show of bravado in an attempt to do just that, while preparing to fight and juicing each other up if it came to that.

I've been reading the British account of the "Boston Riot." It dovetails with what I learned from the doubleplusungood history of what happened at Kent State. The "victims" were part of a crowd that was throwing chunks of concrete (or its counterpart, on March 5th, 1770).

/wiki: "the protesters in the crowd were taunting the soldiers by yelling "Fire". There was a pause of indefinite length; the soldiers then fired into the crowd."

Boston? Ohio? East Jerusalem?

BTW - do you think the Union Punks squatting at the Capitol are willing to martyr themselves for this "Democracy" they claim to care so much about?

Me neither. The core of their argument is to steal as much from the host without killing it off completely.

Crony Socialism. It sucks. If thats what you want, please move to Detroit.

BTW, thanks to whoever posted this quote, its a keeper:

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

Milwaukee said...

Joanna: In a word, Yes.

In fact your even suggesting that it might be racist clearly marks you as one who thinks about racism, and so, all the world must now conclude that you are, in fact, a racist. Racist. How does that make you feel? On the other hand, perhaps you were making fun of the people who throw that term around a lot, many of whom reveal themselves to be the r-word.

While I never want to be a racist, I have always thought a career as a satirist might be interesting, but I run the risk of offending too many people. Oh well. You do know that President Obama is part White, don't you? (On the View one of the women said they knew Obama was part White, because they had seen him dance. Wasn't that racist?)

Anonymous said...

My all time favourite quote:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch.

Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote."

-Benjamin Franklin

chickelit said...

@Browndog: Ugh. That link at 1:20 is a vile and repugnant thought from our FLOTUS. Can anyone here even defend that? I had never heard that from her. I'd like to hear it in greater context if it's available.

And yet: Is Palin not "changing history" by calling attention to a version different than Longfellow's?

History never changes but our view of it does.

Hagar said...

edutcher,
You made me look it up again, and it seems the main mission of the British raid was to capture or disperse something called the Provincial Congress, particularly Msrs. Adams (Sam) and Hancock and secondarily to look for munitions reported by spies to be stored in the towns along the route.
In Concord, all they found was a pair of small field cannon at a militia colonel's house, which they knocked the trunnions off of. So apparently there were no armories or even temporary munitions dumps other than what the citizen militia carried with them or stored in their own homes.

And Ms. Sarah appear to have been dead on about Mr. Revere's ride and experiences with the British officers.

Phil 314 said...

When I hear the name Revere I think of this

Fen said...

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch.

I no longer believe that America's Left merely want us to lean more toward a direct democracy. They don't care why it destroyed Athens. Because their aim is to set up a socialist marxist euro-state, so they can steal even more from the productive class.

The trick is getting them to die off without destroying America.

If there is a power vacuum , Communist China or Radical Islam will move in and remake the globe in their image. China or India may one day take the burden of civilization from us, the same way we took it from Britannia, but they are ready yet. Not by our standards.

I am a conservative primarily because conservatives understand WHY socialism is a mortal threat. Equality does not trump Liberty.

I'm not a member of the Tea Party. But they are the only ones making an effective attack against the direction Obama is taking us.

Roy Lofquist said...

In re Sarah being too nice to plan these things:

Absolutely not. And that's the very last thing we want in a leader. Nice has gotten us to the brink of a worldwide conflagration.

Sarah is civil, a trait shared by all of our great leaders.

Power lies in the ability to punish your enemies and the willingness to do so. The United States Marine Corps is perhaps the deadliest war machine in history. Their motto: "No better friend, no worse enemy". That's why Greta is on the bus.

Here for your amazement and entertainment the official history of the 2012 election.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Fen said...

/edit

China or India may one day take the burden of civilization from us, the same way we took it from Britannia, but they are not ready yet. Not by our standards.

*sigh*

Toad Trend said...

@Fen

"BTW, thanks to whoever posted this quote, its a keeper:

"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams"

Guilty as charged. I often post this quote in an attempt to shock leftists out of their closed-minded haze.

The quote is as fitting today as it was 'back in the day'.

Toad Trend said...

@Browndog

"My all time favourite quote:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch.

Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote."

-Benjamin Franklin"

Awesome. Those old-fashioned white guys had it right. No wonder leftists hate them so much!!!

chickelit said...

Amazing video posted up thread by Roy Lofquist: Link

Long, but well worth a watch. Perhaps it's made the rounds, but I have never seen it. I'm struck by how the men and women onlookers react differently (but stereotypically) to the story as it unfolds.

______
wv = Nagin Wasn't there a Roy Nagin in the news?

roesch-voltaire said...

Her answer wouldn't work on a test, as first Paul Revere alerted the local Americans and then as a tactic told the British and exaggerated force was on the way. As usual Palin missed the logical order of the story with her emphasis that he warned the British.Oh well Sara is about ringing bells to get the money to follow her.

Lauderdale Vet said...

Regarding the pizza, Palin ate with her hands, and Donald used utensils.

LA Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/donald-trump-and-sarah-palin-eat-pizza-in-new-york-city-.html

Photos:
http://dailynightly.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/31/6757989-palins-pizza-party-

Toad Trend said...

@roachy

"As usual Palin missed the logical order of the story with her emphasis that he warned the British.Oh well Sara is about ringing bells to get the money to follow her."

Heh. Regurgitation of media meme # 6244. Well done. You're a real original.

Anonymous said...

Blogger chickenlittle said...

@Browndog: Ugh. That link at 1:20 is a vile and repugnant thought from

**************

There is video somewhere.

Or, there was.

During the campaign, the Obama's told us exactly who they were-

Much has been hidden, or twisted to mean "something else"...or classified as a flub.

Shortly after this comment, Michelle was pulled from the campaign trail.

Riddle me this:

If marxism/communism/progressivism/liberalism is so wonderful, why do they refuse to allow themselves to be called as such?

*"we need to change our traditions" is what really made my skin crawl..

roesch-voltaire said...

Tred I wrote my comments first then did checking on google to find this quote from Rick Ungar at Forbes who has this to say: I think that, in typical Sarah Palin form, she took the more colorful parts of a number of stories and threw them all together to support her narrative that the start of the Revolutionary war was all about the colonists right to bear arms. She wasn’t going to let the details of history get in the way of a good story where she could string a bunch of words and bits and pieces of disconnected stories together to reach her intended, “it’s all about the guns” message.

Carol_Herman said...

Okay Paul Revere's Ride.

What if 100 years from now people talk about the ONE NATION bus, breaking through the defenses of the old media. Behind their lies. And, lines.

You know, what if Sarah Palin runs as an Independent. With ONE NATION the name of her party? And, then she selects Donald Trump to be her veep?

The Internet is beating the crap out of the MSM, now. Their "kingdom for a bug."

AllenS said...

If Sarah Palin decided to use chop sticks to eat pizza, it would demonstrate to me that she has dexterity.

Fuck off, doubters.

Trooper York said...

Roachy shouldn't you be huddling in a tent with Garage protest the evil Governor Walker instead of repeating the astroturf lines assigned by the Borg?

I thought better of you man! I thought you were a man of conviction. Why aren't you out there protesting so they will raise taxes to overpay underperformance?

Seriously dude. You are falling down on the job.

Toad Trend said...

@roachy

Again, unoriginal. Quoting some hack from Forbes proves my point. Its clear what you will strain to support.

My support is for *more* original opinions. It so happens that Mrs. Palin's opinion is much *more* original than anything from the MSM.

roesch-voltaire said...

Trooper actually I am out drinking micro brewed beer before the New Walker Order cuts off their ability to make a living-- that was my protest which I was alerted by the the link Garage provided yesterday. In between glasses on the terrace, I managed to make a logical and obvious comment about Palin.

roesch-voltaire said...

If by original you mean made-up, okay but I prefer to struggle with historical records and logic, which may be why I reached the same conclusion that so many others did

Trooper York said...

No problem dude. Enjoy the day. Carrying the burden of leftist cant can be very tiring. Both you and Garage deserve some time off.

Enjoy buddy.

Trooper York said...

Just remember...it's not a good idea after a few brews to email one of you coeds a photo of little roachy.....I just wish someone had told Congressman Weiner that...so be careful dude.

All the best,
Your pal
Trooper

roesch-voltaire said...

Trooper thanks you warned me just in time! Oh well I could always claim someone hacked my twitter.

edutcher said...

roesch-voltaire said...

Her answer wouldn't work on a test, as first Paul Revere alerted the local Americans and then as a tactic told the British and exaggerated force was on the way. As usual Palin missed the logical order of the story with her emphasis that he warned the British.Oh well Sara is about ringing bells to get the money to follow her.

You may have a problem with the Park Service...

Hagar said...

edutcher,
You made me look it up again, and it seems the main mission of the British raid was to capture or disperse something called the Provincial Congress, particularly Msrs. Adams (Sam) and Hancock and secondarily to look for munitions reported by spies to be stored in the towns along the route.
In Concord, all they found was a pair of small field cannon at a militia colonel's house, which they knocked the trunnions off of. So apparently there were no armories or even temporary munitions dumps other than what the citizen militia carried with them or stored in their own homes.

And Ms. Sarah appear to have been dead on about Mr. Revere's ride and experiences with the British officers.


So much for First Form History.

Interesting stuff.

Anonymous said...

roesch-voltaire said...

"Her answer wouldn't work on a test,..."

Heh- the question wouldn't be on a test.

"Was Revere a slave owner, and did he give native Indians small pox?" would be..

Today's "educated" probably couldn't pass an 8th grade exam from 1895.

I'd link it, but once this made the blogoshpere, it was pulled....wonder why.

It was here..

Google "1930's 8th grade exams" just for fun....

Hagar said...

Lauderdale Vet,

Fox had face-on video, and it showed both using a fork to eat their pizzas; Palin somewhat more daintily than the Donald, and she did not play with hers.

Do not trust the MSM!

Hagar said...

I think roesch-voltaire's account is as misleading as Palin's, and he is not answering a reporter in a milling crowd.

Tactics and logic was not much in evidence on anybody's part on the Boston-Concord road that night.

galdosiana said...

@Browndog:
I read through the entire 1930 WV test, and I am sure I couldn't pass it right now. And I like the point that the author makes about how most of the kids taking that test were farm kids who had to work extensively before AND after school each day, and that most of them only received an 8th-grade education at best. Wow.

J said...

Note, Roesch-Voltaire, how the Alt-tards have twisted Sarah Klondike's obvious historical flub to their own advantage while completely ignoring the basic error --that Paul Revere's famed ride (ie, the one Longfellow wrote about, with the lanterns, etc) was to warn the patriots of the impending attack from the British navy, NOT with bells, or shotgun blasts (or...2nd Amendment, which wasn't in existence--does SP know that??)--then, when someone dares to point out her error, they call him a leftist, stalinist, or the ..dreaded lib-tard. How the gestapo started, R-L (though in the case of Alttards, they're too dimwitted to be dangerous) .

Note that Miss P. hasn't referred to the flub--perhaps she feels a bit awkward. Or--maybe she was off her meds, or coming down from her tweek buzz and doesn't recall it.

PaulV said...

Weak J. What do you think of the idiots who only knowledge of history is Longfellow? Unaware that the second amendment is based on English common law and history of government trying to steal guns and ammo from The People.

mariner said...

Mark O,
How I wish I had everyone here to make me look good when I foul up one of the best known American stories. Sure, when the British captured him he lied to them about American forces,

Actually it's not very well known, and you've just demonstrated you don't have a clue.

When the regulars captured Revere he told them the truth as he knew it -- he had in fact alarmed the countryside, and when the redcoats arrived in Concord there were indeed several hundred colonists waiting to oppose them, just as Revere had warned his captors.

mariner said...

Joe,
BTW, the fact that Palin ate pizza with a fork, disqualifies her for any office, elected or not.

Have you ever been to Italy?

The people who invented pizza eat it with a fork.

mariner said...

RuyDiaz,
Yes. And another 'Sarah is ignorant' meme concerns this; some people remember that the mission of the Regulars was to arrest two leaders of the Continental Congress, and that's true.

No, it's not.

The Whigs had spies in England, and Dr. Joseph Warren knew that Gage was about to receive orders to arrest Hancock and Adams before Gage himself knew.

That's why he sent Revere and Dawes to Lexington. Their first job was to warn Hancock and Adams.

What Dr. Warren didn't know was that Gage disregarded that part of his orders.

Gage's orders to Lt. Col. Smith did NOT include instructions to arrest anyone. It was not part of Smith's mission.

mariner said...

I'm appalled at the number of people who say they just looked it up and still mangle basic facts.

Please, Please read Paul Revere's Ride.

Then if you'd a slightly different perspective check out The Minute Men.

One tidbit: Although there is a Minuteman statue on Lexington Green, and several historical markers refer to Lexington's Minutemen -- there weren't any.

While many towns including Concord adopted the Minuteman concept, Lexington chose to keep its Training Band as one group. It was the Training Band that mustered on Lexington Green on April 19,1775.

J said...

Weak? Yes, you are weak Paul-tard, as in weak-minded.

Did she or did she not make a historical error? That's the only question--and yes, she did. Her rant on Revere, submitted for like an answer to "what was Paul Revere's midnight ride"? in a basic US History course, would not pass, as Roesch -Voltaire noted. One, Revere was notifying the patriots, NOT the British, and Two, it was via the lanterns (wiki it, Einstein), not bells and guns.

Case closed.

Now, back to your macho-gun boutique chitchat, Alttards.
Keep spewing lies--the WASP-TP's winning strategy.

edutcher said...

Somebody tell J if he actually read the comments, he'd learn that the lanterns were to set Revere and William Dawes on the road. They would alert the surrounding communities which would call out the militia by ringing bells, etc.

A day later and J still hasn't gotten the word.

Kell Sir Prize, as the French say.

Einstein was wrong.

To keep doing the same thing expecting a different result isn't insanity.

It's stupidity.

bagoh20 said...

Roesch: "I prefer to struggle with historical records and logic,..."

Clearly, and struggle you do. But if you didn't force yourself to find a way to make Palin stupid, the facts are not such a struggle. Without an agenda, they fall right in place. You really look silly to the fair minded, and should step back and realize it. Pretend Obama said it, and imagine your reaction if he was attacked for it. My position would be the same, because I don't struggle with facts, I incorporate them.

Jane said...

J,

Wiki it?

Yes, there WERE bells, gunfire, drums.

How about, you know, reading a real book?

Fen said...

J: Weak? Yes, you are weak _____ , as in weak-minded. You don't know shit about ____


"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams"

Fen said...

ie, Get lost, J. Find a job, get out of your Mother's basement.

mariner said...

While we're quoting the Adams family, here is John, on April 20,1775 (he walked the road from Charlestown to Concord and back the day after the battle):

Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.

I suspect he has been repenting in Heaven for a long while now.

gadfly said...

"At last the [British] officers began to feel the full import of what Paul Revere had been telling them. His words of warning took on stronger meaning when punctuated by gunfire. The sound of a single shot had suggested to them that surprise was lost. The crash of a volley appeared evidence that the country was rising against them. As they came closer to the Common they began to hear Lexington's town bell clanging rapidly. the captive Loring, picking up Revere's spirit, turned to the officers and said, 'The bell's a'ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!'" [Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer, pp. 135-6].

LoafingOaf said...

Ann Althouse said...
"Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection links to some interesting information."

The first link in this post goes there, of course.

OF COURSE you linked to that spin job from one of the other liar-lawyer right-wing proganada blogs. He scrambled quickly to a Palin web site to get his talking points, and then he spread it around. The moment I saw him spreading it around, I knew Ann Althouse would finally chime in on the matter and would shortly thereafter receive another of those InstaPunit links. Good girl, Ann. You're a good whore to the right-wing blogosphere.

You make money serving those propagandists. You need those hits from InstaPundit. But it's a big reason why a lot of people stopped reading your blog.

You're not convincing the rest of us that Sarah Palin was demonstrating what a brilliant scholar of history she is in that gibberish and nonsense we heard in the clip. The clip speaks for itself. Sarah Palin is the dunce of American politics.

LoafingOaf said...

AllenS said...
Loafing Oaf is still the dumbest fucking piece of shit I've ever seen.

Never heard of you, but I take it you're just another Althouse Hillbilly. I couldn't give a fuck what you say. I'm just glad Palin keeps exposing herself to the swing voters so she will never sit in high office in my country. I hate to tell you, but the swing voter isn't running around looking for lawyer-liar bloggers' spin control on Palin's latest idiocy. They are shocked that Sarah Palin was almost one of the most powerful persons on the planet.

But we dodged that bullet, thank the Lord. And I run into Republicans all the time who are embarrassed that a segment of their party still tries to push Palin as the greatest political leader of our age. Now they are taking a moronic clip of Palin spewing rubbish about Paul Revere and are trying to claim she just proved she is one of the most well-read historians on Paul Revere they've ever come across.

Andrew Sullivan put it well: Deranged propagandists. You're fooling none of us. All you're accomplishing is convincing the dumbest of your fellow Palinoids that everything's still okay within your cocoon.

Ann Althouse knows better. That's why she's one of the contemptible ones like the deranged propagandist at Legal Insurrection.

LoafingOaf said...

Here was a good blog post: The Palin Apologists Strike Back!

In the comments to one person: ...[E]nough already. As I said in this piece- all you are attempting to do is take pieces of the history that had absolutely NOTHING to do with Palin’s statement and use it to build a defense under her that you know as well as I (you are obviously a bright guy) is nonsense.
I do not doubt your grasp of the history in question and I’m sure you know it far better than I. I very much dispute using this to support Palin’s twisting of history. You obviously know better. Take all the history you know and then re-read Palin’s statement. Then you must admit to yourself that it takes an awful lot of work to connect the history to her comments. You know this, I know this, and pretty much any rational and reasonable reader knows this.

AllenS said...

LoafingOaf, I've heard of you, and you are still the dumbest fucking piece of shit I've ever seen.

J said...

9: 31. The one leaving is you Fen-tard, and your klan boyfriends. Touched a nerve? Like, that you don't have yr GED, and don't know US history from yr Hitler posters.

My job is none of your business, nor are my family members. Keep stalking me, perp. You're in for a surprise as is Mss Galthouse.

Loafing Oaf: read through these ugly comments carefully-this site is actually a terrorist site, like McVeigh-in-potentia.

Im not into the authorities, but...somebody (like CIA) should be notified.

J said...

9-25: No, Jane, you ignorant slut--(and a typical Alttard ad hominem). The central point of the ride was to notify the patriots about an impending attack from the Brit, NOT to notify the brits--which would have been a complete mistake (and it was, on the part of Palin). And the lanterns were a silent code (like the rebels were undercover, etc? a bit too deep from an Alttard to get). Books are beyond you. How about like you start with the wiki? Difficult though.

The TP-GOP's crack whore-in-chief was wrong.

jimspice said...

Regarding the Legal Insurrection post, so now we are to believe that the comment was not a bumbling misremembrance of the tale, it was an astute analysis of several recondite academic sources? I'd like, nay, LOVE for Palin to adopt this position. This will put the "blood oath" explanation to shame.

Big Mike said...

Sarah Palin is right on facts -- for all that Longfellow's poetry makes a lone hero out of Paul Revere, only Samuel Prescott made it all the way from Boston to Concord (Revere and William Dawes were captured en route) but I think that she was wrong to show off her knowledge.

As they said at the end of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "when the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Paul Revere's heroic ride is the legend, and there's not much point in challenging it.

Some years ago I read about the American Penobscot expedition to attack a fort under construction by the British troops in Maine. The cowardice displayed by Revere during that battle was a far cry from his alleged heroic ride. The American retreat was commanded by General Peleg Wadsworth, who came to so despise Revere that the author of of the article I was reading snidely remarked how Wadsworth "would have grabbed knife and gelded himself on the spot" had he known that someday his grandchild would author a poem that would immortalize Paul Revere as an American hero.

Fen said...

J: read through these ugly comments carefully-this site is actually a terrorist site, like McVeigh-in-potentia.

Im not into the authorities, but...somebody (like CIA) should be notified.


FBI not CIA, dumbass.

jimspice said...

Her defense is a little less nuanced: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/palin-i-didnt-mess-about-paul-revere

Hagar said...

Ms. Sarah goes a bridge too far when she says the purpose of Paul Revere's ride was to also warn the British about the colonists.
He did tell them, but that was more about saving his own skin than averting general bloodshed.

Hagar said...

It may have been a little too much for her to swallow that, like Sam Adams, he was a bit of a turkey as well as a patriotic hero.