Sarah Palin on Paul Revere

Anonymous

Professor Chaos says you should vote for her.

jowlsey

I though that Idocracy was supposed to be a couple of generations away.

Vic333

Since conservatives have completely cut themselves off from all mainstream media, news, etc, they are able to create there own self conformational histories. I don’t see any of them getting any more informed in the near future.

Anonymous

Technically she is right… Revere was warning the British that the British were coming… Seeing how all the folks in the Colonies at that time were British subjects!

EscapingTheTrunk

I prefer this alternative history of Paul Revere, thank you very much.

werve

Now who can argue with that? I am particularly glad that these lovely children are here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed the courage little seen in this day and age, an no sidewindin’ bushwackin’, hornswagglin’ cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter…

Scruff

How much warning did Paul Revere actually do? Not very much, considering he got arrested before he even hit Rte 128.

Dawes and Prescott did the heavy lifting.
http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/paul-reveres-ride.html

However, Revere was associated with the Tea Party, so clearly he hated Obama as well.

Chuck

I think she was just trying to say that Revere went out to perform the first recorded instance of trash talk against the British.

Or maybe he was doing the “I fart in your general direction” skit.

One of the two.

LightningRose

…and in other news, the Panama Canal continues to be the world’s busiest ditch.

konshtok

Party Like it’s 1773

Remember how the left blogosphere laughed at Mrs Palin for saying that?

During his ride Revere was stopped by the british and he told them that he has already warned the countryside about them and that there would be hundreds of americans waiting for them

But who cares?

We all know Mrs Palin is STUPID STUPID STUPID

Anonymous

Palin: “I Didn’t Mess Up About Paul Revere … I Know My American History” http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201106050001

moop2000

I’m not defending her (she’s too vapid a person to try), but wasn’t his midnight ride prior to the Declaration of Independence? And thus, we didn’t declare ourselves to be a new country, so we were still in fact still a British colony, making us British, and thus making her technically true (while being wrong in so many other ways)? Depending on your view on history, we were either revolutionaries, or a terrorist group fighting starting a civil war.

Just further proof that the victor writes the history.

Aloisius

How does this woman not get pranked constantly? It seems entirely clear that she will bs her way through anything. She’s a prime target.

Anonymous

Maybe she’s part of a secret society of British loyalists plotting to turn back the clock? A bunch of them fled to Canada, and Alaska is pretty much surrounded by Canada. I’m just sayin’.

Mister44

Politicians (well, everyone, really) make so many stupid gaffes like this, it’s ridiculous.

And I was so proud of BB for ignoring her for a month or so.

Antinous / Moderator

Politicians (well, everyone, really) make so many stupid gaffes like this, it’s ridiculous.

But most politicians occasionally say something comprehensible in between gaffes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRkWebP2Q0Y
- Mister44
  
  Who the hell reads news papers?
  
  Also – Paul Revere is only famous because some guy who was really proud of his penis (he changed his name to Longfellow) wrote a poem about him.
  
  The person who makes Revere look like a slacker was a 16 year old girl – Sybil Ludington.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_Ludington

job

Paul Revere was a Patriot and a braggart. Sound familiar. His “ride ” happened. But the Legend was created by Longfellow’s poem. And if that is not enough : Paul Revere was tried for cowardice for his role in the naval battle of Castine {maine].

jackie31337

Duh! Paul Revere is famous for inventing a binary communication medium. I thought everyone knew that. :P

Anonymous

For some reason, Sarah Palin reminds me of Paris Hilton.

forgeweld

Everyone is going to freak when he’s unmasked and they realize that Sarah Palin in a Sacha Baron Cohen character.

judonerd

To be fair, the British really WERE coming to take our guns away. That’s not an exaggeration.

Unmutual

No, that’s not being fair.

Yes they were coming for the rebels’ stockpile of weapons.

NO, Paul Revere did not get on his horse and whoop and hollar and fire his gun in the air and ring the bells and warn the Redcoats not to mess with The US of F***ing A! which is the jist of her narrative of what went down, a sort of Wild West meets Braveheart redneck reimagining of the revolutionary war.
- judonerd
  
  I understand. I’m just playing devil’s advocate hereâ€”everyone is making fun of the details she got wrong, but the one detail about the british wanting to take our arms away is true, and it’s the one most relevant to her guns-guns-guns policy.
  - TriadX1
    
    Wow, that sounds like a true politician’s response. She states several things, where one of those “things” is based on a real fact. And that somehow makes the rest of what she said acceptable. (Actually sounds like Glenn Beck logic.)
- Slightly Askew
  
  Yes!
  
  http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6086/revereheart.jpg
  
  “They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our taxes without representation!”
- Anonymous
  
  “a sort of Wild West meets Braveheart redneck reimagining of the revolutionary war”
  
  dude i would TOTALLY watch that movie
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    Anon #112:
    
    You would?
    Then you’ll be very happy to know that such a film has already been made:
    
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187393/
    
    …and it’s not that bad, if that’s the kind of stuff you like.

tim

The minutemen would be called to duty with Bells and Gun Shots. Twitter didn’t exist back then.

Now we *know* you’re making things up. No Twitter indeed! How do you think they could arrange the whole illegal usurpation of legitimate authority without it?

zfreeman

…thank you Sarah, we all owe you a a debt of gratitude, for your ‘One Nation’ tour, and providing us with a small glimpse of why you are never to hold public office again. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for quitting politics forever. Thank you, thank you, thank you… and bless your heart.

slippy0

I’ve been a Bostonian my whole life, so I’ve become well versed in Boston’s history. I find it insulting that Mrs. Palin didn’t know that the lanterns weren’t a threat to the British, but were actually the summon signal for Paul-Revere-o-tron, the 50-foot mecha built to counter the incoming British forces.

May he forever rest in robot heaven.

Anonymous

This is not a typo on her twitter feed. This is trying to talk her way out of a question about something she doesn’t know. There are people just like that, the kind that if you ask them ‘Can you tell me how do I get to Pine St.?’ they’ll hummm and ponder and come up with something, anything but admitting they have no idea. ‘I don’t know’ is a phrase they won’t ever utter.

Now someone like that might only cost you some u-turns and get lost, but a politician winging it and trying to go by her looks and ‘down-to-earth’ charm might end up crashing your country and pressing the red launch button when she intended to call room service.

Penh

Right, when asked about Paul Revere, the first thing that came to her mind was an obscure historical footnote about an accidental encounter Revere had with some British troops, during which he apparently communicated with his captors by ringing bells at them. Why the hell is it so hard to say, “Yeah, she fumbled her reply badly, but it’s obvious what she meant to say” (not to mention it being pretty obvious which lobby she was pandering to). Instead we get these endless contortions while supporters go to insane lengths to prove that she spoke perfect truth after all, neener neener.

And come to think of it, I don’t think I’d want the one thing people take away from a history lesson about me to be, “He’s that guy who warned the British that the colonists were lying in wait for them.” At the very best, your name will go down in history as slang for someone who spoils surprises.

BrianSchroer

I will be sayin’ this for Sarah. If she does real good at campaignin’ and gettin’ folks to be electin’ her President, we’ll be savin’ a lotta money by eliminatin’ all those final g’s – You betcha!

AirPillo

Hey give her some credit she has spent day after day of her life poring over history books of all shapes and forms.

Unfortunately for her, and us, they were all printed in Texas.

Anonymous

Sarah sounds like someone on Jaywalking.

Anonymous

I am sick of Sarah Palin she just wants media attention. I hunt and fish I am a women I guess I should run for president. She could not make it in Alaska she will not make it anywhere.

Wingo

She totally forgot the part where he was looking for a girl, but ran into a guy, who famously said: “Now my name is M.C.A. I’ve got a license to kill/I think you know what time it is it’s time to get ill”

Anonymous

Palin is inarticulate, but I think she was trying to say something akin to “the shot heard ’round the world.” I don’t think she meant to say Paul Revere was trying to help the British. I think she was trying to say Revere’s ride was a warning that the American colonies were fed up. I dislike Palin and the whole teabagger movement, but I think this gaffe is being a little over hyped.

Gulliver

Not even wrong.

Artimus Mangilord

The clip ended just shy of her citing how King Ralph was fixin to impose gosh darn commie healthcare on the colonies.

Anonymous

I see stuff like this and it makes me lose sleep. This woman will be president, I know it — she represents too large a segment of the US population to write her off. She’s not stupid (far from it) — she’s privileged, ignorant, and proud of both.

Tzctboin

Voting for this woman would go way beyond the normal divides in US politics.

The US needs an articulate politician that can present his government’s agenda in a coherent way to all the political actors that interact with the US, irrespective of his political affiliation.

People of all political stripes in the US should made clear to Ms Palin that she doesn’t have a political future.

Really, the US public should be shunning her so badly that even her would have got the message, and all people of political influence should distance themselves from her in the most possible public way.

Anonymous

Um, yeah, well, um, I think it had something to do with bells, or horses or, um, well, um –

OBAMA’S A COMMIE! OBAMA’S A COMMIE! OBAMA’S A COMMIE! OBAMA’S A COMMIE!

noen

The point is not that Sarah Palin managed to dredge up some obscure information about Paul Revere and then push it out of her mouth. The point is that she was unable to spontaneously assemble that info into coherent English “on the fly”. She has demonstrated on multiple occasions that she is unable to formulate ad lib responses to questions. That’s a big red flag that points to underlying cognitive issues of some kind.

Sarah was a cheerleader and competed in beauty pageants. She may have used drugs to keep her weight down. Withdrawal from benzodiazepine (Xanax) is a bitch.

tomfiglio

I’m a Brit, too, so I’ll post the address for this video showing that Obama believes there are 57 states in the USA without comment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws

Penh

The very clip you linked to clearly shows that Obama didn’t claim there are 57 states. He said he’d been to 57, with one to go, not counting Alaska and Hawaii. Even if you think Obama genuinely believes that there are 60 states in the USA–and seriously, does anyone actually believe that?–the clip doesn’t show what you claim it shows. Then again, you would hardly be a proper mindless right-wing parrot if you actually listened to the quote you’re citing, would you?
- tomfiglio
  
  Of course, who could ever think that Obama could ever think or say anything stupid? And take a look at just about all the comments above – are these people all proper left-wing parrots?
  
  Why do you resort to such immature insults when you’re views are challenged? I know this may be difficult for you to assimilate, but I also believe Palin is dangerously ignorant – but I just don’t buy into the breathless, uncritical enthusiasm about Obama, either.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    I just don’t buy into the breathless, uncritical enthusiasm about Obama, either.
    
    This post doesn’t mention President Obama. So I really don’t know what you’re talking about.
  - Penh
    
    Nobody challenged my views here. You posted a video clip which itself disproved the claim you made about it, and I pointed that out. Pretty simple, all in all.
- Ugly Canuck
  
  Well, I’m no Yankee, but aren’t there some 66 United States and Territories of the United States?
  
  I mean, there are a number of places that are not “States”, but are American Territories, and thus kinda parta the USA,in some sense:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territories_of_the_United_States
  
  ..and just as IMHO it’d be a cool thing to do to visit every State personally, it would also be IMHO cool to visit all those spigotty little places, those atolls and islands, that the USA administers and controls on a permanent basis.
  - Anonymous
    
    The interesting thing about American territories (at least the big ones — Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands) is that their natives are American citizens who have no voting rights.
    
    To the Anon who replied to you, surely those disputed states don’t want to relinquish their peoples’ right to vote?
  - Anonymous
    
    There aren’t even 50 states, Canuck.
    
    Most Yanks don’t know it, but Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and johnny-come-lately Kentucky are all very insistent that they are officially “commonwealths” and not states.
    
    The Fedguv refuses to recognize this as being a separate status from statehood, although they do recognize and use the nomenclature officially.
    
    Vermont and Delaware use the names commonwealth and state interchangeably in official documents (including their state constitutions), probably just to piss off the government of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, respectively.
    
    Wikipedia’s got a writeup on it.
emmdeeaych

The guy edited the Harvard Law Review and you think your ‘gotcha’ scores you a point? I bet he did more that morning than you do in a week, and I’m not insulting you when i say that.
Anonymous

I’ve seen that clip mentioned a lot. It’s almost like it’s just about the only thing people can find where Obama says something stupid, unlike Palin and Bush, where dozens of different examples are presented every time.
- travtastic
  
  Hey now. He says stupid things all the time. He just doesn’t misspeak very often.
Brainspore

Given the context it was pretty clear that on that occasion Obama, exhausted from many long weeks on the campaign trail, simply misspoke when stating how many states he had visited. He didn’t plan a press event to explain the importance of the 57 states and go on for several sentences to explain how those extra 7 states are relevant to our modern day domestic policies.
- paulj
  
  I’ve always thought Obama’s “57 states” remark was a lame attempt at humor. He could have easily said that he’s been campaigning 25 hour a day, 8 days a week. Then some people would insist he couldn’t tell time or read a calendar.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  It would be nice if a politician, instead of flailing around, would occasionally say, “Did I say 57? I meant 67! America has grown by more than a third under my administration!”

Anonymous

A couple of points which might explain Gov. Palin’s garbled explanation. The reason British General Gage was moving to Concord was to confiscate Colonist’s PRIVATELY OWNED arms. Hancock and Adams were certainly wanted by the British but that wasn’t the reason the troops were heading to Concord and Lexington.

Here’s a quote from Gen. Gage’s orders that initiated the troop movement:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.a…

“you will March with a Corps of Grenadiers and Light Infantry, put under your Command, with the utmost expedition and Secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and distroy all Artillery, Ammunition, Provisions, Tents, Small Arms, and all Military Stores whatever..”

Here’s a quote from British Lieutenant Colonel Smith’s After Action Report:

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.a…

“In the obedience to your Excellencyâ€™s commands, I marched on the evening of the 18th inst. with the corps of grenadiers and light infantry for Concord, to execute your Excellencyâ€™s orders with respect to destroying all ammunition, artillery, tents, &c, collected there.”

In the British military’s own words, they moved on Concord and Lexington to confiscate the arms of the Americans, not to capture Hancock and Adams. The first battle of the Revolution was fought over gun rights.

The minutemen would be called to duty with Bells and Gun Shots. Twitter didn’t exist back then.

Ugly Canuck

Anon #91: They came for the tents and provisions (bacon? rum?), I think: it is you who focus on the guns alone.

Simply a British attempt to seize the materiel of war, privately held (of necessity, there being no “corporate” person of the USA yet formed to hold the property) but materiel destined for use in the common cause of the Colonists: and that cause was no one man’s property.

Not just the guns: ALL the provisions. Shirts, kegs, horses, etc. etc. etc.

How like gun freaks to focus on the firearms! They were privately held firearms then, perhaps, but very soon they were to be at the sole direction and disposal, and under the control, of the Revolutionary Army Command.
Anonymous

You obviously have a good handle on this bit if history, however I’m sure she did not know one wit of it other than what she saw wherever she was visiting and then spewed out whatever came to mind with the tea party mantra. She will no doubt look into it and come back with guns blazing (no pun intended) with what you have articulated. ….after someone gives her the talking point bullets.

Anonymous

There is no excuse for this other than stupidity. It wasn’t a small speaking mistake, it was a “she’s an ignorant person who is a complete moron mistake”. She has no clue about American History so she spoke out of her ass.

MariQat

Oh, the exquisite pain of her fail, fail, failure. I don’t supposed she’d appreciate hearing the story of Sybil Ludington, either.

http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/youasked/065.htm

Anonymous

“…a sort of Wild West meets Braveheart redneck reimagining of the revolutionary war.”

pure poetry

and to the others…

rhymin’ and stealin’ indeed

Anonymous

Jesus, she would have been better off just reciting the lyrics to “Paul Revere” by the Beastie Boys…..

Anonymous

I’m glad she didn’t. If she had busted out with some Beastie Boys I might have become inclined to vote for her… then have to kill myself.

Anonymous

She can’t see Boston from her house like she can Russia so cut her some slack…

JimmerSD

She was technically accurate but literally incompetent.

Jake0748

Man… what kind of meds is she on? Scary.

Anonymous

THIS SHOULD SERVE AS A WARNING; THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DRINK CHEAP BOOZE.
- jimh
  
  Looks and sounds like Oxycontin to me.
royaltrux

She’s high on strife.
- goetzy
  
  well said!
Jake0748

Sorry, my comment was VERY awkwardly worded. AFAIK, there’s no was to go back and fix it. I trust my drift was gotten. :)

bob d

So Rob, did you post this video as a warning to the British that they’ll never be able to take away our guns?

Anonymous

Paul Revere once again warns us of a coming disaster.

dross1260

“One if by *derp”

TheEvilJeremy

Finally, the truth comes out after more than 200 years of the liberal media’s lies about Sir Revere.

winkybb

Seems like she’s drunk.

regeya

Glad I’m not the only one who thought she was drunk. When I listened closely it sounded like that may have been that Paul Revere warned the British that they weren’t going to take our guns, not that Paul Revere was trying to help the British.

Still, she looks and sounds like she’s well and truly sloshed.

armahillo

@TheEvilJeremy — Duh, Revere was a DUKE, not a KNIGHT.

demidan

Sorry, he was an Atlantean Uber Duke!

microdot

Damn, now that dang texas school board is gonna have to reprint all those text books again!

victorvodka

wow she really isn’t any smarter than miss teen usa south carolina http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

moop2000

Yes, but Miss South Carolina embraced it, and has even done some parodies of herself messing up.
JustinCambria

Such an apt and accurate comparison, you have read my mind on this one good sir.

Anonymous

I’ll bet the ghost of Israel Bissell is happy at least..

Ugly Canuck

Anon #132: Sadly, Israel Bissell is a creature of myth and error…

http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2010/05/true-story-of-isaac-bissell.html

…so his ghost is still resting easy, I’d bet.

CarnyTrash

Dingbat of the highest order.

Anonymous

Poor woman. I feel sorry for her. She is young… Why doesn’t she take some time and study United States history, the histories of North and South America, and the traditional freshman courses of Eastern and Western Civilizations? Without that kind of “grounding,” how can she hope to understand even such fundamental concepts as the development of democracy as a form of government? Sorry to sound so “academic,” but I am an academic — and what I see is an ambitious young woman who apparently isn’t willing to “do her homework” before launching into an arena for which she is not prepared. Jeanne

Anonymous

There is hope – http://www.neatorama.com/2011/06/03/scientists-create-tiny-artificial-brain/

jjsaul

Note which side of the American Revolution was the conservative one.

Anonymous

inspired photoshopped image of the iconic Copley portrait! Is there a credit attribution besides boing boing?

or420

Paul Revere is facepalming in his grave.

Anonymous

no no No No NO!

This is her impersonator. The premise of these comments is F-A-L-S-E.

Although you can see the fear that even her impersonator stirs up. Ha. Will be fun to watch in 2012. Pass the popcorn.

Anonymous

Oh. My. God. That is flat-out scary. It’s as though a child not familiar with basic U.S. history is pulling the strings and making her talk. Amazing.

dross1260

Quick, someone ask her about Crispus Attucks.

Squatlo

Crispus Attucks? Isn’t that Todd Palin’s favorite breakfast cereal?
travtastic

Is that some kind of European snack cracker? Go back to France.

irksome

Meth is a bitch.

UncaScrooge

We should all ignore this woman just like we ignored George W. back in 2000.

jackie31337

We should all ignore this woman just like we ignored George W. back in 2000.

Yeah, because that worked out really well for the USA.

danero

I imagine if she was asked what U. S. History books she had read for her interpretation, she would say “All of them, any of them”. Good to know she’s got something to fall back on if Politics doesn’t work out for her.

Anonymous

OK, we already knew that she’s dumb as a box of rocks, but why does she look stoned?

Anonymous

That’s right! If it wasn’t for Paul Revere and his rockets red glare we’d all be speaking English and obeying the Magnum Carton. That’s why it’s important to burn history books and learn from them in this great nation founded by Thomas Edison.

Bob Stanley

She wants to send a manned space ship to explore the surface of the sun. When asked about the intense heat Palin replied:

“I’ve got that problem solved. We’ll go at night.”

fnc

I’m actually relieved my more, prurient, interpretation of the headline was wrong.

But dear god, listening to this woman attempt to speak is like someone rubbing sandpaper on my psyche.

Squatlo

She’s planning to drive her bus to Hawaii where she’ll give a lecture on how brave American pilots bombed the Japanese at Pearl Harbor to protect the rights of the unborn and to keep prayer in schools. Heavy sigh…

irksome

“Drive to Hawaii”? We should encourage her to do just that.

In fact, the bus drives, she flies and then hops on at the next stop. 2+2=5.
Anonymous

LMAO…very funny comment…..

NoahRodenbeek

Colonial Face Palm. Excellent.

Anonymous

don’t you people know that she is _a_maverick_? she makes her own rules like some people bake bread or fake exams.

.~.

arbitraryaardvark

Malcolm Gladwell wrote an interesting chapter of the tipping point on paul revere and his ride. http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=397
Palin’s rant is true in most of its particulars. Revere did warn the british, very bravely since they had a gun to his head at the time. The british were coming for our guns, cannons actually; the second amendment includes cannons and similar weapons of mass destruction. Church bells were rung and drums were drummed, at Revere’s instigation, to summon more minutemen.
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2011/06/so-now-all-these-people-will-apologize.html

Anonymous

Her “particulars” aside, the goal of Revere was not what she was suggesting.

The fact that people are going out of their way to bend things around for her version to be accepted speaks volumes. There’s a reason why none of this was on Wikipedia before she said it.
Anonymous

If Palin knew about that, then in the subsequent link where she defends herself, she would have mentioned it. This is the equivalent of someone saying Alexander the Great was emperor of Rome, and then pointing out that there was an emperor named Alexander who could be considered relatively great considering what he had to work with. It obviously isn’t what they were talking about.

brundlefly

The thing is, it’s so incoherent that there’s literally no way to make sense of what she just said. Thus it is not falsifiable.

TheViolentVicar

You wrote: “The thing is, it’s so incoherent that there’s literally no way to make sense of what she just said. Thus it is not falsifiable.”

A guy I worked with years ago would have said, “She’s not even wrong.”

robcat2075

She’s high on history.

I remember Shelly Winters used to go on Johnny Carson and babble like that.

Anonymous

How completely unfair to interview Sarah Palin while she was at a media event in front of cameras.

Martha Bridegam

Send that woman back to whatever country she thinks she’s from and do not ever let her back in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ever.

Unmutual

Ok. The clip of Obama saying 57 states is clearly a slip of the tongue, not proof of his ignorance and African birthplace. He meant to say 47, and was probably very tired. Just do the math, if he said 47 instead of 57, it adds up to 50 (watch the clip)

Now this is pretty different than just getting the story of Paul Revere wrong but continuing to run your mouth anyways and just puking out tea party talking points and hoping nobody knows the difference.

It actually reminds me of the famous Bush gaffe, “fool me once,” etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A
“Fool me once . . . uh . . .shame on . . . shame on you? … Ya fool me can’t get fooled again!”

Now so what, he forgot how the phrase went, ok. But not only did he not remember the old axiom, he also did not even understand the jist of it.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

In other words, any jerk can fool a guy one time, but if the same guy lets you fool him twice, he’s a dipshit.

Instead, in Bush’s version, its more like, ya mess with the BULL you gonna get the horns! That’s how we roll in Texas! (he’s from Connecticut by the way)

So it’s not just a slip of the tongue like Obama’s gaffe. It betrays real ignorance. They have no idea what they are talking about, they have to be fed lines by their handlers, and have been trained that if they find themselves in uncomfortable terrority, do not ad lib, instead, repeat these talking points:

guns
liberty
freedom
values

i_r_beej

I didn’t understand a word she just said. To be fair though, she looked (and sounded) distracted.

(I noted that she was walking as she was talking.)

Jake0748

Lucky she wasn’t chewing gum too. Complete system shutdown.

flytch

hey… it’s just as accurate as what I learned in high school about Paul Revere famous ride!!!

Anonymous

One of the most important Presidential responsibilities is to lead by providing a consistent, clear, vision of the county’s policies, goals, and aspirations.

Try as she might to stick to her talking points, Palin quite frequently spouts impromptu incoherent rants on important topics.

She is a loose cannon.

blacksquare

I can’t watch videos of her speaking extemporaneously anymore. It’s like watching a middle school play, when you’re always on pins and needles in anticipation that one of the kids is going to screw up a line and end the performance in tears. Except this is worse because the performance just keeps going.

Unmutual

By the way, has anyone seen the original portrait of Paul Revere that the facepalm in the topic post is a photoshop of? I’ve seen it at the Boston MFA

Here is a super high res version
http://leisuregrouptravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Paul-Revere.jpg

He TOTALLY looks just like Jack Black.

In fact I would love to see a Jack Black film about the revolutionary war where he plays out the famous ride exactly the way she describes it . . .

Pip_R_Lagenta

I must admit that everything that she says is extremely effective at making her popular with her very specific electoral constituency. People who dislike fact-based opinions love Palin.

Stefan Jones

“. . . everything that she says is extremely effective at making her popular with her very specific electoral constituency.”

Kind of like a variant of the SubGenius Motto:

“Act like a dumbfuck and they’ll treat you like an equal.”

Only, I don’t think she’s acting.

CSMcDonald

Alternative theory:

Palin knows how much more attention and support she gets from her followers whenever she is “attacked” by the media and did this confusing bit of street theater deliberately.

Her supporters will dismiss this all as more liberal media trying to besmirch anyone who doesn’t follow their agenda.

xunker

Alternative-alternative theory: She was trying to be funny. God help her, she tried.

Anonymous

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Paul_Revere#Edit_request_from_Dajames.2C_5_June_2011

“the mainstream position is that Revere’s warnings were verbal, but there are differing accounts that the warnings were done with bells — with two sources: WDHD television plus a live interview, with a highly influential US politician relating these facts.–Tomwsulcer”

TheCrawNotTheCraw

I find it interesting/peculiar that she twists “Paul Revere warning Americans that the British are coming” into allegedly warning the British that we weren’t going to let them take away our guns.

I’m not sure if she is mentally ill, or just happily ignorant to contort US history into something which purports to align with her agenda.

CountZero

â€˜I am pretty sure he got on a Harley Davidson and drove around the British Army waving a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and yelling “King George is a Nazi!” â€™
Oddly enough, provided my increasingly shonky memory isn’t playing dastardly tricks on me, that’s not so far off; King George was actually German, and spoke German rather than English, and I believe most of his army was mostly made up of German mercenaries, so you had British Colonists fighting German invaders, technically speaking. I could also be hopelessly wrong. Not for the first time.

Antinous / Moderator

King George was actually German, and spoke German rather than English

George I maybe. George III was born and raised in Britain.

Nash Rambler

Hey British people, you uh, you want Sarah Palin?

senorglory

Who better than a Brit to comment, Rob? We need an outsider’s opinion, as we’re clearly all mixed up.

How much trouble are we in?

Mark Crummett

This woman is a complete embarrassment to America. Can we please stop paying attention to her?

guernican

Speaking purely as a Brit, I have to say that she’s a source of reassuring comedic stability in these straitened times.

pborenstein

She just mismemorized the Longfellow poem:

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
Who fired them shots and rang them bells
Tellin’ them Brits to go to hell
Cause we had second ‘mendment rights
Which meant we were gonna put up a fight

Anonymous

Also I would like to point out, in regards to that “so we could be free” statement that people living as British subjects in the colonies had more rights than they would under the new American government. And that the Revolutionary War was about wealthy merchants not wanting to pay taxes to the Queen. It was a whole corporate tax evasion scheme, which was sold to commoners under the banner of Liberty. Most of the men who fought in the war were never paid they money they were promised to do so. And, 235 years later we continue to be suckers.

oheso

It doesn’t worry me that Palin is an idiot. It worries me that there are people who don’t realize this.

bodenski

she reads ALL the history books.
or maybe:
“History, teach the controversy”

phisrow

Seems perfectly sensible to me.

Paul Revere was a Patriot(tm). Of course he would warn the british about the plans of a bunch of insurgents and illegal enemy combatants.

monopole

Precisely, none of the founding fathers could possibly be dirty Anti-Colonialists opposed to the British Empire like Obama:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/12/gingrich-obama-kenyan-worldview_n_713686.html
Unmutual

I am pretty sure he got on a Harley Davidson and drove around the British Army waving a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and yelling “King George is a Nazi!”

Guysmiley

I think she’s the GOP’s 2012 Statue of Liberty play. She may not even realize it, but I think she’s just a smokescreen.

TriadX1

Really??? I’ve picked smarter things out of my belly button.

Anonymous

so what should it have been/was it confused with? i am also british and so have no idea who paul revere was. i think from watching the simpsons i remember there being a blue cow involved.

Joseph Hertzlinger

When attacking somebody for an allegedly-ignorant statement, please first check to see if the statement is actually ignorant. For example, one of the arguments for gun control has been that the Second Amendment was a reaction to George III’s attempts at gun control and is now obsolete.

Jake0748

Uhhh… what?

elk

DINGBAT STILL HOVERING NEAR THE BUTTON. THE BIG RED BUTTON.

Sam

I love it. She’s adorable and entirely representative of her constituents.

Anonymous

I think she sounded confused because she thought she thought she was going to a retro rock concert headlined by Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Bubba

As an Irishman who is pretty ignorant of US history even I am perturbed at Palin’s lack of knowledge, it may have taken me all of five seconds having read the headline to making the jump to “the British are coming”. I cannot palm my face with sufficient gusto worthy of this Alaskan muppet.

I truly hope she runs for president.

Michael Smith

I truly hope she runs for president.

As an Aussie I agree completely. US elections are, along with both Olympics, a great four yearly entertainment extravaganza.

emmdeeaych

Looks like she just did some Charlie Sheen.

xvedejas

The question isn’t what meds she’s on, but which meds she forgot to take

thequickbrownfox

Maybe she’s having a mini-stroke, like Serene Branson (heavy birtation and Dareson Dareson), but it’s happening all the time.

Aknaton

It’s not such a surprise that she had such trouble.
Hardly a man is now alive who remembers that famous day and year.

CursedDiamonds

Doesn’t everyone know the story of Paul Revere and his Warning Bells of Freedom and Liberty? Edgar Allen Poe wrote a very famous poem about them called The Bells.

Anonymous

A good way to offset that would have been to listen to “Zombie” by The Cranberries…then again, she may already have done so.

jon_anon

I think she’s as big of an idiot as everyone else does, probably more so, but in this case “warning the British” is not as wrong as some people think. She means “warning the British” in the same sense people mean they’re going to warn a bully they’re not going to lie down for abuse any more, etc. She didn’t mean Paul Revere was attempting to *help* the British by warning them of something or other.
Now, everything is still wrong about her comment (he was deliberately riding “under the radar” to warn his allies the British were coming, and didn’t set off any gunshots or bells or alarms dyring his ride), but I don’t think she believes Paul Revere fought for the British, as some people here and elsewhere seem to suggest she believes.
But her whole affect when she speaks is absolutely unbearable – she’s simultaneously on the defensive because at some level she knows she doesn’t know the first thing about anything, while at the same time she’s on the offensive because she thinks she needs to be, to show the liberal media she’s not afraid of them.

Unmutual

But her whole affect when she speaks is absolutely unbearable –

Somebody asked her a question about Paul Revere and she remembered something about the British and bells (in his later years he became a metalsmith and made bells for a living) so she just went with that, and filled in the blanks with tea party talking points.

The sad thing is that she has not only gotten away with doing exactly this for the past 3 years, she has made millions of dollars doing exactly this. Talking utter nonsense, out of her ass. And rather than call her on it, the press just laps it up, because we live in Griftopia. There is no integrity anywhere. Palin is a huckster and a bullshit artists, but so is everyone in the mainstream media, who are riding the gravy train of pro-establishment reporting, and wouldn’t dream of sticking their neck out and risking their sweet jobs over something as quaint as integrity.
emmdeeaych

Paul Revere did not warn the british. The people of Concord and Lexington warned the british.

Revere just woke them all up. I think that’s the role Palin imagines herself playing, but for ‘domestic enemies’… namely anyone who disagrees with her ahistorical claptrap.
SamSam

I actually think you’re right on this. The words towards the end of the quote make it clear that she knew that he was riding for freedom, etc., and not to give aid to the British.

But then again, can you imagine the field-day the right wing would have had if Obama had said something like this? I mean, seriously, there are folks right now who are trying to compare this to Obama accidentally saying “…I don’t know what the term is in Austrian, but…” as if those mistakes are equivalent (and as if any American right-winger would have known that Austrian isn’t a language).

So it’s the circle of politics in this country. We get mad when they jump on some minor misstatement by one of our guys, and we get our revenge by jumping on misstatements by their guys.

… the whole “firing guns and ringing of the bells” thing is much less excusable, of course, by someone who is pretending to run under the banner of our founding fathers, and who therefore ought to know a little bit of history.
pauldavis

i’m not clear what you heard. or what you thought you heard. or what thoughts you heard. she said:

he who warned the british that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free

i have seen no comments here that suggest that she thinks revere was on the side of the british, but she explicitly described his actions in ways that are just … wrong. not “my opinion wrong”, but “Wrong wrong”.

Anonymous

I think Ms. Palin was, in fact, evincing a considerably more nuanced interpretation of the story than is traditionally promulgated. 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 warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere’s own descriptions, was “The Regulars are coming out.”

Palin is correct, sociohistorically, that Revere warned the “British.”

I leave it to the next commenter to try and make the “bells and shots” thing work.

Unmutual

GTFO of my awesome city you mouth breathing, vestigial tail scratching, knuckle dragging trailer park brood queen!

noen

Sarah’s word salad is diagnostic I think. I doubt very much if there is much of a conscious self in that brain pan at all. Sarah is *all* appearance, all scripts. Her mind is an empty hall of mirrors with no executive functions anywhere. All she has is a burning desire for attention and a jumble scripted behaviors that work to some extent.

She absolutely cannot see beyond her mirrored walls. Everywhere she looks she shes only her self, and it is the most beautiful thing in the universe for her.

Levey said in his interview with Vanity Fair that there were things about Sarah that no one knew that that greatly disturbed him. I’m guessing she periodically lapses into a semi catatonic state when she’s alone. It might be an interesting experiment to try to trigger that in public sometime. Many lulz.

tom

Last week Sarah Palin remarked that Paul Revere warned the British during his famous ride. She then, on Sunday, insisted that she was right in her remarks. Of course the left was thrilled because they thought that they were smart enough to show everyone just how much of an idiot Sarah is. Most all of the news media jumped on this and had a great time ridiculing Sarah. Sadlly, many people, not in the media, heard their remarks, and because of their hatred of Palin also spread the word. Also, sadly, one of the worst at doing this that I’ve ever seen is someone from my hometown of Trumann, Ar. To this person, all Democrats are almost Gods and none has ever done anything wrong. To the contrary, in his opinion, all Republicans hate America and do nothing right, especially Sarah Palin. This person immediately jumped on the bandwagon, on his facebook page, and made ridiculing remarks about Sarah, and others echoed. All of us are ignorant about some things. Ignorance is only a lack of knowledge about certain subjects. I challenge anyone to say that they know everything. There is a vast difference in ignorance and stupidity. Ignorance can be fixed by studying and researching. If one does not know his history, then he is ignorant about it, and, before he makes a habit of letting his lips beat out a message that could be wrong, he needs to research. For those who had such a great time ridiculing Sarah over her remarks, look in the mirrow and you will see the personification of stupid. Paul Revere was captured by the British so let’s look at his own words. In a letter that he wrote in 1798, Revere describes how after his capture by the British, he warned them, “there would be 500 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.” Cornell law professor William Jacobson, who asserted last week that Palin was correct, linking to Revere quotes on his conservative blog Legalinsurrection.com, said Palin’s critics are the ones in need of a history lessen. “It seems to be a historical fact that this happened,” he said. “A lot of the criticism is unfair and made by people who are themselves ignorant of history.” Even after McConville conceded that Palin was correct, he showed his prejudice against her with this dumb remark: “I would call her lucky in her comments.” There was only one Paul Revere, only one time in history that these rides were made, only one time in history that he was captured by the British and made those remarks, and, according to McConville, Palin was lucky enough to just pick a guess out of the air about what he said and it was accurate. That would be equivalent to the Russians in 1957, with no previous study of placing a satellite into orbit, no knowledge of the many requirements that have to be met for success, upon waking one morning, saying to each other, “hey, let’s shoot a rocket into the sky today with a satellite attached, and see if it will orbit the earth, and then doing it, and the satellite miraculously falling into orbit. For those of you with the silly smirk on your face when you thought you were so cute in spreading this nonsense, look again in the mirrow and you will see that the smirk has been replaced by the look of a fool.

Chris Tucker

tl;dr

The run on sentence is one of the many warning signs of Teabaggeritis.

If you suspect that you might be afflicted with Teabaggeritis, immediately disconnect from the Internet. You’re getting your stupid all over everything.

“mirrow”???

kthnxbai!

BrendanBabbage

I’ll have to watch the vid later, but I can imagine what the guffaw is…

Still, what’s her next “Foot in mouth disease” going to be?

IMO, Obama’s next microscopically progressive manuver will be blasted as “Socialism” and she’ll take the front, screaming “My Heroes fight the REDS” and then go on to a great hero of her childhood who fought Reds all his life and went down fighting a horde of them, George Armstrong CUSTER!!!

Anonymous

Oh. My. Gawd.

Yes, this is the person I want as my President. Eminently qualified. Oh yeah.

OrcOnTheEndOfMyFork

It’s a good thing Sarah Palin is on a tour to “educate and energize Americans about our nation’s founding principles“. She definitely needs the history lesson.

The point of my original comment is that you’re very quick to jeer when Palin says something stupid – which, admittedly is a very frequent occurrence – but never seem to post anything critical of Obama and his crew.

This suggests that somehow Sarah Palin and Barrack Obama are on the same level. Last I checked one is a well-paid TV personality and the other is the President of the United States.

And while it’s certainly important to be able to make fun of the leader of any free country any time you want to, I fail to see what Sarah Palin has to do with this.

Anonymous

i can dumber? /drool

Anonymous

THEY TUK AaR GUNNNNS!

cstatman

gosh, I hope she wins the right wing bid to run for the office. I really do. we need more strong right wing leaders, you know, to help us understand what this great country is made of, gosh darn it!

and? so anyone with a minimal education can finally see through this rubbish

teknocholer

To be fair, other people have mistakenly assumed Paul Revere was part of the British Invasion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP8G4clUJBY

Anonymous

What? He rode a magic carpet? Palin should know that.

Jack Crosby

To be completely fair (and balanced), she is from Alaska, our 49th state. She is actually only responsible for knowing American history past 1959. And hell, it’s not like it was even America back then anyways. So all that pre-revolution stuff doesn’t count.

Interesting fact: French and Indian War not part of American history either. The French can keep it.

Anonymous

goddamit, america! wtf?!? how can this lady have the ear of the media? please, please, somebody do something!

daneyul

Yeah, I don’t really think for a minute she believes Paul Revere fought for the British..or can’t name any newspapers or magazines…or that North Korea is our ally. Those are gaffes. She makes them a lot. They’re funny to watch.

But make no mistake–it’s her bugfuck insane ideas and policies that cause anyone with a brain to utterly refudiate her.

emmdeeaych

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/06/05/palin_i_didnt_mess_up_paul_revere_history/?camp=obinsite

“Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there. That, hey, you’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have,” she added. “He did warn the British.”

Anonymous

When is she joining the cast of Jersey Shore?

Anonymous

Facts are for Weaklings!

Palin/Bachmann (or vice versa) in 2012.

anharmyenone

There is an article in the Boston Herald that backs Sarah Palin’s statements on Paul Revere. “Experts back Sarah Palinâ€™s historical account”
http://bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1343353

Sommelier

I can give you lists of “experts” who claim that the earth is flat, we never landed a manned spaceflight on the moon, George W. Bush was behind 9/11, vaccines cause autism……

Sarah Palin on Paul Revere

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