"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what a fake quote can do for you."LOL!
In immortal the words of
DAN RATHER: "Fake, but accurate."
Posted on 04/30/2006 3:54:54 AM PDT by Pokey78
John Kerry announced this week's John Kerry Iraq Policy of the Week the other day: "Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15 to deal with these intransigent issues and at last put together an effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military."
With a sulky pout perhaps? With hands on hips and a full flip of the hair?
Did he get that from Churchill? "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, at least until May 15, when I have a windsurfing engagement off Nantucket."
Actually, no. He got it from Thomas Jefferson. "This is not the first time in American history when patriotism has been distorted to deflect criticism and mislead the nation," warned Sen. Kerry, placing his courage in the broader historical context. "No wonder Thomas Jefferson himself said: 'Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism.' "
Close enough. According to the Jefferson Library: "There are a number of quotes that we do not find in Thomas Jefferson's correspondence or other writings; in such cases, Jefferson should not be cited as the source. Among the most common of these spurious Jefferson quotes are: 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' "
Did Kerry's speechwriter endeavor to point that out? "Hey, boss, diss ain't a Jefferson quote."
"Yeah, that's right. Dissent -- a Jefferson quote. Shove one in around the fifth paragraph, but snap it up, will you? I got a fitting for my new even-more-buttock-hugging yellow lycra cycling shorts in 20 minutes."
It was the Aussie pundit Tim Blair who noted the Thomas Jeffefakery. American commentators were apparently too busy cooing that "Kerry may be reflecting a new boldness on the part of liberals to come out and say what they believe and to reclaim the moral high ground on patriotism" (CBS News) to complain that KERRY LIED!! SCHOLARLY ATTRIBUTION DIED!!! Instead, KERRY MISQUOTED!! MEDIA DOTED!!!
Indeed, America's hardboiled newsmen can't get enough of the Thomas Jefferbunk. The Berkshire Eagle used it as the headline for last year's Fourth of July editorial. Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press thundered: "We need to stop slicing this country in half, and saying those who support this act or this politician are 'good' Americans, and the rest are not. Sometimes 'dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' I didn't make that up. Thomas Jefferson did."
Er, no. You made up that he made it up. But former Georgia state Rep. Mike Snow uses it, and Miranda Yaver of Berkeley wore it on a button to the big anti-war demo in Washington last year, and Ted Kennedy deployed it as the stirring finale to his anti-Bush speech:
"It is not unpatriotic to tell the truth to the American people about the war in Iraq. In this grave moment of our country, to use the words of Thomas Jefferson, 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' "
The last time Sen. Kennedy went rummaging for an old quote was when he stood up at the 2004 Democratic Convention in Boston and announced that "here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shirt around the world." But at least several of those words are genuine, albeit not the reference to the menswear department.
As far as I can tell, it was Nadine Strosser, the ACLU's head honcho, who cooked up the Jefferson fake. At any rate, she seems to be the only one who ever deployed it pre-9/11. Since then, however, it's gone nuclear, it's everywhere, it's a bumper sticker and a T-shirt slogan and a surefire applause line for the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation. As Sen. Kennedy's brother so memorably said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what a fake quote can do for you."
What does it mean when so many senior Democrats take refuge in an obvious bit of hooey? Thomas Jefferson would never have said anything half so witless. There is no virtue in dissent per se. When John F. Kennedy said, "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty" -- and, believe it or not, that's a real quote, though it's hard to imagine any Massachusetts Democrat saying such a thing today -- I could have yelled out, "Hey, screw you, loser." It would have been "dissent," but it wouldn't have been patriotic, and it's certainly not a useful contribution to the debate, any more than that of the University of North Carolina students at Chapel Hill who recently scrawled on the doors of the ROTC armory "F--- OFF!" and "WE WON'T FIGHT YOUR WARS!"
But the high holiness of dissent for its own sake is now the core belief of the Democratic Party: It's not what you're for, it's what you're against. Their current denunciations of Big Oil have a crudely effective opportunism but say to them "OK, what's your energy policy?" and see what answers you get: More domestic oil? Ooh, no, we can't disturb the pristine ANWR breeding ground of the world's largest mosquito herd. More nuclear power, like the French? Ooh, no, might be another Three Mile Island. Er, OK, you're the mass transit guys; how about we go back to wood-fired steam trains? Ooh, no, we're opposed to logging, in case it causes global warming, or cooling, or both.
Dissent for its own sake is like the Democrats' energy policy: We're opposed to any kind of energy; we prefer to be mired in enervated passivity. If the right is full of armchair generals, the left is full of armchair generalities: Nothing can be done, any course is futile, everything's a quagmire. All we can say for certain is that saying so for certain is the highest form of patriotism.
It's truer to say that these days patriotism is the highest form of dissent -- against a culture where the media award each other Pulitzers for damaging national security, and the only way a soldier's mom can become a household name is if she's a Bush-is-the-real-terrorist kook like Cindy Sheehan, and our grade schools' claims to teach our children about America, "warts and all," has dwindled down into teaching them all the warts and nothing else. Or as the Capital Times of Madison, Wis., concluded its ringing editorial on the subject:
"Thomas Jefferson got it right: 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' And teaching children how to be thoughtful and effective dissenters is the highest form of education."
Teaching them authentic Jefferson quotes would be a better approach.
Great quotes!
Thanks.
Hmmmm. I thought Jefferson said, "Dissent is the greatest form of flattery". I could be wrong.
John F. Kennedy, speech, New York Times, October 13, 1960.
"Should I become President... I will not risk American lives...by permitting any other nation to drag us into the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time through an unwise commitment that is unwise militarily, unnecessary to our security and unsupported by our allies."
John Kerry the plagiarist.
I just sent them to Mr. Kerry. I should have an automated "Thank you for your concern" letter in no time.
Probably
Did you send this one also?
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what a fake quote can do for you."
I don't know where Steyn get them all from. He is just fantastic. (That sentence could form the basis of a whole set of buttons, T-shirts or greeting cards, with false quotes on them.)
That quote NEVER passed the smell test for this housewife!! Wonder why it did for the super-educated elite?? Hmmmmmmmm.....
"The trouble is, says reader Dave Forsmark, who has been waging a one-man campaign to correct what he believes to be a blatant misattribution, "the quote is about two years old, not 200.From www.tompaine.com:It was made by [historian] Howard Zinn in an interview with TomPaine.com to justify his opposition to the War on Terror."
Someone erroneously attributed the quote to Jefferson soon thereafter, and now seemingly everyone is doing it. - urbanlegends.about.com
Dissent In Pursuit Of Equality, Life, Liberty And Happiness
An Interview With Historian Howard Zinn
[Published: July 3, 2002]Sharon Basco is executive producer of TomPaine.com.
Howard Zinn is an historian and author of A People's History of the United States. Sharon Basco interviewed him for TomPaine.com.
TomPaine.com: Dissent these days seems to be a dirty word. The Bush administration has, at least since September 11th, usually termed any criticism of its policies "unpatriotic."Howard Zinn: While some people think that dissent is unpatriotic, I would argue that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In fact, if patriotism means being true to the principles for which your country is supposed to stand, then certainly the right to dissent is one of those principles. And if we're exercising that right to dissent, it's a patriotic act...
Another brilliant column. Thanks Mark, and thanks Pokey.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
...
I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils
-Thomas Paine "The Crisis" 1776-77
There is also a "quotation" by Patrick Henry on America being a Christian nation that is faked, yet repeated by all the conservative religious sites, including "Wallbuilders." Henry was quite pro-Christian, but he never said what was attributed to him.
Directly from the Jefferson Library
http://www.monticello.org/library/reference/quotes.html
Unconfirmed and Incorrectly Attributed Quotes
There are a number of quotes that we do not find in Thomas Jefferson's correspondence or other writings; in such cases, Jefferson should not be cited as the source. Among the most common of these spurious Jefferson quotes are:
"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."
"We should build an aristocracy of achievement based on a democracy of opportunity."
"An informed citizenry is the bulwark of a democracy."
"Information is the currency of democracy."
"A nation is as good as its values."
There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequal people."
"When the government fears the people, there is liberty; When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
"I have nothing but contempt for anyone who can spell a word only one way."
"I am a big believer in luck. The harder I work, the more I have."
In other cases, quotes are often attributed to Jefferson but were actually said by others:
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." (John Philpot Curran)
"Those who sacrifice freedom for safety deserve neither." (Benjamin Franklin)
"That government is best which governs least." (Henry David Thoreau)
"I am a revolutionary so my son can be a farmer so his son can be a poet." (John Adams)
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what a fake quote can do for you."LOL!
Misattributed: 'Dissent Is the Highest Form of Patriotism'
Google the phrase "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" along with the name "Thomas Jefferson" and you will find thousands of Web pages attributing the sentiment to the third president of the United States. The trouble is, says reader Dave Forsmark, who has been waging a one-man campaign to correct what he believes to be a blatant misattribution, "the quote is about two years old, not 200. It was made by [historian] Howard Zinn in an interview with TomPaine.com to justify his opposition to the War on Terror." Someone erroneously attributed the quote to Jefferson soon thereafter, and now seemingly everyone is doing it.
Based on some rudimentary checking, it appears Mr. Forsmark is correct. Can anyone out there cite an original document or speech in which Thomas Jefferson actually wrote or uttered these words?
Teaching them authentic Jefferson quotes would be a better approach. ©Mark Steyn 2006
bttt
The Left misquote, and no one in the media corrects them!
I disagree with this. I think most dems have a pretty clear idea what they are going to do with power and they know that, were they honest about it, they would never get elected. So they hem and haw and find nuances and 'move to the center'--all for the purpose of obfuscating their actual goals. Their lapdogs in the media never call them on the disjoint between what they say and what they do.
The resut is it sounds like they just want power with no real agenda. But in reality, they want power and they have an agenda--only they don't talk about the agenda in public.
This is the finest Steyn article I have read in sometime.
Mr Steyn single handedly lays waste to the entire philosophy of the raving liberals.
At the core of modern liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats ." (PJ O'Rourke)
Steyn BTTT
Ping for referance
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