Posted on 06/05/2011 10:08:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin yesterday insisted her claim at the Old North Church last week that Paul Revere “warned the British” during his famed 1775 ride — remarks that Democrats and the media roundly ridiculed — is actually historically accurate. And local historians are backing her up.
Palin prompted howls of partisan derision when she said on Boston’s Freedom Trail that Revere “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 and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.”
Palin insisted yesterday on Fox News Sunday she was right: “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.”
In fact, Revere’s own account of the ride in a 1798 letter seems to back up Palin’s claim. Revere describes how after his capture by British officers, he warned them “there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time for I had alarmed the Country all the way up.”
Boston University history professor Brendan McConville said, “Basically when Paul Revere was stopped by the British, he did say to them, ‘Look, there is a mobilization going on that you’ll be confronting,’ and the British are aware as they’re marching down the countryside, they hear church bells ringing — she was right about that — and warning shots being fired. That’s accurate.”
Patrick Leehey of the Paul Revere House said Revere was probably bluffing his British captors, but reluctantly conceded that it could be construed as Revere warning the British.
“I suppose you could say that,” Leehey said. “But I don’t know if that’s really what Mrs. Palin was referring to.”
McConville said he also is not convinced that Palin’s remarks reflect scholarship.
“I would call her lucky in her comments,” McConville said.
Meanwhile, the state’s Democratic Party held a thin blue line on the issue, insisting on mocking Palin despite a brief historical review of the matter. State party chairman John Walsh wise-cracked that the region welcomes all tourists, even those with “an alternative view of history.”
“If you believe he was riding through the countryside sending text messages and Tweets to the British, still come to Boston,” he said. “There are a lot of things to do and see.”
But 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 lesson. “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.”
That is not the King's English!!!
CA....
That is not the King's English!!!
CA....
That is not the King's English!!!
CA....
That is not the King's English!!!
CA....
Amen! After the 2008 election and Sarah went back to Alaska I was heart broken.
I sent her a thank you card, with all my info to add to her database and also told her she was our modern day Esther.
I wrote in the Bible text about Esther, her courage and strength and told Sarah “YOU are our Esther”.
May God forgive us for our slumber. Time will tell.
CA....
right. is similar to truthiness.
We see the world stage shaping up at an accelerated pace now. And we also know the US will become less significant when it comes to the happenings overseas. Probably involved but surely not as we have known in the past. We see this consistently now with Obama carrying no weight at all on the International Stage.
Our nation has been that which has kept things in check world wide. We loose power, things will go unchecked and run the course they are headed for. They all talk “Peace” but the peace which will come for a short time will be a false peace.
Where and how Sarah may fit in the arena will surely be seen if or not she runs. She remains a strong and abiding force to be reckoned with regardless....and keeps our eyes focused on what we are all hoping for...another chance as a nation....and if the demorats win...then let them wear the crown of destroying what once was. It will be on their watch.
“John Walsh - MA Democrat Party”
Hey, lardass. Looks like you have trouble pushing yourself away from the government trough. Maybe if you and your affirmative action slacker messiah had speant some time studying instead of sucking on the almighty federal teat, you might have realized that that “dumb broad”, who had to WORK for her grades, just might have her facts right.
Sure, it all does come down to what the candidate is likely to do as President. Certainly, gibberish sentences does not equal bad President, or stupid President. But some voters might think so.
Things spoken and things written are two different animals. If she wrote this, it would be difficult to read. But since this was spoken, it makes sense.
Her account, and historical point to be made, are correct. The sentence is pretty easy to decipher no matter the phrasing used.
Now if she said Revere was a woman who was riding in a car and blew the horn to warn the Indians, that would be historically inaccurate.
“Warned the British” I think is fine. The historical record seems to back that up. Some analysts seem to think that warning the British equates somehow to trying to help the British in some way. Revere was trying to avoid a battle, and telling the British that we’re ready to kick their ass, and that if they want to avoid losing a battle, going back to where they came from was the best way to go would help avoid that battle.
Her sentence structure seemed to have Revere himself “ringing those bells”, and sending “those warning shots”.
I’m not arguing the history of it. I’m saying the sentence didn’t make sense. I’m not saying it’s a big deal, but it’s not some brilliant Palin trap that she set for the MSM either.
And, I’ll admit that no other candidate gets the kind of detailed scrutiny that Palin does. Mostly because no one cares what Romney, Pawlenty and Huntsman have to say, and people just want those guys to go away.
I wasn’t arguing that Palin was factually inaccurate, just that her sentence didn’t make sense.
I think you’re joking there. Good one.
I’d say “similar to the grammar police”. Anonymous posters shouldn’t be held to the standard of a Presidential candidate.
But you’re right about what is commonplace.
My argument is that we should be getting away from this one, not continuing to talk about it. Yes, the media does that fly crap / pepper thing. Even if factually correct, the sentence doesn’t make sense as written, and we really don’t want to be dwelling on this minor incident.
The essence of the problem with Sarah Palin’s statement is that it sounded exactly like what someone might say after going on a tourist’s tour of the area and hearing a LOT of information all in one short venture.
Out of everything that she has done and said during her trip, and all of the footage that has no-doubt been gathered, THIS is what people are focusing on. That tells you exactly what the intention is.
I can get over her atrocious explanation of whatever history she was trying to get across. The facts were there, they were just garbled. Ask anyone else in the country to recount everything they heard during a tourist’s visit to a historical site and it will sound just the same.
I’m over it.
bump
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