Posted on 06/11/2011 9:23:23 AM PDT by marktwain
"Shouldn't presidential candidates and prospective candidates have a firm grasp of American history?" Chris Matthews rhetorically asked on the June 9 "Hardball" before lamenting that Sarah Palin had a penchant for being "painfully wrong" on the subject, citing her recent inartful explanation of the famed midnight ride of Paul Revere.
Yet it seems Matthews may have no idea why the British regulars were marching on Lexington and Concord in the first place, as the "Hardball" host scoffed yesterday at Palin making an "NRA ad" out of the historical ride.
"Here she is with her follow-up defending her false vision of history, and turning Revere's ride into a National Rifle Association TV commercial," Matthews scoffed as introduced a clip of Palin from the June 5 "Fox News Sunday," in which the former Alaska governor noted that Revere warned the British when captured "you're not going to succeed, you're not going to take American arms."
Matthews may scoff Palin making Revere a hero of Second Amendment adherents and gun rights advocates, but in doing so one has to wonder what exactly he thinks the British regulars were coming for in their April 18, 1775 march on Lexington and Concord.
So here's a little history lesson for Matthews courtesy of the National Park Service (emphasis mine):
What was the reason for the British expedition to Concord? On the evening of April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage sent approximately 700 British soldiers out to Concord (about 18 miles distant) to seize and destroy military stores and equipment known to be stockpiled in the town. His orders to Lt. Col. Smith, the British officer who was to lead the expedition, were as follows:
Sir: Having received intelligence, that a quantity of Ammunition, Provision, Artillery, Tents and small arms, have been collected at Concord, for the Avowed Purpose of raising and supporting a Rebellion against His Majesty, you will march with the Corps of Grenadiers and Light Infantry, put under your command, with the utmost expedition and secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and destroy all Artillery, Ammunition, Provision, Tents, Small Arms, and all military stores whatever. But you will take care that the Soldiers do not plunder the inhabitants, or hurt private property.
Under great pressure from his superiors in England to bring Massachusetts back under control of the "lawful government," General Gage sent the troops to Concord in the hopes that by doing so, he could convince the colonists to back down, and thus avoid an armed rebellion.
General Gage also believed that seizing stockpiles of weapons was not only a military necessity, but also his prerogative as governor of the colony. The colonists actively disagreed.
Matthews not understanding why Palin would take a pro-gun rights argument out of the march on Concord, Mass., is arguably much worse than Palin's Revere ride flub or Rep. Michele Bachmann erroneously stating Lexington and Concord were in New Hampshire, another gaffe which Matthews has mercilessly hounded.
no good, you can not narrow down to just 1 thing Mathews doesn’t understand
Don’t think Matthews has understood much since he went all tingly.
The British banned the sale of iron farm implements to prevent the colonists from beating their plowshares into swords.
Seems pretty clear to me that the brits were attempting to prevent the colonists from defending themselves.
Liberals operate on the belief that if you repeat a lie long enough, it becomes the truth.
I would love to be a guest on Chrissie’s “No_Balls” just so I could lean over and bitch-slap him. That would make my day!
Another brilliant, really-really smart, intelligent,
extremely bright, Progressive, intellectual genius speaks out against another knuckle-dragging, moronic,
Conservative idiot from flyover country.
/sarcasm/
Lil Chrissy Tingle doesn’t care about the details of American history because he doesn’t give a damn about America period.
My bet is that the guy has never fired a gun AND of course we know that he misses the point of the 2nd Amendment, which is that an unarmed populance is subject to despotism. Much admit, however, that a military beyond a certain size is also a danger to the Republic. Which is one reason why Ike was opposed to Ridgeway’s plan to grow the army. Why he favored the Air Force and the Navy.
How can people listen to Matthews, and not figure out he’s a motor mouth with an empty brain?
“General Gage sent the troops to Concord in the hopes that by doing so, he could convince the colonists to back down, and thus avoid an armed rebellion.”
One of many the past 230 years who have guessed wrong about how much crap we’d take.
The great zero is treading down that very dangerous path.
The word “warn” has two senses (rather than meanings, since essentially it means nothing but giving advance notice of something).
People can be warned of something in order to be alerted to defend themselves or avoid injury...which is what we think of with things like a “hazard” or “caution” warning at a construction site, for example.
But people can also be warned to back off. This is what a rattlesnake does (think Gadsden flag). The snake is not attacking you, but is warning you that you should not attack it. The fact that a rattlesnake processes something like a harmless hiker walking along a trail as an attack is immaterial. The point is that the sound is meant to make an intruder back off, and that was what Palin meant.
I stopped listening to this idiot when I realized he is an out of control alcoholic that is destroying huge amounts of brain cells daily.
Hee-hee. I’m hoping that Todd Palin will do the same to him.
When Obama says there are 57 states, or that Austrians speak Austrian, or pronounces ‘corps’ as ‘corpse’, there’s not a whisper of criticism from MSNBC or any other MSM outlet. As far as I’m concerned, none of their criticism of Palin has credibility or credence.
What flub. She was right. Wasn't that the point of the article?
Matthews not understanding why Palin would take a pro-gun rights argument out of the march on Concord, Mass., is arguably much worse than Palin's Revere ride flub...What "Revere ride flub" is he talking about? From everything that I've read, she got the story right.
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