You know how Sarah Palin said Paul Revere warned the British? Well, he did. Now, who looks stupid?

LA Times ^ | 6/6/2011 | Andrew Malcolm

[tobyhill]

You may have heard recently something about that Sarah Palin telling a reporter that Paul Revere warned the British on his famous rousing revolutionary ride.

Now, that so many Americans have wallowed in their smug confirmation that Palin is an idiot unqualified for anything but repeating sixth-grade history, how far, wide and fast do you think the contradictory news will spread that the former governor of Alaska was indeed correct?

That the Republican non-candidate, in fact, knew more about the actual facts of Revere's midnight ride than all those idiots unknowingly revealing their own ignorance by laughing at her faux faux pas? How secretly embarrassing this must be, to be forced to face that you know less than such a reputed dummy.

As it happens, though, such phenomena are regular occurrences in American politics, reminding consumers of news to be wary when some fresh story seems to fit contemporary assumptions so absolutely perfectly.

The well-known fable is Revere's late-night ride to warn fellow revolutionaries that....

...the British were coming. Less known, obviously, is the rest of the evening's events in which Revere was captured by said redcoats and did indeed defiantly warn them of the awakened militia awaiting their arrival ahead and of the American revolution's inevitable victory.

Palin knew this. The on-scene reporters did not and ran off like Revere to alert the world to Palin's latest mis-speak, which wasn't.

[don-o]

WOW! From the LA Times???

The pigs have definitely flown.

[onyx]

My Mom is smarter than the media and that's why I'm sick of them too.

[fortheDeclaration]

What did the media think that he did?

[Ann Archy]

On Morning Joe they are yukking it up about Palin being so stupid she doesn't know what Revere did!!

MSNBC is a FRAUD station....nothing but LIES.

[Jonty30]

Two points.

1. Revere never said the British were coming, because the vast majority of the colony thought themselves as British.

He either said, “The Red coats are coming” or “The Regulars are coming.”

2. Assuming that he did tell the British anything, it wouldn’t have been something they weren’t aware of, in terms of probability. The colonies were revolting by this period. It’s not as though Revere gave up anything that wasn’t already known. It’d be like an Iraqi mentioning that there are insurgents in the next town over.

I know, anal. It was just bugging me.

[RegulatorCountry]

Everything they know about Paul Revere, they know from Longfellow’s poem, just as everything they know about the south and the Civil War, they know from Gone With The Wind. So shallow. Scratch the surface and go clean through to the other side.

[tobyhill]

She made one mistake in the story about the bells being rung instead of lanterns being hung but she was correct about warning shots. When Revere was arrested one of the Brits asked what the shots were for and Revere responded it was a warning.

[4rcane]

there were even smug anti-palin freepers who joined in. Remember, what we learn in high school history is NOT ALWAYS TRUE. You know a lot of little details are missing

[Perdogg]

Some one should remind Joe Scarborugh that at least no one has ever died in Sarah Palin’s office.

[org.whodat]

Blog, not newspaper. And good old Paul did not set out on his ride to warn the British. To try and say he did is also miss stating history, it is sort of like what was the name of the hill that the battle of bunker hill was fought on???

[tobyhill]

She got the basis of the story correct and the dumb asses in the Lame Stream Media didn’t even know that he did warn the British.

[aruanan]

She made one mistake in the story about the bells being rung instead of lanterns being hung but she was correct about warning shots. When Revere was arrested one of the Brits asked what the shots were for and Revere responded it was a warning.

Incorrect on a couple of things according to this account:

The Regulars had Revere remount his horse and they headed toward Lexington Green, when suddenly, they heard a gunshot! Revere told the British officer that the shot was a signal "to alarm the country!" Now the British troops were getting very nervous.

A few minutes later, they were all startled to hear the heavy crash of an entire volley of musketry from the direction of Lexington's meeting house and then the Lexington town bell began clanging rapidly! Jonathan Loring, a Lexington resident captured earlier, turned to his captors and shouted "The bell's a' ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!"

The British officers then talked urgently among themselves and decided to release their captives so as they would not slow their retreat.

[Ann Archy]

Joey just said he was a FEMINIST!! YUK.

[don-o]

Blog - I get it. Published by the newspaper.

So, do I put you in the “Sarah is stupid” camp?

The article lists several examples of the MSM creating “gaffes” - including a dedebunking of Dan Quayle’s “potatoe” blunder.

[tobyhill]

I stand corrected, there was bells involved.

[wita]

And because the classroom spelling bit was a last-minute addition, aides who would have foreseen the everlasting damage of their boss inexplicably adding a mistake to a student’s work did not know what the placard said. Quayle subsequently forbade them from explaining the error to the media, for fear of embarrassing the teacher.

This, if true, says more about Dan Quayle, than the media ever has.

[Jonty30]

I got most of my history lessons from Professor Kitzel.

He didn’t do a half-bad job, considering he taught everything at 6am.

[org.whodat]

LOL, the shooting and the bells were long after the ride was over.

[aruanan]

Blog, not newspaper. And good old Paul did not set out on his ride to warn the British. To try and say he did is also miss stating history, it is sort of like what was the name of the hill that the battle of bunker hill was fought on???

Who said Paul "set out on his ride to warn the British"? Palin certainly didn't. If you believe this, then you, like others, are a little too quick to jump to conclusions. So, I'll provide for you, as I have others, a little more background:

To: Logical me; Solson

So paul revere was warning the British troops? Hardly. Warning shots? Bells? No...Sarah Palin screwed up and can’t admit it. At the end of the day, she’s just another politician.

What we have here is, as Rush would say, "a glittering example of colossal ignorance." The person in question has grown up hearing a certain story, assumes it to be exhaustive of the historical narrative in question, hears another account of it by someone he is predisposed to disbelieve and to discount and then assumes that the difference between what he has grown up believing to be true and what he has heard that augments it must necessarily arise from something defective in the one he is predisposed to disbelieve and to discount. This is not only an example of colossal ignorance, but of intellectual arrogance (and laziness) for not bothering to see who was correct, blithely assuming that whatever he believes must exist in some sort of one-to-one correspondence with reality--you know, the typical liberal mindset.

To set you straight (and to see whether you are able to admit your ignorance or, like a liberal, keep chattering the same old line):

Here's the whole story of Paul Revere's ride:

Revere confronted 2 British regulars manning a road block as he headed north across Charlestown Neck. As he turned around, the regulars gave chase and he eluded them. He then continued on to Lexington, to the home of Jonas Clarke where Sam Adams and John Hancock were staying. There, his primary mission was fulfilled when he notified Adams and Hancock that "The Regulars are coming out!" (he never exclaimed, "The British are coming". This would have made no sense at the time since they considered themselves British).

Revere and Dawes then headed for Concord and came across Doctor Prescott who then joined them. They decided to alarm every house along the way.

Just outside of the town of Lincoln, they were confronted by 4 Regulars at another road block. They tried unsuccessfully to run their horses through them. Prescott, who was familiar with the terrain, jumped a stone wall and escaped. Revere and Dawes tried to escape and shortly into the chase they were confronted by 6 more regulars on horseback. Revere was surrounded and taken prisoner. Dawes got away as they were taking Revere into custody.

The British officers began to interrogate Revere, whereupon Revere astonished his captors by telling them more than they even knew about their own mission. (HA!) He also told them that he had been warning the countryside of the British plan and that their lives were at risk if they remained in the vicinity of Lexington because there would soon be 500 men there ready to fight. Revere, of course, was bluffing.

The Regulars had Revere remount his horse and they headed toward Lexington Green, when suddenly, they heard a gunshot! Revere told the British officer that the shot was a signal "to alarm the country!". Now the British troops were getting very nervous (hehe).

A few minutes later, they were all startled to hear the heavy crash of an entire volley of musketry from the direction of Lexington's meeting house and then the Lexington town bell began clanging rapidly! Jonathan Loring, a Lexington resident captured earlier, turned to his captors and shouted "The bell's a' ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!"

The British officers then talked urgently among themselves and decided to release their captives so as they would not slow their retreat.

Remember how Sarah Palin said "Let's party like it's 1773" and the usual suspects, many of whom excoriated her on the matter of Paul Revere, berated her for not saying 1776? But she was referring to the Boston Tea Party that took place in 1773, not 1776.

Come on, separate yourself. Don't spend your time with such clueless jerks.

This time Palin's doing a reprise of Revere by telling the "Regulars" (those of our nation who are the apparatchiks of our nation's political oppressors) that they're going up against the tea party folk who whipped their butts in 1773 (and 2010) and who would do it again in 1776 and 2012?

So paul revere was warning the British troops? Hardly. Warning shots? Bells? No...Sarah Palin screwed up and can’t admit it. At the end of the day, she’s just another politician.

What we have here is, as Rush would say, "a glittering example of colossal ignorance." The person in question has grown up hearing a certain story, assumes it to be exhaustive of the historical narrative in question, hears another account of it by someone he is predisposed to disbelieve and to discount and then assumes that the difference between what he has grown up believing to be true and what he has heard that augments it must necessarily arise from something defective in the one he is predisposed to disbelieve and to discount. This is not only an example of colossal ignorance, but of intellectual arrogance (and laziness) for not bothering to see who was correct, blithely assuming that whatever he believes must exist in some sort of one-to-one correspondence with reality--you know, the typical liberal mindset.

To set you straight (and to see whether you are able to admit your ignorance or, like a liberal, keep chattering the same old line):

Here's the whole story of Paul Revere's ride:

Revere confronted 2 British regulars manning a road block as he headed north across Charlestown Neck. As he turned around, the regulars gave chase and he eluded them. He then continued on to Lexington, to the home of Jonas Clarke where Sam Adams and John Hancock were staying. There, his primary mission was fulfilled when he notified Adams and Hancock that "The Regulars are coming out!" (he never exclaimed, "The British are coming". This would have made no sense at the time since they considered themselves British).

Revere and Dawes then headed for Concord and came across Doctor Prescott who then joined them. They decided to alarm every house along the way.

Just outside of the town of Lincoln, they were confronted by 4 Regulars at another road block. They tried unsuccessfully to run their horses through them. Prescott, who was familiar with the terrain, jumped a stone wall and escaped. Revere and Dawes tried to escape and shortly into the chase they were confronted by 6 more regulars on horseback. Revere was surrounded and taken prisoner. Dawes got away as they were taking Revere into custody.

The British officers began to interrogate Revere, whereupon Revere astonished his captors by telling them more than they even knew about their own mission. (HA!) He also told them that he had been warning the countryside of the British plan and that their lives were at risk if they remained in the vicinity of Lexington because there would soon be 500 men there ready to fight. Revere, of course, was bluffing.

The Regulars had Revere remount his horse and they headed toward Lexington Green, when suddenly, they heard a gunshot! Revere told the British officer that the shot was a signal "to alarm the country!". Now the British troops were getting very nervous (hehe).

A few minutes later, they were all startled to hear the heavy crash of an entire volley of musketry from the direction of Lexington's meeting house and then the Lexington town bell began clanging rapidly! Jonathan Loring, a Lexington resident captured earlier, turned to his captors and shouted "The bell's a' ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!"

The British officers then talked urgently among themselves and decided to release their captives so as they would not slow their retreat.

Remember how Sarah Palin said "Let's party like it's 1773" and the usual suspects, many of whom excoriated her on the matter of Paul Revere, berated her for not saying 1776? But she was referring to the Boston Tea Party that took place in 1773, not 1776.

Come on, separate yourself. Don't spend your time with such clueless jerks.