Osler's Razor

It might matter if she were anything other than a political sideshow. Since she abandoned her office to be a TV personality, what she thinks is of no consequence.
 

A few points:

You can defend Palin's first statement (as Professor Robert Allison, Chairman, History Department, Suffolk University, did on NPR) indirectly on the margins and giving her the benefit of the doubt that "bells" and "warning shots" were somewhat metaphorical.

Moreover, as David Hacket Fischer showed us in the modern classic on the subject, Paul Revere's Ride, Longellow was much more inaccurate than Palin. So, every talking head who was laughing at Palin and quoting the "Midnight Ride" as history was off base as well.

Revere was not shouting the "British are coming" because every person in the New England area would have considered themselves British in 1775. He would have been shouting "Regulars" or maybe "Redcoats" once in a while for some variety.

And I can go on: in a way this was a warning to the British. There were a lot of bells and bullets that night and early morning. The British mission did revolve around wresting arms and munitions from the Radical-controlled militia.

But the point is that Palin's first statement was awkward--even if it can be defended piece by piece. The second statement was even more out there. I do not fault Palin for having a very loose grip on American history. As you say, Mark, most Americans don't have any better grasp on the facts and legends our American past.

Joe Biden in September of 2008 on the CBS Morning News said that FDR (as president) got on TV in 1929 to calm fears about the Great Depression. We gave him a break b/c we like him and we know he is smart and we know people get things mixed up sometimes.

Palin is just about as smart as Joe Biden (which is one reason why they battled to a draw in their VP debate in 2008).

What is most damning in my view in re Palin is on that second shot at Paul Revere, she should have nailed it. But she doubled-down as they say, with an awkward defense of her awkward statement. This is emblematic of my biggest complaint about the former Alaska governor. You need to nail your second shots. And she too often misses the follow-up tip in (please forgive the mixed metaphors).
 

Maybe she can see the Old North Church from her house in Arizona (Alaska certainly is too far away).

All smarminess aside, WF is right with the exception of the British thing. The NE's would have thought of themselves as Englishmen, not British, and as I am sure SP knows, Revere was a Huegenot.
 

Paul Revere was also a Metal Smith and tasteful designer of functional household utensils. And as Pootie advised me the other day, he had a lot of children.

WF - mixed metaphors appreciated.
 

Yeah, the Farmer's right. Longfellow's poem is inaccurate. But she was foolish not to stick with the basic folklore we all have been exposed to at some point. And when she had a second chance, yes, she should have nailed it.

Reagan is supposed to have once said, when asked how it was than an Actor became President, that he did not see how anyone could be a successful president without being an actor.

The point is, Reagan was "Presidential," as was Clinton on his good days, as has been Obama when he made his Bin Laden speech, his speech after the Tucson shooting, etc.

Palin does not carry herself that way.
 

... but Hillary Clinton does. She often seems presidential, especially as Secretary of State. It's not a gender thing.
 

And one of the great testimonies to Reagan's brilliance and political acumen was his employment of John Winthrop's usage of "the city on a hill" imagery. Palin does not have that, not by a long shot.
 

I agree, Hillary has been calm, cool and collected as Sec. State. She has buried the image of the raging, shrieking partisan that the media created and that she abetted.
 

I can't decide it Palin is stupid or just ignorant. If she is ignorant, she must be too stupid to realize her deficits and correct them.

Either way, she is a disgrace to the country and a sad example of the depths to which the right wing nuts have sunk.

Lee
 

American Violet is on BET tonight.
 

"she is a disgrace to the country"

Lee, never afraid of hyperbole.
 

AND WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER SAYING THAT, WHAT WITH YOUR STUPID REVISIONIST IDIOTIC LIBERAL "HISTORY" AND SUCH? DID OUR FOUNDERS EXPECT US TO MEMORIZE WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR NATION? NO! THEY EXPECTED LOWER TAXES, A UNIFORMLY CHRISTIANIZED SOCIETY INVOLVING MORAL VALUES UNFAIRLY EXTRAPOLATED FROM DE-CONTEXTUALIZED PARTS OF THE BIBLE, AND A WELL-FUNDED (NOT FROM TAXES, OF COURSE) MILITARY WILLING TO KILL ANYONE WHO STANDS IN OUR WAY!!!

LIMBAUGH/BECK 2012!!!

ALL CAPS GUY
 

Anon 5:56 - thanks for the heads up - just got home and turned it on with the final church scene and that bolo tie wearing guy clapping his hands.
 

What I find most distressing about her showing in this instance, besides the fact that she looks like she's getting ice cream while on break from filming a remake of Valley of the Dolls, is that she wasn't asked about Paul Revere.

"What have you seen so far today and what are you going to take away from your trip?"...huh?

She may be a political genius, a terrifying political genius. Look what's she's gotten from this, she has been lambasted by the Rights favorite "liberal" media targets and she's given her supporters an endless free news cycle in which to cheer her on...I shutter to think. (And no, I don't think it matters one bit, to enough people, if she even knows who Paul Revere is.)
 

RRL - sorry, meant to say that her being taken seriously by anyone is a disgrace for the country.

Shows what happens when I get in a hurry.

Lee
 

Here's the inside scoop from the Rev. Stephen T. Ayers, Vicar of Boston's Old North Church. He's an Episcopal priest who gave Sarah Palin and her entourage a tour of the church before she headed over to Parziale's Bakery (and "gotcha" infamy).