Redoubling the Stupid
by digby
Oh bullshit:
Think Progress tells the story:
If Palin knows her American history, this latest bit of jujitsu shows no evidence of it. The purpose of Revere’s ride was to inform John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and other colonial American patriots that the British Army was marching from Boston to Lexington. As such, secrecy and stealth were essential. So contrary to Palin’s claim that Revere warned the British they would not succeed, Revere attempted to avoid all contact with British troops or British loyalists already living in the colonies. The entire point of Revere’s mission was to inform the patriots of the British movements without the British knowing they were being informed.
At one point in the night, Revere was temporarily detained and interrogated by British soldiers at a roadblock. He intentionally provided them a falsely inflated description of the colonial militia’s strength, though only in the most strained metaphorical reading could this be considered a “warning.”
Furthermore — again due to the need for secrecy and stealth — Revere used no bells or warning shots, and delivered his message in face-to-face contacts throughout the night. (Palin seems to simply forget her creative inclusion of the bells and warning shots in her initial recounting.)
She’s clearly been reading her wingnut blogs which have been twisting themselves into pretzels trying to rationalize her nonsense. Their big claim is that the most important part of Revere’s ride was that temporary detention by the British, which Professor Palin with her deep knowledge of American history was using as teachable moment for the liberal elite and the lamestream media to learn that our revolution was all about the right to bear arms. Not kidding.
They’re trying to rewrite the Paul Revere Wikipedia page right now. And I’m quite sure that more than a few American children will now grow up being taught that Paul Revere rode to warn the British that they’d better not try to take America’s guns away.
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