Two Tea Baggers flub explanation of Revolutionary War
Palin flubs explanation of Paul Revere's ride
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Sarah Palin is a divisive figure. But no matter where you stand with the former Alaska governor's politics, this recent video of her speaking about Paul Revere's historic ride is sure to raise a few eyebrows.
In the video, which was taken at Boston's Old North Church, Palin gives a bizarre version of Revere's 1775 ride. Addressing an unknown person, Palin remarks:
He who warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and, um, making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that, uh, we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.
A couple of things are wrong with that interpretation, but one central main point seemed to be lost on Palin: Revere wasn't warning the British about anything. Indeed, he was warning the Americans about an impending British attack--as his celebrated historical catchphrase "The British are coming!" made abundantly clear.
But Palin can take some small consolation in knowing she's not alone among high-profile leaders affiliated with the tea-party wing of the conservative movement in misremembering a key development in colonial American history--even as the movement prides itself on serving as the guardian of the American Revolution's founding principle of liberty. Last month, Michele Bachmann--Palin's likeliest rival for the tea party vote should they both elect to run for president in 2012--told a crowd in New Hampshire that they came from the state where the first "shot heard round" helped set off the American Revolution in Lexington and Concord. Lexington and Concord, of course, are in the neighboring state of Massachusetts.
You can watch footage of Palin's remarks in the video above.
Tea Party's Michele Bachmann caught out over history gaffe
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The Tea Party claims its members are steeped in the traditions and history of America, but for one darling of the movement, she may need to go and do her homework.
That’s because Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann in a stirring speech given to an audience in New Hampshire said the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired in their state.
As any history student will tell you, the first shots were fired in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
Bachmann was in New Hampshire where she is weighing up a possible bid to become Republican nominee for the 2012 Presidential elections.
The north eastern state hosts the first set of primaries and can give a campaign a much needed boost early on.
Clutching a tea bag in her hand, she told a group of students and conservative activists in Manchester, New Hampshire: ‘You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.’
The gaffe is even more embarrassing because the conservative tea party movement get its name from when angry American colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbour in protest against the British, a mere 16 months before the Battle of Lexington Green in 1775.
The Representative from Minnesota attempted to brush off her historical error, writing on Facebook: ‘So I misplaced the battles Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire.
‘It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!’
With tea bag in hand, Bachmann was greeted with applause when she asked the crowd: ‘How about a United States president that gets what the American people want in 2012?’
She added: ‘Are you in for 2012? I'm in!’ Before having to clarify that she was yet to make a decision as to whether she would run or not.
She will make her decision by early summer, she said.
Bachmann's trip overlapped one day with former Minnesota Gov Tim Pawlenty's latest visit, offering voters a glimpse of their contrasting styles.
Pawlenty, a former two-term governor, has taken a more traditional path to exploring a White House bid by traveling to key states, spreading money to potential allies through his political action committee and publishing a memoir as he left office.
On Friday, he brushed off reporters' attempts to get him to criticise fellow Republican Mitt Romney on health care, and in remarks at a New Hampshire hospital, offered subdued criticism of Obama's national health care law.
The former Governor face a roomful of sceptical doctors in one of the most liberal parts of the state, while Bachmann preferred to play it easy in front of a wildly supportive crowd that included tea party activists from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
She called Obama's health care overhaul the ‘ultimate example of arrogance.’
The former federal tax lawyer said: ‘The real problem is the arrogant elites in Washington, D.C., who think they know how to run your lives far better than you
‘You can't be trusted to run your lives, they have to run your lives for you.’
Bachmann, who only recently began travelling to early nominating states, rose through the Minnesota ranks on social issues and is a favourite of the tea party in Congress, where she is in her third term.
A formidable fundraiser, she's also built a national following through her blunt commentary on cable television news shows.
Her speech was briefly interrupted by protesters who had initially been allowed in the room.
But after 30 minutes they stormed across the conference room, holding signs and chanting ‘Michele Bachmann we insist, end the AIDS treatment waiting list.’
The protest was in relation to the state and federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
Many cash-strapped states have taken steps to cap enrolment, drop patients or institute waiting lists. Bachmann thanked them for the ‘love,’ as they were ushered out.
She added: ‘We're seeing this kind of response because the left knows we're coming and we're serious about 2012.’
