america's sweetheart

Sarah Palin Was Merely Referring to a More Esoteric Paul Revere Text

Earlier this week, Sarah Palin made one of her more memorable gaffes in recent memory, while recalling the classic story of Paul Revere: “He who warned, uh, the … the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and, um, ridin’ his horse through town to send those warnin’ shots,” she said, seeming to mix up who was warning whom about what. But on Fox News today, Palin said the lamestream media was quick to mock her, of course, without even realizing she had made no mistake at all:

According to the Washington Post, Palin appears to be referring to a part of the story in which Revere is detained by the British and warns them, while at gunpoint, that 500 American militiamen await in Concord. That segment isn’t in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, the layman’s version of events, but it is in fact described elsewhere in historical accounts. In any case, Palin’s been repeatedly blending aspects of that story with the one in which Revere warns the Americans that the British are coming, but at least she recounts Revere’s famous quote — “Hey, you’re not goin’ to succeed!” — with 100 percent accuracy.

Palin: ‘I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere’ [44/WP]

Sarah Palin Was Merely Referring to a More Esoteric Paul Revere Text