We all make mistakes. Some of us have an easier time admitting that we made them though. Some of us are in the national spotlight and are making mistakes to stake out an exclusive claim on our nation’s independence heroes for our own political ends.
Cue Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, two prominent political figures. Does it matter that they are on the right of the political spectrum? Actually, it probably does since they both channel the colonists who engaged in the 1775 tea party to demand liberty.
In mid-May, Minnesota Congresswoman Michell Bachmann was “not” campaigning in New Hampshire which traditionally holds the first Presidential primary elections, tried to ingratiate herself with the local crowd by saying “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.”
A few weeks later, former Alaska Governor and VICE-PRESIDENTIAL candidate (!) Sarah Palin was also “not” campaigning in Boston when she tried to re-write the role of Paul Revere in claiming our liberty this way: “He who warned the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells, and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.”
It’s great material for John Stewart or David Letterman. They might even say it’s too easy for them.
Their followers try to deflect, by saying these missteps do not really matter; that the liberal media is out to “get” them while giving Barack Obama a pass. Most likely, colleagues on their side of the political aisle are fuming, as these gaffes detract from serious candidates who have announced they are running for President.
It would be interesting to imagine members of their staffs, trying to prep and brief them for their next non-campaign stops. They will either have bookmarked Wiki-Pedia to get the latest tidbits of history in each stop or they are carrying around with them a seventh grade U.S. history textbook, maybe even copies of Scholastic magazine.
And, it would be more than entertaining if the other Wiki (of leaks fame) could dredge up some of the cables from other countries’ embassies in the U.S. so that we could see how they are trying to interpret the politics of our next Presidential election.
Here’s how the cable might read from the UK Embassy: “So Paul Revere was warning us? If only we knew? Had we listened and just allowed them to keep their guns for hunting, North America still might be our colonial empire.”
History All Around 