After riffing on Paul Revere’s ride during her bus tour last week–and making a couple of basic factual errors–Sarah Palin has responded by arguing that she got the facts right.
Paul Revere was “warning the British” that night, Palin says, refusing to admit that she just worded her riff badly.
(In general, the colonists who opposed the British were, in fact, “warning” the British that they weren’t going to stand for the status quo.)
Sarah Palin’s fans, meanwhile, have responded by trying to rewrite history, in this case on the Wikipedia page for Paul Revere.
Specifically, they’ve tried to add citations to support the idea that Revere “rang bells” on his ride. (He didn’t).
Fortunately, Wikipedia editors have gotten involved, blocking some of these attempts (see below) (via Little Green Footballs).
Even Palin supporters seem unable to find support for her contention that what Revere was doing that night was “warning the British”, though perhaps that argument took place in another forum.
UPDATE: Well, what do you know! According to some historians, Paul Revere was actually detained by the British that night and warned them that they were going to face some resistance from the colonists. So, technically, Sarah Palin was right (assuming these historians are right). Of course, that brief detention was obviously not what Palin was referring to.
Here’s a discussion between Wikipedia editors and Palin fans in the Wikipedia forums:
In the article on Paul Revere, someone has added false information in an effort to support Sarah Palin’s FALSE claims about Paul Revere.
“Accounts differ regarding the method of alerting the colonists; the generally accepted position is that the warnings were verbal in nature, although one disputed account suggested that Revere rang bells during his ride.[8][9]”
This must be removed as it is a LIE designed to mislead. dj
Dajames (talk) 14:46, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
Paul Revere may have rang some bells on his ride, but does any mainstream historian believe that Paul Revere had any intent to warn or scare the British in any way? I have never heard this, except from Palin. All accounts I have read say that Revere and Dawes were trying their best to avoid being noticed by the British, who would likely capture them immediately if found. —Westwind273 (talk) 15:49, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
The Lexington church apparently was one which rang its bell. [[4]]. Is all this of any great import at all? Collect (talk) 21:18, 5 June 2011 (UTC)
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