Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Archae

(46,260 posts)
Wed Feb 25, 2015, 02:17 PM Feb 2015

"Historian" David Barton comes down with O'Reilly-itis...

Making claims he can't back up about his past.

David Barton Claims To Have Played On Record-Setting Basketball Team In College

Submitted by Kyle Mantyla on Wednesday, 2/25/2015 12:09 pm

Earlier this month, David Barton delivered a series of presentations at Charis Bible College on "The Principles of Success." In the very first presentation, Barton made a claim that we had never heard from him before, despite having listened to literally hundreds of his radio programs and presentations, when he told the audience that he played college basketball for a team that "set the NCAA record for two years in a row for most points scored" per game.

Barton was teaching on a passage from 1 Corinthians about the need to "strike a blow to my body and make it my slave" and whip one's self into shape in order to be a success and cited his college basketball days as an example.

"I remember when I was playing basketball, the college stuff that we did," he said, "we started every day with a five mile run, then we lifted weights, then we had an hour of racquetball, then we had two hours of full-court basketball, then we came back for another run. It wasn't particularly enjoyable, but in those years, our college team set the NCAA record for most points scored. We averaged 105, 104, 103 points a game, I forget what it was":

Just about every article we have ever seen reports that Barton graduated from Oral Roberts University and did so in 1976.

According to Wikipedia, the ORU men's basketball team led the nation in scoring in the 1972 and 1973 seasons. A search of the rosters of the Oral Roberts men's basketball from the years Barton possibly attended contain no mention of Barton having been on the team, including during the two record-setting seasons he specifically cited:

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/david-barton-claims-have-played-record-setting-basketball-team-college#sthash.fzIdnPOQ.dpuf

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

blm

(112,919 posts)
1. This is the GOPs idea of a credible 'historian'.
Wed Feb 25, 2015, 02:22 PM
Feb 2015

Real historians say….."Who is David Barton? We've never heard of him."

underpants

(182,271 posts)
3. Media Matters Mediaite RW Watch Crooks & Liars TPM etc.
Wed Feb 25, 2015, 03:19 PM
Feb 2015

Not only do RightWingers operate inside a bubble they also have not adapted to organizations who can record-reference-check them on facts and their own past statements. It used to be Rush and his kind could just re-inform the audience of their prior position (in other words drastically change it) and their was no history. Their believers will follow them regardless but the rest of us now have documentation.

yellowcanine

(35,692 posts)
4. He COULD have been covering the games for the school newspaper and just got confused about his role.
Wed Feb 25, 2015, 03:25 PM
Feb 2015

Or maybe he was watching the games from the stands and had a Walter Mitty moment.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»"Historian" Dav...