Price of Internet freedom? Eternal misquotes. (Republicans made up historical quotes!)

[alp227]

In the wake of Sarah Palin mangling Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, The Washington Post has this of how politicians - especially Republiars - fabricate sayings by the Founding Fathers or other American historical figures to provide an authoritarian appeal to conservatism:

On election night, a jubilant Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) laid out the modern-day tea party’s philosophy — in the words of a man who was alive for the Boston Tea Party.

“Thomas Jefferson,” the newly elected Paul said, “wrote that government is best that governs least.”

No, he didn’t.

Last year on the House floor, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), angry about the federal overhaul of health care, read a quote he said was from George Washington.

“Government is not reason. It is not eloquence,” Gohmert read. “It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

Except, historians say, Washington never said those words.

The problem results, in part, from an unfortunate marriage of two 21st-century trends. One is the new obsession with the heroes of the American Revolution as guides in a fearful era defined by political division and deepening debt. The other is America’s continued willingness to believe things it reads on the Internet.

“As Jefferson said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said during a speech last summer.

That quote is cited as being from Jefferson online, but — alas — Jefferson never uttered it. The research staff at Monticello, Jefferson’s estate, says it was incorrectly attributed to Jefferson beginning in 1838, after he had died.

Word of this debunking, however, doesn’t seem to have reached Capitol Hill.

“Our third president, Thomas Jefferson, said this,” said Rep. Marlin A. Stutzman (R-Ind.), speaking on the House floor last month. “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.”

A search of the Congressional Record and C-SPAN archives, covering the past two years, turned up at least 30 instances of politicians mangling the words or deeds of the country’s founders.

[JoeyT]

1. K&R

They pretty much have to do this. Authoritarian appeal is all conservatism has.

[exboyfil]

2. On the flip side

It allows a type of research on quotes that cannot even be imagined before its implemenation. I was able to have one website take down a quote by John Dewey which was used by John Dewey (it was used in Focus on the Family's The Truth Project). I also have David Barton's list of innaccurate quotes which he used which I am ready to bring to any Bible Study using his materials.

If incorrect quotes are used on the floor of Congress, then it is the job of the opposing party to use such misattribution against the quoter. The same can be said for reporters. Don't be afraid to ask for sources of quotes at press conferences. In other words, do your job.

[Scuba]

3. Bingo.....

...just like freedom of speech, where it is up to other citizens to condemn hate speech, it is up to other citizens to expose the lies.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Just like the corporate media, blame it on the Internet.

It wasn't the Internet that created the false assertion and repeated it incessantly in one form or another for the better part of two years prior to the coup of 2000 that Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet.

I guess that was the price of having that good old traditional corporate media freedom and all they needed to do to correct themselves was actually watch the Wolf Blitzer interview on CNN to know better.

Thanks for the thread, alp.