This was unavoidable, it was the only way to spread the alarm, but it no doubt was expected to give the British some pause and for them to expect that some sort of resistance would be mounted against them.

Palin had just heard the facts from a pro, so they probably were pretty accurate, her problem was that she was determined to turn it into some kind of commercial for her right wing loony NRA pals and her agitprop machine simply fell into the automatic bullshit mode these people seem to shift into when they wrap themselves in the flag and claim only they have any patriotic right to do so.

As Robert once pointed out on this board, these people haven’t earned the right to lick the horseshit off the founders’ boots.

Palin probably wouldn’t be my first pick for President, but I’d rather have someone in office who misremembers Paul Revere’s ride than someone who believes command economics is the neatest idea since sliced bread.

And, incidentally, has accumulated a pretty good list of his own verbal flubs.

“Gee, General, which button did you say I was NOT to push to release them nucular weapons?”

She said PR rang bells, this guy says he did as a child but on these rides, he notified people there was an emergency afoot. I don’t know if they rang bells or not. He also states PR did NOT warn the British which Palin said he did.

A rational person would have never assigned her informal statement any importance, but the media went psychotic over it, just like they do anything that Palin does or says. The professor kind of rubs the newswoman’s nose in the sheer weirdness of it toward the end.

Obama once talked about Hirohito signing the Japanese surrender papers with McArthur. Not a peep from the media.

Unless you’re an idiot savant, nobody’s going to remember every specific fact they ever knew off the top of their head. I don’t know who DID sign the Japanese surrender, but I can find it in five seconds if I need the information.

This whole “Paul Revere” flap was a load of crap from the beginning, and it’s a bit pathetic to see how they’re grasping at straws.

Test question in the context of recent events: Is a person who forgets a historical fact less qualified for high political office than a person who is a moral thug and serial liar?