Does Palin screw up or did she get it right?

Now I know some people look up to this woman as a hero, but whoo boy...if you don't know, don't try and deal with details, eh?

Look, anybody can get tripped up over the exact details of history, so this is NOT a big deal. However, if I were even potentially going to run for President, I'd have some local talking points ready to roll for everyplace I stopped.

Wouldn't you?


UPDATE: Did some quick research as to some of the language Palin used. She said he warned "...the British" which sounds wrong, but at that time, everyone still considered themselves British subjects, so technically thats not necessarily an incorrect statement. But to say he warned the British makes it sound like Revere was warning the English that the English were coming. Really, he warned the Americans that the English were coming across the Charles River into Charlestown. When we have to split a hair this finely, I call it a mistake.

Revere did not actually say, "The British are coming, the British are coming!"  When a local asked to him to not make so much noise as he rode through the countryside, he said, "Noise!" cried Revere, "You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out!"

No account I could find described Revere firing warning shots or ringing bells. Actually, he and the other Patriots who were trying to get the word of the British advancing on the city were trying to do so as quietly as possible. I have no idea where she got warning shots and bells from.

To the claim she made that Revere gave the British a warning that they weren't going to "take our arms," is possibly a reference to a weapons store in Concord. Its an awkward way to describe it. Its possible that's what she meant, or its possible she wasn't sure. I can't tell.

She said he rode through town, when he actually road from one town (Boston) to another (Lexington). Technically, some of his ride occurred in both of those towns, so make of that what you will.

She said Revere showed the British that "...we were going to be secure and free." I also couldn't find anything that remotely suggested that Revere had said anything of that nature to the British soldiers who had captured him and questioned him.

The nicest spin I can put on this is that Palin gave a partially inaccurate description of Revere's ride. She chose an odd way to refer to the British being warned. The gunshots and bells things-I have no explanation for.

A harsher spin would be that she really didn't know what the hell she was talking about and winged it, getting some of it kind of right, some of it totally wrong and added five "ummms" in 19 seconds. Which suggests she was making this up as she went along.

All of us have tried to describe something and gotten it correct in a kinda/sorta way. Palin's guilty of this, joining a long line of speakers who stumbled on tape.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere#.22Midnight_Ride.22

http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/real.html

http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/virtual.html