Pre-Dawn Raid: Palin and Patton
Sarah Palin strikes again
Right off the bat, we want to apologize to the international Buzzkillers out there. There’s an election going on in the US this year. That means a lot of our shows and themes are going to be about how history is used and abused in campaign rhetoric, as well as how bad and inaccurate history can affect our decision-making, even when it comes to voting.
We were delighted, therefore, when Sarah Palin was giving a speech the other day, and she “just had to add General George Patton’s observation that, ‘Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politicians!’”
Not only is there absolutely no evidence that Patton ever said anything like this, it would have been highly out of context and the time period for him to say it. “Liberal Democrats” was not a form of expression used in American politics until well after Patton’s death. It would not have described or categorized any politicians the from the 1910s to the 1950s.
Palin apparently took it from the book, “The Unknown Patton” by Charles M. Province (1988). Not only does that “quote” stand out as anachronistic, there’s absolutely no evidence provided for any of the other assertions in that book.
But we are ecstatic that she’s propagating this myth because it means more exposure for our show. So listen in as Professor Nash and I explore and explode all kinds of Patton myths and other unknown material.
Interesting article. But what was left out is the fact that Sarah Palin’s quote is right! Read “The Origin of Our Left-wing Species,” by John Hayberry. It’s the best thing I’ve ever read. Right now, it’s on sale at Amazon/Kindle. (The bad guys hate it.) You can also get it at Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and the Harvard Book Store.