The Republicans keep making things up

By: teacherken
Published On: 9/3/2008 10:21:32 PM

Last night, Fred Thompson said that McCain turned down the offer of medical treatment in return for military information, when in fact McCain has several written that he in fact offered to trade when he realized he might die from his leg.

Tonight was Mike Huckabee's turn.  In his remarks he offered the following statement:

Abraham Lincoln reminded us that a government that can do everything for us can also take everything from us.
  Lincoln never said it.  Nor, by the way, did Thomas Jefferson, to whom something similar is often attributed:
Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have.
 Thanks to the wiki at Monticello we can ascertain that Jefferson never made any such statement, that the closest approximation was made by Gerald Ford in a oin Address to the Congress on August 12, 1974, just after he assumed the presidency upon the resignation of Richard Nixon, when he said:
A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have

And I wonder if any of the Republicans in attendance tonight realized that context - in the wake of the abuses of office of a Republican president forced from office lest he be impeached and removed.  

Peace.

Comments



actually that's a Barry Goldwater quote (presidentialman - 9/3/2008 11:57:11 PM)
A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.
Barry Goldwater
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.
Barry Goldwater

Whereas Ronald Reagan said "Government is not the solution to our problems, Government is the problem" http://www.brainyquote.com/quo...

Though I'm not disputing that Republicans make stuff up. That part is true.



Thanks for the research (iowa929 - 9/4/2008 1:18:44 AM)
By the way, did you note Michael Steele's wonderful oratorical style?  He repeatedly called out variations of "Do you want to keep your country first?"  The crowd responded each time by roaring "Yes!"  The Steele would ask them to put their country first by doing something, such as lowering taxes, or drilling for more oil.  It seemed like most of the ideas were for putting themselves first, not their country.