PBS Alters Obama 'Lincoln' Quote to Omit Gaffe (Corrected)
(This post has been updated, 12:34pm EDT)
You may have heard/seen President Obama's gaffe during his jobs speech Thursday night where he stated that Abraham Lincoln was the "founder of the Republican Party." The quote, via to the New York Times, was
"We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. Founder of the Republican Party. But in the middle of a civil war, he was also a leader who looked to the future -- a Republican President who mobilized government to build the Transcontinental Railroad -- (applause) -- launch the National Academy of Sciences, set up the first land grant colleges. (Applause.) And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set."
"Honest Abe" was not the founder of the GOP. As Hot Air's Ed Morrissey notes,
Lincoln wasn’t even the GOP’s first Presidential nominee; the first Republican nominee was John C. Fremont in 1856. As the Independence Hall Association recalls, the actual founders of the Republican Party are “Northern leaders such as Horace Greeley, Salmon Chase and Charles Sumner.” Lincoln joined early, as did other anti-slavery Whigs whose party was unraveling at the time, and Lincoln came in second for the 1856 vice-presidential nomination, but he was not a founder of the party. By the time he became a factor in the GOP, the party had already taken a majority in the House of Representatives (1855); it also carried 11 states and 114 electoral votes in the 1856 election that sent Democrat James Buchanan to the White House.
So what does taxpayer-supported PBS do about the president's blunder? They excise it. American Thinker's Tim Birdnow discovered that the network's "Newshour" transcript of President Obama's speech completely omits the Lincoln gaffe:
"We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future - a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges. And leaders of both parties have followed the example he set."
And just in case PBS gets any complaints, Birdnow has a screen capture of the altered transcript.
UPDATE: The Washington Examiner's Byron York tells Instapundit that PBS is "lazy, not dishonest":
On the pbs obama transcript thing…I looked at the text of the speech that the white house sent out before it was delivered…and the transcript of the speech that the white house sent out after it was delivered…and he adlibbed the ‘founder of the republican party’ line…it wasn’t in the original text…it seems pretty clear to me that pbs simply posted the text of the speech on its website and went home…and the new york times posted the transcript of the speech, which is what he actually said…pbs was wrong, but i don’t think they altered the transcript.
UPDATE 2: It appears York was correct -- PBS has offered that exact explanation and has updated its transcript to reflect the president's actual remarks.
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Comments
Crap
Submitted by bkeyser on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 10:46am.
I just this minute linked this in Noel's piece below.
Good opportunity.
Submitted by Bhaal on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:04am.
Well, this would be a good time for some Palin or Bachmann quality coverage for gaffes. Since the left, such as Jon Stewart and Christy Matthews, are so concerned with calling BS on people we should see some air time from these pinheads on Obama's mistake right?
You watch, Brian Williams WILL run with this for 3 nights
Submitted by merly1 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:34am.
on NBC news, right? Right?
Yup
Submitted by Bhaal on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:56am.
I'm holding by breath till Williams runs his coverage!
The smartest guy in the room
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:06am.
The smartest guy in the room and he can't even do basic research, it's obvious why he never succeeded in practicing law.
Heck did he (Obummer) even
Submitted by MichaelPaladin on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:20am.
Heck did he (Obummer) even pass the bar exam? (and I'm not talking about the Coors light bottles either)
He passed the bar,
Submitted by celator on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:28am.
He passed the bar, apparently, but later "gave up" his license to practice under mysterious circumstances. I read (but not sure I believe it yet) that he lied on his application and this was later discovered. Don't know what the lie was about or more about it than that.
Special License
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:39am.
Does one need a special law license to practice "under mysterious circumstances"? (Just kidding around. Couldn't help it!)
And while I'm at it: Lets not be so hard on career politician lawyers who fail to pass the bar. Teddy Kennedy never, ever passed a bar!
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Well played ;+}
Submitted by celator on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 1:31pm.
Well played ;+}
Do they teach about American Presidents in Indonnesia?
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:13am.
Hey, at least Obama knew Lincoln was a Republican. That's kind of surprising.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Ooooohhh...
Submitted by SamC on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:11pm.
But the libs REALLY want him to be a Democrat. They'd love to claim him and it bothers the heck out of them that they can't. Love it!
Lincoln, like Obama, went to all........
Submitted by cbeyer on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:14am.
57 states on the way to the 58th during his campaign as well! How much they have in common!
Imagine if GWB, Sarah Palin proclaimed in a major campaign speech that they had been to 57 states on the way to the 58th? SNLive would have been buzzing for weeks with jokes about them. The MSM would have made sneering disdainful remarks in newscasts. But when their appointed one made that statement in Portland Oregon during the campaign.....it elicited nothing from the MSM. Of course.
Enough with the "57 States" comment!
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:31am.
Name one American President, (or presidential candidate for that matter), who spent his formative grade school years in an Indonesian Madrasa, who hasn't made the simple mistake of thinking that the United States of America is comprised of 57 or 58 states!
Can't do it, can you? Didn't think so! HA!
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
They have updated it sir.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:25am.
They added an editor's note. They are also claiming they noted it was the speech as released from the White House prior to the actual delivery. The Lincoln gaffe was not in there. The President ad-libbed that. So did they claim it was a transcript originally?
@ the Vet
Submitted by Gary Hall on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:35pm.
Indeed. I was just looking at that - and was looking to see if anyone else hap picked it up -- good catch. And it would appear that you are correct - Obama invented the gaffe all on his own, out of his own huge and over-taxed and unemployed cerebellum.
It's on him. Let's hope we don't get any more of it on us.
(;~/ gary
Another one...
Submitted by pockets64 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:21am.
The first FEDERAL land grant college was under Lincoln's term. The FIRST land grant college was Michigan State University in 1855.
But speaking about a great man does not endow the speaker with greatness.
Obama has always, from day
Submitted by celator on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:22am.
Obama has always, from day one, struck me as some one hired from the Actors Equity Association working off a script someone else had written for him. He plays his "I'm Barack Obama, the President" role when the cameras are on, and becomes his real persona, Barry Soetoro, when he's on the golf course or on Martha's Vineyard when the film crew is gone home for the day.
Was it really a gaffe?
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:26am.
How do you make a gaffe when reading from the teleprompter? Aside from incorrect pronunciations that is. Unless he wrote the speech himself, someone else made the gaffe, he just read it outloud.
-Jon
We discussed this last night in Blonde's gaffe forum.
Submitted by The Vet on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:28am.
The prepared text did not contain the Lincoln gaffe. The President ad-libbed it. He shoulda stuck to the teleprompter. It is smarter than him.
Probably so
Submitted by jon_torlin on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:36am.
But what surprises me is that he ad-libbed that with the prompter in front of him...I mean on either side of him.
Unless he's starting to slip a bit more into the megalomania that he perceives himself a bit more frequently that is.
I don't know. I'm not disputing that it would be in the transcript of the speech(really more of an infomercial with the 15+ repeated phrase "pass this bill") or in the advance copy, but I'm having a hard time believing it was an honest mistake. Has he done this before with the prompter in place? He's done it many times without.
Oh well, doesn't matter, it doesn't change the fact that he's getting desperate.
-Jon
Excellent point, Jon.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:32am.
It is actually impossible for a puppet to make a gaffe. (Well, maybe on The Twilight Zone.)
"Government" didn't build the transcontinental railroad.
Submitted by UpNorth on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:29am.
It was built by the Union Pacific railroad and the Central Pacific railroad. And, it was Congress that issued the bonds so that it could be built. But, that might be an inconvenient fact for Obumble to bring up.
Thank you!
Submitted by Meredith1966 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:00pm.
Thanks for posting this, UpNorth. I was going to do the same thing as soon as I saw Dear Leader's assertion that 'government built the transcontinental railroad', so I'm glad you beat me to it. Maybe the fact checkers at NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, et al., will point this out as well, just as soon as they've finished pointing out the flub regarding Lincoln as the founder of the Republican Party.
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." - Thomas Jefferson
An interesting fact most
Submitted by lnthomp on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 1:59pm.
An interesting fact most people don't know (I didn't until I visited Promontory Point, UT, the location of the "golden spike"): Acting as government contractors, both railroad companies built for many, many miles past one another, until someone in the government put their foot down and made them pick a location to join their tracks. Both companies would have happily taken government money to duplicate the entire distance.
Lee T / USN(ret) /Midland, TX,
My Disapointment
Submitted by JustAl on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:31am.
and disgust with the GOP for failing to shut down taxpayer funding for this socialist propaganda organ knows no bounds. They should be voted out of office. Before people get the hackles up, think about it. If we can't do better than these why do we even give a s**t.
PBS is testing my patience.
Submitted by jessieH on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:31am.
PBS is testing my patience. Using our money to make this SOB into something he's not.
Well
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:40pm.
he's paying them isn't he?
the Chicago Trib cleaned it up too
Submitted by Rackie on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:35am.
"We all remember Abraham Lincoln as the leader who saved our Union. But in the middle of a Civil War, he was also a leader who looked to the future a Republican president who mobilized government to build the transcontinental railroad; launch the National Academy of Sciences; and set up the first land grant colleges...."
As Rick Perry might say, There's a black cloud hanging over PBS
Submitted by CO2Maker on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 11:39am.
And that black cloud is the de--, uh, Ed "I hope my face doesn't freeze this way" Schultz.
IMO, Lincoln Didn't Build the Transcontinental Railroad.
Submitted by Conservator on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 12:21pm.
The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 was a proposed bill from six years prior to passage by the 34th Congress' Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad and Telegraph. While it's true Lincoln did sign the Acts into law, it's also true that the government didn't build the Transcontinental Railroad. These acts provided funding via issuing 30-year government bonds to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad (private companies).
Viewed today, this is like the Chrysler Bailout in 1979. In fact, the U.S. Government Bonds constituted a LIEN upon the railroads and were all REPAID in full (with interest) by the companies when they became due.
This sound familiar?
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 1:13pm.
While the original bonds, issued to assist Union Pacific and Central Pacific RRs may have been a good idea, the federal government couldn't just stop there:
The American Civil War was followed by a boom in railroad construction. 56,000 miles (90,000 km) of new track were laid across the country between 1866 and 1873. Much of the craze in railroad investment was driven by government land grants and subsidies to the railroads At that time, the railroad industry was the nation's largest employer outside of agriculture, and it involved large amounts of money and risk. A large infusion of cash from speculators caused abnormal growth in the industry as well as overbuilding of docks, factories and ancillary facilities
The end result of the government pouring all this excess into the railroad expansion was the Panic of 1873, a severe depression. Kind of sounds like the housing bubble of 2007 to me.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
"We ain't got no agenda here, folks!"
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 09/10/2011 - 10:49pm.
The hypocrisy of NPR continues. The constant protests of its apolitical nature have given way to its amoral truth. As I have said before, even prostitutes have morals where the mainstream media (including Jay Carney's red phone line to NPR) have none.