HuffPo Slams Bill O'Reilly for 'Massive' Errors in Lincoln Book - And Cites All of Three
The overly-caffeinated, partisan headline writers at Huffington Post are at it again, this time in response to "Killing Lincoln," a book on the Lincoln assassination co-written by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.
Here's how one of the headlines at HuffPo described the book --
Bill O'Reilly's New Book Contains Massive Factual Errors
Another HuffPo headline along the same lines --
Bill O'Reilly 'Killing Lincoln' Errors: Book Contains Plethora of Factual Inaccuracies
And here's that "plethora" of "massive" errors in the 325-page book, as described in the HuffPo story that accompanied both headlines --
In one instance, the book claims Ford's Theater was burned down in 1863 when it was actually destroyed in the end of 1862. The book contains multiple references to Lincoln in the Oval Office, which wasn't built until decades after his death. It also contains the line 'He furls his brow'; furl is a nautical term, the correct word is furrows.
Gee, hope you didn't blink more than once while reading that or you might have missed 'em.
Of these, only one constitutes what I would consider a dumb mistake, O'Reilly placing Lincoln in the Oval Office. (Before this I was vaguely aware of it having been built in the early 20th century). Getting the year wrong on the fire could easily be a typo. As for "furl" being strictly a nautical term, this comes across as strikingly picayune. Google Books has 180 examples of "furl|furling|furls|furled his|her brow" and most appear in "recent publications," according to Language Log. Had Robert Frost said "he furls his brow" in his poem at Kennedy's inauguration, liberals would still swoon after hearing it.
To his credit, O'Reilly acknowledged the errors, describing them as "four minor misstatements" and two typeset errors, "one involving a date," and said they've been corrected.
Fittingly enough, the HuffPo story itself needed a correction -- "A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that both Ford's Theater bookstores banned the book. Only one of them banned it."
No matter -- a search for "O'Reilly" at HuffPo still turns up this headline -- "Bill O'Reilly Book 'Killing Lincoln' Banned at Ford's Theater." Will this get visitors' wifi access to HuffPo banned at Ford's Theater?
- Jack Coleman's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Massive, I tell ya, MASSIVE!!
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 6:37pm.
I mean, it's not like he made some piddly little mistake like "forgetting" the income on his rental property on his taxes, or paying for his personal plane with taxpayer funds...
This is serious, folks, it's in a BOOK!
Or getting the number of
Submitted by Dave81 on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:32pm.
Or getting the number of states wrong...
Almost all non-fiction books
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 6:39pm.
Almost all non-fiction books have some mistakes in them. If they have any comparable to what O'Reilly's book has, that's very good.
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Promoting book
Submitted by ReaganCanadian on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 6:52pm.
I think Bill has been promoting his book in 57 states so far and only has 2 to go.
Not a mistake
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 7:54pm.
When Obama said "57 states", it wasn't a "mistake". Sure he was tired, and sure, he knows that the United States has 50 states. Somewhere deep in Obama's memory, he recalled the number 57 and the word "states", and blurted out that he had been to 57 states. Obama had to learn this when he was at the madrasa as a child in Indonesia. There, he learned that the OIC, (Organization of Islamic States), had 57 member states. It's easy to understand that Obama had a momentary "brain fart", and blurted out that he had traveled to all 57 states. There can be no other conclusion. Nobody just makes a mistake about the number of states in the United States and says "57"!
This slip goes hand-in-hand with Obama believing that Hawaii is part of Asia. NOBODY WOULD EVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THIS, UNLESS THEY WERE TAUGHT THIS AS A CHILD!!
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
On Lincoln
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 7:39pm.
As the resident Lincoln scholar here, I can assure you that “Killing Lincoln” is a trifling disgrace. The key argument that was overlooked in this article was O’Reilly’s and Dugard’s lack of references and sketchy source material.
I suggest if any of you really want to understand the character of Lincoln; you should start with Gore Vidal’s “Lincoln”.
Wow, Hank!!
Submitted by NC Cop on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 7:49pm.
Pretty impressive considering you never read the book!!!
As the resident Henry Clay scholar here, I can assure you that you are, once again, completely full of sh*t.
huh?
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:00pm.
do you realize you're referencing historical fiction?
Reading is good
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:14pm.
I suppose you are not familiar with serious writing dear. Vidal had total access to Lincoln’s diaries and private correspondences. He gets inside of the man’s head and actually humanizes him; he finds things that other historians refuse to look at objectively.
P.S. He had real source material unlike O'Reilly
Is Vidal's work.....
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:21pm.
Is Vidal's work a novel, or a scholarly work of history?
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Vidal vs. O'Reilly
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:45pm.
What a philosophical question indeed my dear boy. What is history? Is it the random compilation of facts and dates recorded by an impartial chronicler? Or is history far murkier. Oh how I would love to be in the head of Josephus when he wrote his history with a sword pointed to his throat. Or speak to Apuleius when the “Golden Ass” a novel was written, but now used as a historical document describing the Golden age of Rome.
Yes, history can mean a great many things to a great many people. One man’s lion is another man’s swine. One man’s savior is another man’s tyrant. Oh, how Napoleon knew what history would say- it is written by the victors. Or Tolstoy saying- history is great, if only if it was real.
Yes, Vidal wrote a novel but being an artist he was able to loose the shackles that pseudo-scholars try to impose upon their brethren. O’Reilly fell into the trap of the vain. He thought he could write history; he thought his history would be above reproach. He faltered he made commonplace look excellent. Vidal on the other hand broke boundaries that few dare even to approach with his book. He made Lincoln the man he was. Flawed, conniving, insensitive. In other words human….
Deep sighs.... I can almost hear them.
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:00pm.
If I ever questioned your seriousness, I certainly have my answer now.
I think I like this caricature almost as much as your previous one.
From where did you lift that comment?
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:08pm.
Compared to your other posts, Hank, the language is quite discordant. Raiding the historiography sites now, are you?
Scholarly History Book vs Fiction
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:31pm.
Actually, I was wondering if Vidal's book on Lincoln had footnotes and references.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Hay Clay
Submitted by Samshile on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:47pm.
Do you ever excongitate a thought of your own? You sound like a snarky parrot. The story about BO's book was fake. It has been at the Ford Theater for weeks. Listening to you shrink Bo's head exemplifies a dolt and is obtuse behavior.
Right Wing Bias
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:01pm.
Friend, I suppose you have been drinking? Ford’s Theatre accepted his “book” back only after he fixed his mistakes. O’Reilly got a mulligan that no other author would have received. That sounds like major bias to me.
Did you read his book, or did you read the WaPo . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 11:12pm.
. . . review?
oh, Henry...
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:24pm.
You are saying that we should read this highly subjective account to get an objective perspective from a self described propagandist, America hating author?
Alrighty then.
It's not as if I am a fan of BOR, I just question your seriousness. Nice dig by the way... the whole... "I must not be sufficiently nuanced enough to understand your towering intellect" act.
oh..
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:29pm.
I forgot to add that I fluttered the back of my hand ever so helplessly across my face and swooned.
Swooned, I tell ya.
Sounds like you were reading
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:46pm.
Sounds like you were reading too much Jane Austen...
only in my AP lit classes
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:02pm.
and only under duress. I was more fond of Heinlein, Orwell, and Bradbury.
Henrietta Mierda,
Submitted by Trix Rabbit on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:12pm.
Who made you a "Lincoln scholar" and who asked you to be the "resident Lincoln scholar" here?
For the MSM: In your pomp and all your glory, you're a poorer man than me. As you lick the boots of death born out of fear.
Ian Anderson "Wind up"
Not Just Lincoln
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:31pm.
There is a major vacuum here at NewsBusters for knowledge. I had to fill it. I am not just the resident Lincoln scholar; I am also the resident Literature, World War I, War Between the States (Please do not say Civil War on here), Hadrian, Biblical, Catholic Church, and Islam scholar; and I know a great deal about dinosaurs too.
P.S. I also do carpentry
No, you are just another con artist troll.
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:36pm.
You do more self-serving monologues than Johnny Carson at the zenith of his career as host of the "Tonight" show.
Not buying the pseudo-intellectual act, Hank. You are only convincing us that you are mirroring the line from "Top Gun" in that your ego is writing checks that your body cannot cash. Sounds like the account was even closed.
The only vacuum around NB is
Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:37pm.
the one between Hank Mud's ears.
You think you're the resident anything, but you're only a legend in your own mind.
We seriously need a "LIKE"
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:10pm.
We seriously need a "LIKE" button.
Henry Mud is showing ignorance with each and every post.
A major BS flag if I ever saw one
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:11pm.
Considering your complete failure to grasp human nature, or the most basic fundamentals of history, you cannot, by definition, be a scholar at any of those things. I suggest you start right back at the beginning.
Oh, and that war that was fought within the United States from April 1861 to April 1865 is in fact called the Civil War. Too bad, so sad. If you don't like it, you know who to go cry to.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
True Uns, Henry Mud is
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:22pm.
True Uns,
Henry Mud is quite stupid. Maybe he needs to go rant and rave at these organizations in using The Civil War to describe what happened in the United States back in the 1860's.
National Park Service
Smithsonian
National Archives
Even Henry's paper of choice:
New York Times
According to Henry these Institutions are quite stupid. But then again he is not that intellectually strong.
A WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:39pm.
Please do not refer to the War Between the States as a “Civil War”. I know quite well that the National Parks use “Civil War” as a replacement to the proper terminology. I nearly wept when I saw those words at Monocacy. It is a dumb downed version.
For those who do not know, a civil war is a war between two groups for control of a government. What happened in America was a rebellion. One group decided to break away from another and form a NEW government! It was literally a WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, thus we should label it as such.
Well dumba$$ why don't you go
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:50pm.
Well dumba$$ why don't you go all Don Quixote on these institutions:
Harvard University
Columbia University
The White House
So you think your're smarter than any of the places I have listed?
Delusional much?
It was and always will be "The Civil War"
Observation
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:54pm.
I notice that those who constantly boast about how scholarly they are are in fact the biggest dumbasses on this site.
Note such "SUPREME EXPERTS" in any and all things as williams411, Incestmo, and now HC.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
THE CIVIL WAR
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:50pm.
The CIVIL WAR it IS and THE CIVIL WAR it shall be. Just as there are seas on the moon, just as the world's largest lake is the Caspian SEA, and so on and so forth. If you cannot accept that, you CANNOT a thousandth the scholar you so claim to be.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Henrietta,
Submitted by Trix Rabbit on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 11:11pm.
A major vacuum? According to....? I have two bachelor degrees in psychology and accounting. I am fluent in three languages. I have been to places you couldn't even begin to pronounce and yet you presume to "fill" a major vacuum.
The only thing anyone here needs from you is to put the fries in the bag and hand us the change.
For the MSM: In your pomp and all your glory, you're a poorer man than me. As you lick the boots of death born out of fear.
Ian Anderson "Wind up"
Civil War
Submitted by Billwood on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 11:33pm.
Professor Clay:
While the totality of your observations enrich the debate, I must take issue with your reluctance to label the Civil War as such. Are we to suffer not only war, but the absence of civility as well? I believe the only war one should embrace would be one of a civil nature; as conflict of any other brand would be sufficiently unpleasant as to be avoided altogether.
History
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:23pm.
I suggest that if you want to lay the claim of being a scholar of much anything in history, that you actually occasionally read history.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Hello, friend! Weren’t you
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:33pm.
Hello, friend! Weren’t you the chap I schooled yesterday? I really cannot tell because there were so many.
Dreaming in class
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:36pm.
Again there Hank?
did you hear that?
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:40pm.
I am pretty sure Henry said : Thank you sir, may I have another!
And surely enough, Henry Clay
Submitted by Liberallies on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:54pm.
And surely enough, Henry Clay bends over for more.
This guy is a glutton for punishment.
Try again
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:04pm.
Insecure much, or are you trying to stroke your ego?
See, as you are intellectually bankrupt, you cannot, by definition, school ANYONE.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Henry Clay bends over while
Submitted by Liberallies on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 10:29pm.
Henry Clay bends over while asking Unsane, "Please sir! Please! may I have another?"
Unsane, Henry Clay, like most Liberals seems to be well versed on one thing, how to be a useful idiot for the Left.
'He furls his brow' is a
Submitted by Reaver on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 7:50pm.
'He furls his brow' is a factual error?
Another scholar reviewed the
Submitted by Henry Clay on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:09pm.
Another scholar reviewed the book and he rebukes O’Reilly :
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/12/second_expert_trashes_oreillys_lincoln_b...
Salon?
Submitted by UpNorth on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:06pm.
What's next, Mr. Mud? You going to cite Wiki as a source?
Wow
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:25pm.
Shocking. Historians in disagreement...
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Hey,
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:35pm.
Did salon do a parody of Obama and ol Abe? One freed the slaves, and the other makes the slaves.
Your no Lincoln historian, now matter how much you self proclaim it.
Hey Hank...
Submitted by Ricksterct on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 8:52pm.
Resident scholar this...
One more thing, Hank...
Submitted by Ricksterct on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:06pm.
What's with the semi-colon? Must have picked that up in your last MENSA meeting...
FWIW, in Spanish idiom, "mensa' is an adjective...
Submitted by drsamherman on Wed, 11/16/2011 - 9:47pm.
...for "stupid" when applied to a female. "Menso" would be applied to a male.
So for Hank that means...........
Much appreciated! Learning every day...
Submitted by Ricksterct on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 11:20am.
Thanks!
i don't see why
Submitted by superllama on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 5:22am.
everyone seems to be paying attention to one idiot that thinks he is smart. i mean really...the whole "my dear" thing is so condescending and fake. just ignore him, he'll get bored and go try to impress someone else with his imagined brain powers. hopefully, this will be a group of 6 year olds, so he can really feel superior. and you can call it the civil war all you want, to me it's the war of northern aggression.
But...
Submitted by Unsane on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 7:35am.
...but it is not the "War of Northern Aggression" nor is it the "War for Southern Independence". If the South had won...maybe. But the South lost the Civil War.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Henry Clay, let me ask again . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 11:02am.
. . . Did you read O'Reilly's "Killing Lincoln" or just the Wash Post reviews and blogs?
I haven't read the book (nor any other O'Reilly book), nor do I intend to, so I can't speak to it with any authority.
Don't hold your breath
Submitted by Kingfish17 on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 3:18pm.
Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer from Henry Clay. I asked him if Gore Vidal's "Lincoln" had footnotes and references yesterday, since he was condemning O'Reily's book for not having footnotes and references, but praising Vidal's book. No answer from him so far.
One of the hallmarks of drive-by-posters and trolls is their refusal to respond to direct questions.
"You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas...on the taxpayer’s dime." Barack Obama
Bill mentioned a couple more
Submitted by StarAZ on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 12:47pm.
He also said all had been corrected. Most textbooks contain many more--although that is not a justification. Bill also said there is a campaign to undercut the book...So before I say more and perhaps post on Amazon myself--I am going to read it. I just downloaded it in audio this morning.
Plus--my dear Huffpo--"furrow" is not transitive
Submitted by StarAZ on Thu, 11/17/2011 - 12:50pm.
You can create furrows in a brow or field--but not just furrow them.