Jay Carney Gives President Obama a History Lesson
**Written by Doug Powers
From the “Imagine the media reaction if Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann had said this” file we find the transcript from President Obama’s “jobs speech” Thursday evening in which he briefly strayed from his teleprompter to add five words:
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.
Ed Morrissey at Hot Air offers a correction from a source that brings it hilariously full circle:
In yesterday’s OOTD, I noted that the President went off script to deliver a lecture on the origins of the Republican Party, only like so many lectures delivered by Barack Obama, it consisted of misinformation. Don’t worry, though — the media is actually covering this gaffe. For instance, Tom Maguire finds Time Magazine having to correct the record on Lincoln:
He gives a good speech, but he’s loose with the facts. He called Abraham Lincoln the “founder” of the Republican Party. Nope. Lincoln was not the founder of the party; he wasn’t even the first Republican nominee (John Fremont was, in 1856). Lincoln was, of course, the first Republican to be elected president.
Great work by Time, huh? Only this piece wasn’t written this week. It was written in September 2008, and fact-checked Mike Huckabee, not Barack Obama. And guess who wrote this historical correction? Time Magazine’s Jay Carney … who now works at Barack Obama’s press secretary. They don’t talk to each other much in this White House, do they?
You won’t see much made of this in the mainstream media, if at all, just to try to help the “smartest president of all time” label to still stick.
Switching gears for the Transcontinental Railroad that Obama mentioned in his pitch for another $447 billion in spending, it’s important to remember that the TR wasn’t exactly a shining example of fiscal responsibility:
Construction of the railroad provided many opportunities for financial chicanery, corruption, graft, and bribery. The greatest financial scandal of the 19th century grew out of the railroad’s construction. The president of the Union Pacific helped found a construction company, called Credit Mobilier, which allowed investors, including several members of Congress, to grant lucrative construction contracts to themselves, while nearly bankrupting the railroad.
“The more things change the more they stay the same.”
If Credit Mobilier existed in the 21st century, who knows… they might have started a stimulus-backed solar panel company.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
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Oh that Poppin` Jay Carney Caller is such a kidder ! And smart too ! NOT !
Blazing Saddles is about as historically accurate about the railroad as Obama’s quotes in his speeches.
Oh how I wish O’Reilly would have known this when he had Carney on the other night. We have beat the hypocrisy of the media to death but it still is amazing how they carry Obumble’s water.
The conspiracy continues. How else can the Clown-in-Chief survive his own gaffes, sorry record and criminal activities?
$10 to the reporter who asks Carney to clarify the difference between The One and Huck.
O’REALLY is part of the supporting cast. He’s irrelevant and useless just like the rest of the media types.
Amazing how many gaffes pResident Doofus makes that are covered up so fast by a compliant media that we hardly notice.
But if this was President Bush, every one of them would be published and highlighted for weeks on end.
it does not stop there, pbs actually covered up the inaccurate flub. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/09/pbs_alters_transcript_to_hide_obama_gaffe.html seems they noticed, but decided to just make it disappear, instead of calling him out on it.
And that “infrastructure bank” seems like yet another Fannie/Freddie boondoggle that worked so well assuring every deadbeat that they qualified for a mortgage they couldn’t afford.
Free money always breeds corruption.
Exactly……….
Mark Steyne was a guest host for Rush yesterday and he made a comment about bho using totus. Mark said he was sick and tired of the head going to the right and left reading the thing and when bho stopped talking he stuck his nose in the air as if to say he is above us. bho does not do well when he gets off totus, he is a blithering idiot!
L
#11 s/b Steyn
L
Now now. You all need to revisit any Hollywood ‘star’, any ‘celebrity’, and Michael Moore’s comments on the current administration. They are the smartest guys in the room!
Steyn’s a smart guy, but he isn’t cut out to be a radio talker. I can’t listen to him because the twang and verbal mannerisms are too distracting to keep up with what he’s talking about. After an hour or so I’m ready to throw the radio out the window.
i disagree, while yes, he does have a quite different way to use the english language, i think he is quite refreshing. and i do not think it is a schtick, because of how fast he can reply to the callers. but walter williams is the number one fill in, imho.
I agree with you on Dr. Williams. He is a jewel. I like Mark and think he is funny on things he says. Guess my sense of humor is a bit out there?
L
Winston Smith would be so proud!
Williams is very good, as are the other two Marks. Nobody, of course, measures up to the Master himself.
It isn’t Steyn’s sense of humor I have a problem with, it’s the endless repetition of words, verbal pauses, etc. that drive me crazy. Like some guest at a party, it just takes him so long to get his witticism out that I’ve lost interest and wandered away.
Thing is…BHO completely and whole-heartedly believes he is the smartest one of all.
See what happens when Teh Won goes off the TOTUS plantation, so to speak. He improvised just 5 words and they are WRONG! Reminds me of one other time he went off script…”The police acted stupidly”. He is not too bright. I think we all can agree on that. And, his “pass the bill”, “WTF” slogans are just as stupid.
I would LOVE for TOTUS to malfunction when Obama is giving an important speech, a speech that he truly believes in and wants to convince the American People. If he can’t “wing” his own beliefs, how important are those beliefs? Lipstick on a pig, folks.
Friday, I was eagerly anticipating my session with Rush. I generally walk on the treadmill while listening, as he makes the time go so fast! When I heard Steyn’s voice, my heart sank. I would have to wait until Monday to get my Rush fix!! Don’t get me wrong…I like Steyn. But he is NOT RUSH!! Also, he laughs at his own jokes a bit too often.
***
2011 Infrastructure Bank=1860′s Credit Mobilier.
***
Repeat as necessary to re-elect the Good Comrade.
***
John Bibb
***
Really?, Blazin Saddles wasn’t the history of the railroad? Damn! Guess it’s time to hit the books again and put Hollyweird on “DISREGARD”.
You have to give O’Mulligan a break here… (did I really say that?) His ‘education’ never consisted of REAL American history. It was presented (when it was presented, Indonesia doesn’t teach American history) in a communist/socialist bias by his mentor Frank Marshall Davis, his commie grandparents (even though they participated in hated capitalism) and his mother who created doubts as to who the REAL father was.
I spun out of the ‘No Spin Zone’ a few years ago. Between him and GRETAAAA! and Hannity (to some extent) I just get tired of questions asked, answers interrupted and more questions asked, ad infinitum with no coherent answers due to the quickfire questions. I just can’t do it any longer.
************************
From Audacity of Hope:
“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” Barack Obama
That’s the Mussolini chin jut I’ve referred to in the past.
I seem to remember that the government contractors on the TranRailroad were full of cost over runs and other major problems.
The one private contractor came in under budget and on time.
On September 10th, 2011 at 12:57 pm, txvet2 said:
I think he’s a real crack-up. He laughs at his own jokes and I agree his accent is hard for some to follow. As a born and raised Texan, my ear was ‘tuned’ to the Brit accent (which wasn’t as easy as it sounds) while living there for 16 years before being repatriated. Eleven years military, five civilian.
I’ve tried reading his articles on his website but it’s just not the same for me as listening to him speak. Saying that, I’ve seen him interviewed on occasions and he is less flippant than when he stands in for Rush.
When has he given an important speech?
The one I’m looking forward to is “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
It won’t happen but one can always dream.
I’m a Rush junkie too and I hate working Saturdays due to the ‘Rush week in review’ program that is broadcast.
There are times I hear something I missed earlier in the week but it isn’t often.
Fixed it.
I thought Lincoln invented the internet. No, wait…
Of course, we know Zero doesn’t write any of his speeches. He has a crack team (apparently of crack-heads) who research and write his pithy and profound POTUS prose.
This just in: Zero speech writer Jon Lovett just resigned his WH gig to write [ahem] comedy in Hollowood. “It’s always been a dream of mine to write comedy and be creative,” says Lovett. Funny.
Seems like your dream was already realized filling up TOTUS with silliness, champ – Hollywood is a step backwards, dude.
Heh. Maybe Barry can get Peggy Noonan to fill the slot!
Hmmmm….I’ve got to wonder. Has Jeff Imelt and GE got anything to gain from this proposed boondoggle?
The best Rush stand-in was Jason Lewis, but Jason has his own syndicated radio program and therefore, can’t sit in for Rush.
As to the column, and Obambi’s weak grasp of actual facts: What’s new?
Since when have leftists let actual facts stand in the way of a good piece of rhetoric?
About TOTUS: O’s head going from side to side is truly nauseating. I feel as if he is watching a tennis match that no one else can see. Why can’t there be a way to put the cheat screen directly in front of Obama so he will have to look straight ahead at the camera and at the audience? Don’t TV news programs have such a device? I think his dependence on the Teleprompter shows his disdain for the people he is supposedly speaking to.
I didn’t know Jason Lewis used to sit in for Rush…
The things you learn here…
scrappy…. I was being sarcky….. but thanks for being more precise…
When I read this, I swear I thought it said “speech writer Jon Lovitz“, and actually it made sense. Seriously, just picture any of the last seven or twelve Obama speeches and after each ridiculous phrase, imagine him saying, “Yeah, that’s the ticket.”
It’s all clear now.
If it wasn’t for the LSM, this PRESENTdent would look like a total tool.
We need a leader, not a reader.
I like Steyn but I can’t believe nobody else has said this: His voice is a carbon copy of the Jefferson’s white neighbor with the British accent.