'Wash Times' Columnist Uses Fabricated Abraham Lincoln Quote

[133724]

NEW YORK The drive by some political and military figures -- and pundits -- to paint those who oppose the war in Iraq as traitors or at least not supporting the troops has hit another low, with a Washington Times columnist trumpeting an incendiary quote from Abraham Lincoln shown to be a fabrication last year.

Frank Gaffney, Jr. opened his latest column with this: "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." — President Abraham Lincoln.

He continues: "It is, of course, unimaginable that the penalties proposed by one of our most admired presidents for the crime of dividing America in the face of the enemy would be contemplated — let alone applied — today. Still, as the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate engage in interminable debate about resolutions whose effects can only be to 'damage morale and undermine the military' while emboldening our enemies, it is time to reflect on what constitutes inappropriate behavior in time of war."

One problem: Lincoln never said it.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003545478

[LSparkle]

1. OMG -- Gaffney gets MAJOR face time on cable news !!

No self-respecting organization should be putting on a guy who'd put faux words in the mouth of one of our most revered presidents!

[Gabi Hayes]

2. isn't it interesting to see where the original "quote" appeared?

wonder if the original author had something to do with the Obama/Madrassa story......

[SpiralHawk]

3. republicon propagandists lying is NOT news

they lie all the time.

Wake me up when one of them tells the truth.

[133724]

4. Good Night & Good Luck

It will be a long nap,,,,

[SpiralHawk]

10. z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-

Take the republicon propaganda pledge. Not.

[LiberalEsto]

5. The Moonie WashTimes is garbage

It is nothing but a rightwing propaganda rag.

[0rganism]

6. Insight mag strikes again

"...J. Michael Waller, concedes that the words are his, not Lincoln's. Waller says he never meant to put quote marks around them, and blames an editor (at the magazine Insight) for the mistake and the failure to correct it." -- Brooks Jackson, emphasis added

Insight again, huh? Looks like they've become a propaganda organ of considerable influence. Might be worth having an "Insight watch" just to go through their crappy rag every week to debunk the bullshit.

[magellan]

7. Gaffney is a neocon

Not all liars and fabricators are neocons, but all neocons are liars and fabricators.

[iverglas]

8. mucho crap there

If you look at the article in question, which appears here:
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/gaffney021307.php3
you can see the quotation leading off the article, as a sort of subtitle. It isn't a matter of quotation marks or not quotation marks; it looks like this:

Congressmen who willfully take actions during
wartime that damage morale and undermine
the military are saboteurs and should be
arrested, exiled, or hanged.

— President Abraham Lincoln


It is, of course, unimaginable that the penalties
proposed by one of our most admired presidents for the crime of
dividing America in the face of the enemy would be contemplated —
let alone applied — today.

What Gaffney appears to be guilty of isn't bad punctuation, it's crap research.

Google "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale" and you'll find it all over the place -- over 10,000 results, most of them apparently being from webpages dated 2006 and earlier.

One had the decency to say:

Abraham Lincoln most likely never said this, but he should have.

What would be interesting to know would be what Gaffney's source was, since he really did not make up the sentence -- the words may not be Lincoln's, but they certainly are not his -- and then accidentally put quotation marks around it.

[nealmhughes]

9. The dash with President Abraham Lincoln following the supposed quote makes it a quote in my book,

inverted commas or not.

Actually, in the Romance languages, the dash as a quotation indicator is common, as it is in dialog in a novel. There are many ways of indicating a quote, not just "xyz". Even if he had paraphrased it, to give the impression of a quote is a cardinal sin in academia and journalism.

There is no way a copy editor just suddenly put in quotation marks and Lincoln's name with a dash following the "quotation" . . . not one who kept his or her job for a second day following its discovery by the author!

Had that happened, then the author should have said it was a proofing flaw and that the quote was not intended, and have a retraction printed.
Obviously he didn't.

That leads enquiring minds to surmise that he merely got caught and is trying to explain it away by shifting the blame rather than accepting it as he ought.

WFC what the WT has to say anyhow....does anyone without birds to keep buy it?