Another Sarah Screw Up

I know, I know. Like shooting dead fish in a barrel. Sarah Palin is the gift that keeps on giving. The Moose that lays the golden egg. But just as she runs her publicity (on Facebook) and her book signing tour (leaving before the job is done) and her half term governorship of Alaska (like her 5K race) it seems that Sarah's minions are taking stock and probably quit fact checking the book that she didn't write before the task was done.

Here's a doozy from Geoffrey Dunn:

There have been so many lies and distortions pointed out in Sarah Palin's Going Rogue since it was released last week that her memoir has already become something of a gag line.

But perhaps the most embarrassing gaffe so far is her mis-attributed quote to UCLA basketball legend John Wooden.

As the epigram to Chapter Three, "Drill, Baby, Drill," Palin assigns the following remarks to the Hall of Fame hoops coach:

Our land is everything to us... I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it--with their lives.

Only the quote wasn't by John Wooden. It was written by a Native American activist named John Wooden Legs in an essay entitled "Back on the War Ponies," which appeared in a left-wing anthology, "We Are the People: Voices from the Other Side of American History," edited by Nathaniel May, Clint Willis, and James W. Loewen.

Now misquoting something is bad enough, not checking it for accuracy is even worse, especially when you're publishing a book. But misquoting a Native American and attributing it to a college basketball coach (you know, because you're such a down to earth, one of us, hockey mom) who probably wasn't advocating land redistribution is even beyond the pale for the normal wingnut activity we've gotten used to seeing around here.

Here's John Wooden Legs' full quote:

Our land is everything to us. It is the only place in the world where Cheyennes talk the Cheyenne language to each other. It is the only place where Cheyennes remember the same things together. I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it--with their life. My people and the Sioux defeated General Custer at the Little Big Horn.

Man, is she stupid. Read the rest of the Dunn post for his lesson to Ms. Wasilla.