Those Who Cannot Remember the Past [THE FRED THOMPSON REPORT]

ABC Radio Networks ^ | May 16, 2007 | Sen. Fred D. Thompson

[SamuraiScot]

I think we’ve managed to sing the whole thing, in installments!

I'd forgotten this one, which just floated back to me this morning:

"The tune don't have to be clever,

And it doesn't matter if you put a couple of extra words at the end of a line.

It sounds more ethnic if ain't good English,

And it don't even gotta rhyme . . . pardon me, 'rhyne.' "

[AnAmericanMother]

We have the original undersized 33 1/3 vinyls! (but we also have the CDs so we don’t scratch the originals.)

[mmichaels1970]

"Of all the places associated with America's War for Independence, none conveys more the impression of suffering, sacrifice, and ultimate triumph than Valley Forge. No battles were fought here, no bayonet charges or artillery bombardments took place, but during the winter of 1777-78 approximately 2,000 soldiers died at hospitals in the surrounding area nonetheless."

I'm personally going to let the "factual error" slide. Wow about 2/3 the deaths that we've lost in 4 years in Iraq. I wonder how the press would have reported THAT. Maybe "timeline for withdrawal from Valley Forge"?

[Edgerunner]

RunFredRun

[The Pack Knight]

I suspect it was more a factual fudge for rhetorical purposes than an actual mistake. Saying "battles at Valley Forge and the Alamo" flows better than "winter at Valley Forge and battle at the Alamo". I do that sometimes myself, though I usually wish I hadn't.

I know, sacrificing accuracy for "flow" isn't something I like either, but I don't have to give a radio commentary every day. I have a difficult time believing that someone who refers to Sun Tzu and Victor Davis Hanson doesn't know that the event we usually identify with "Valley Forge" wasn't a battle.