Bush 'fixes' Thomas Jefferson's thoughts on the 4th of July
By Steve Benen Monday Jul 07, 2008 1:00pmOn Friday, to help honor Independence Day, the president appeared in Charlottesville, Virginia, and hosted a naturalization ceremony at Monticello. Bush had quite a bit to say about the president who called Monticello home.
“The principles that Thomas Jefferson enshrined in the Declaration became the guiding principles of the new nation. And at every generation, Americans have rededicated themselves to the belief that all men are created equal, with the God-given right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
“Thomas Jefferson understood that these rights do not belong to Americans alone. They belong to all mankind. And he looked to the day when all people could secure them. On the 50th anniversary of America’s independence, Thomas Jefferson passed away. But before leaving this world, he explained that the principles of the Declaration of Independence were universal. In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, ‘May it be to the world, what I believe it will be — to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all — the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.’”
That’s very nice, but as Ed Brayton noted, it’s not quite what Jefferson said. Here’s the actual portion from the letter Bush referenced (thanks to R.M. for the heads-up):
“May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.” [emphasis added]
Hmm. Jefferson’s actual sentiments weren’t quite what Bush wanted to say, so it looks like Bush’s speechwriters gave Jefferson a little touch-up.
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Bush left out his monkish ignorance.
...and his superstition. Wow, that pretty much describes George, don't it?
sorry, OT.
But…
Where’s the thread on the Senate Vote today on FISA immunization for warrantless wiretaps of Americans? You know, the Right THEY(sic) are seeking to undermine because THEY(sic) hate our Freedom to be free from Tyranny.
The urgency to CONTACT YOUR SENATOR has passed... THEY VOTE TODAY!
Yet... silence... what gives?
Max, I think it's postponed until tomorrow.
Another interesting quote from the same speech: "As a statesman, Thomas Jefferson held all three top posts in the executive branch. He served as the first Secretary of State, the second Vice President, and the third President." Just don't tell Dick that the VP is part of the executive branch. Full transcript.
Because Jefferson, unlike Bush, knew that religion was bullshit; and Bush and his ilk have a hard time reconciling that one issue. Instead, they just rewrite history or edit what they like.
Just like what they do with the Bible.
Sigh @ 4:
IF thats the case, my point being, shouldn't there be a thread urging American's to CONTACT THEIR SENATOR?
IF this is the case, then we are given another day to squander?
Pardon me, but might we chill out a bit now and then? This is probably the most reasonable, globally-aligned, unobjectionable platitude Bush has ever bothered to say. If he didn't suddenly say "DOT - DOT - DOT," in the middle of his speech, does that make this worthy of a gaffe diary?
Don't worry, there are PLENTY of gaffes to go around. But this nit-pickery risks diluting the message.
Well, just like the FISA bill, Jefferson's words are old and in need of updating.
However, even though the Bible is old, it doesn't need updating in any way.
I wonder if the Bush legacy bus has made it past his mother's house yet?
He got both parts wrong. Jefferson didn't say those rights were God given. He said men were endowed by Their Creator with unalienable rights. Whoever you believe your creator to be they gave you those rights, not necessarily God. I don't think Jefferson was careless in using "Their" instead of "The" in this sentence.
So Bush and his writers twisted and tweaked Jefferson's words in the Declaration and letter.
Oddly enough, Jefferson also wrote of people being bitter and clinging to their guns, but that's another story. tee hee
jimbo92107 @ 2:
Yeah well Catholics are starting to cross themselves whenever they say Bush's name.
Oh, what the h*ll... why not rewrite Jefferson's statements. This criminal administration's already rewritten (with Congress' approval or at least lack of disapproval) some of Jefferson's finest work (the Constitution).
There is no 'God-given' anything.
In the minds of the revisionists, all the founding fathers were devout christians. A lot were Deists at most, and were called out for being atheists in the eyes of some of their opponents because of their critique against organized religion and the power of the clergy.
bush having the audacity to quote jefferson is just as jaw-droppingly insulting as jefferson discussing people 'bursting the chains', considering...
that said, jefferson would kick bush's ass from virginia to the oregon territory. pres-on-pres violence.
jefferson spent a large chunk of his political life fighting an ideology similar to that of bush (see, cheney).
Boosh needs a little "touch up".
Turned on C-Span 2 and saw Joe and his gop friends reading the Declaration of Independence.
Then the Fisa debate with Bond saying the gang of eight, our so called leaders, were thoroughly briefed.
The irony is outstanding.
17 Samson- Says:
bush having the audacity to quote jefferson is just as jaw-droppingly insulting as jefferson discussing people ‘bursting the chains’
Seriously. Ironic.
Jefferson would have kicked the living shit out of Bush.
Sorry, this is not picking nits. This is pointing out how BuschCo rewrites history to suit its needs--not a hard feat in a country whose knowledge of its own cultural history is about as big as a bb in a boxcar. The purging and rewriting of history to suit the needs of the regime is something we used to criticize other nations for doing.
since1969 @ 8:
Embittered & Anti-Republicrat - Max-Hussein-1 @ 3:
They are voting tomorrow because of jesse helms funeral today. Some senators are attending the funeral so no votes today. At least that's what was said on c-span
getalife @ 19:
Did he read this part?
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness
Joe Strummer @ 22:
He was quoting Jefferson fercrissake! He couldn't even get that right.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 24:
He skimmed it. Didn't get it.
Well, at least he got the THOMAS Jefferson part right. He could have said GEORGE Jefferson.
Dr. Hussein Matt @ 24:
Yes and it is time to abolish it, disband both parties, ban lobbyists and lock up the criminals.
Since this isn't America any more, and likely will never be again, does it really matter? I mean just re-write everything,. The great experiment has failed and just about every politician we elect can't wait to take away every right we hafve a bit at a time . . . except guns of course.
So change it all for all I give a damn. America ceased to exist quite a few years ago and it is never coming back.
[27]
LOL!
Dale @ 27:
I do like George's "movin' on up" doctrine.
For Bush to even suggest that his administration has been about human rights is truly disgusting. No rights for detainees. More people imprisoned in the United States than any other country. An economic system that can function only by exploiting people (not to mention the environment) for profit. Bush is the ultimate in fecal-minded idiocy.
What did you expect from a guy whose only mission in life is destroy the Constitution that Thomas Jefferson helped to write. At least, the Code Pink ladies were there to heckle him. Bless them all!
Dale @ 21:
Fer shure!
Wow. Mr. Non-citizens-don't-get-habeas actually went there? Proof positive he's drinking again - he doesn't even listen to himself anymore.
"White man's got a god complex..."
There he goes again, cherry-picking facts to present his own version of reality.
I doubt that Bush was aware of what he was doing. He was just reading another speech he hadn't written about principles he doesn't care to understand. After all, the Constitution is just piece of paper to George Bush. Whether or not he quoted Jefferson accuratly wasn't important to him. Why should it be? The man's a liar.
man don't you love the word 'monkish'
The passage was actually railing against religion and superstition!!
"Self-government" meant thinking for yourself.
prunes @ 39:
What? Like Tony Shalhoub?
Oh mercy!
I don't know whether to laugh or punch my computer screen in frustration. It has been my sole mission, at various points in my professional career, to teach my students how to paraphrase and quote in the correct manner. It is one thing to omit something because it is irrelevant to the point being made, but to change the very meaning of a sentence, as Bush has done, is the most fraudulent and inexcusable transgression against the source.
How embarrassing: the leader of the free world has the expository ignorance of an eight grader; no offense to any eighth graders out there. Unlike Bush, though, the ignorance of the eighth grader is not self-imposed.
You people actually expect Bush to pronounce a big word like "Superstition"
Gee I guess bush believes that these rights belong to the rest of the world, but not to Americans, since he is going full throttle ahead to do away with them.
Teacher in Jersey @ 42:
Makes one wonder what they are teaching at Harvard.
It's pretty bad when you have to dumb down the standards for the children of the donors.
I Am A Banana @ 6:
Be careful... Jefferson edited the Bible too. Jefferson strikes me as a spiritual man who didn't let the trappings of religion and faith dictate his day-to-day functions as a human being.
Tom Woolf @ 14:
It has probably already been said, but Jefferson had nothing to do with the Constitution. Jefferson (and Adams) were ambassadors to Europe. Jefferson was in France and Adams was in England.
The Constitution was the work of Madison, Franklyn, Washington, G. Morris (who wrote the preamble), and others.
Diogenes @ 33:
Jefferson didn't write the Constitution.
Wow... call me sentimental, but it is times like these that Bush and other GOP'ers (and Dems too, to be fair) piss me off the most. It is always when the slip-up seems so innocuous that they do the most damage! The changes he makes are subtle, and simply subtractive: he doesn't add anything to make it sound better for his purposes, he just leaves out the tiniest parts so as to make a subtle change in peoples' perceptions of the Declaration. By leaving it out, people will tend to forget (as most have not memorized the Declaration of Independence). GOP'ers who read the Declaration on C-SPAN ad leave out the parts that they can't stomach are just as bad; they reinforce their own skewed reality upon everyone, most importantly and detrimentally upon themselves!
Lies by public officials to their constituents about their jobs, about the government We the People established should constitute TREASON, by simple logical extension of the Constitutional principles that the government is beholden to US, not the other way around; see the Declaration's ommitted part for further backup on this, re: Revolution. Lies of Omission are still in fact lies, Mr. Bush -- the willful intent to deceive.
In my opinion, he is a traitor and usurper, and this artful little redaction is the most compelling circumstantial evidence. You don't f*ck with with the meaning of these precious documents, ever.
wheyghey @ 40:
Thinking for yourself? Something Bush has never experienced.
Bush's handlers probably thought he'd screw up the word "monkish" and instead say "monkeyish" which would evoke visions of Bush being a monkey, making Dick Cheney, of course, the monkey's uncle.
Why did Jefferson hate America?
Just wait for the revisionist history at the Bush presidential library.
Can you imagine?
George Bush scares the living hell out of me...and the closer we get to his term being over...the more anxious I become, the sleep I loose!
IT's all part of the executive privilege.
ThunderMonkey @ 46:
I don't recall reading that it was even published by Jefferson, so he certainly wasn't imposing his edits as capital-T truth upon anyone. There's a huge difference between Jefferson writing a "rationalist" version of the Gospel for his own amusement and the cherry-picking that's spoon-fed to the faithful every Sunday. (I wonder how many people actually know that there are two versions of the creation myth, for instance...)
since1969 @ 8:
no...what it proves is that these fucking wingnuts dont give a shit about the words of the founding fathers
its why they can trample on the constitution
this wasnt a gaffe, it was an attempt to change the meaning of jefferson's letter
and if you dont see that, then you are an idiot who doesnt deserve the freedoms won by our founding fathers
It was Bush talking, so it's not like anybody actually listened anyway.
“Thomas Jefferson understood that these rights do not belong to Americans alone. They belong to all mankind.
Tell that to the guys in Gitmo, Monkey Boy.
HB Acker @ 38:
Well said.
All Monkey-Butt needs to do is have Cheney re-classify Jefferson's quote as top-secret, then have it destroyed...no one will no the difference. Just like it never happened. Why not, he's done it before. That's how you rewrite history.
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 57:
I am pretty much persuaded by Joe Strummer @ 22 and Jo at 25. I'm not 100% convinced that the point here was to change the meaning, but rather they just eliminated furn-sounding words that confused them and which, therefore, they assumed would confuse their audience.
So those two initial Joes are right -- after all, this IS Thomas Jefferson, and essentially any reasonably intelligent leader (or the illiterate leader's handlers in this case) would understand that it's basically a sacred text. And even if it weren't Jefferson, you would need to say "He went on to say..." to ethically make that edit in a speech.
But Uncle Joe McCarthy, with your "... then you are an idiot who doesnt deserve the freedoms won by our founding fathers" -- apparently you're an echo-chamber kneejerk who wouldn't recognize a nuanced disagreement if it bit you on your red-baiting nose.
"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?," or at least one last iota of civil politeness? How boring, so boring, and useless is your shrill hysteria.
The Truth Hurts @ 52:
Good one!
you sure it wasn't monkey's ignorance?
ELLIPSES!
One thing that people haven't considered - there's a good chance that they "touched-up" Jefferson's speech not for political reasons, but because Bush can't pronounce words like "monkish," "superstition," and "persuaded." Nucular.
Jo @ 25:
Most Americans would rather listen to their hairdresser than to Thomas Jefferson, it's part of the reason Bush and Co. can get away with most anything - people just don't care if it doesn't directly affect them - it's the American way!!
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