Senator Kerry Mistakenly Attributes Quote to Jefferson!

Mark Steyn has pointed out that the Kerry comment on "Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism" is not actually a quote from Thomas Jefferson.

The column relates:

"According to the Jefferson Library: "There are a number of quotes that we do not find in Thomas Jefferson's correspondence or other writings; in such cases, Jefferson should not be cited as the source. Among the most common of these spurious Jefferson quotes are: ‘Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.'"

So Kerry was wrong when he stated:

"In the infancy of the Republic, in 1798, Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts to smear Thomas Jefferson and accuse him of treason. Newspapers were shut down, and their editors arrested, including Benjamin Franklin’s grandson. No wonder Thomas Jefferson himself said: “Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism.”

No actually, it was the historian Howard Zinn, who in an interview with TomPaine.com stated:

"While some people think that dissent is unpatriotic, I would argue that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. In fact, if patriotism means being true to the principles for which your country is supposed to stand, then certainly the right to dissent is one of those principles. And if we're exercising that right to dissent, it's a patriotic act."

Senator John Kerry made a mistake.

I should like to apologize for him.

Now let us hear from the Republicans about apologizing for our President who:

"In a first-term press conference, [the president] said he could not remember any mistakes."

But John Kerry mis-attributed a quote.

Our current President and the Republicans in Congress ignore signing statements where the President advises members of this Administration to break the law.

But Senator Kerry windsurfs.

And this President and the Republican Congress turned a Government Surplus into massive Federal Deficits during wartime by making irresponsible tax-cuts to benefit the top 1% of taxpayers.

But Senator Kerry's wife is a near-billionaire.

And this President and his Administration have broken the law against illegal wiretapping by ignoring Congressional requirements to go to the FISA courts before tapping Americans' phones and communication.

But Senator Kerry doesn't connect well like the Prez.

And this President "fixed the facts" to get us into a war that wasn't related to 9/11, never had evidence about WMD's, and has lied about why we are there to the American people. This President and his Administration has authorized torture of enemy combatants, rendition of individuals to third party secret jails where they can be tortured off American soil, undermined our environmental protections, loosened protection by appointing lobbyists to regulatory positions, threatened scientific investigation by putting roadblocks in embryonic stem cell research, has threatened our religious freedom by mixing religion and politics, and has sought to divide us by creating wedge issues to deny individuals of freedom and civil liberties.

But John Kerry first voted for the war and then against the war!

So you tell me who has made more mistakes that have cost America dearly! You tell me why Senator Kerry shouldn't be President in 2008! America needs his leadership, his passion for freedom, and his understanding about international relations more than ever before. And we can handle an occasional misquote.

But what we can't tolerate anymore is the attack on our very American freedom that this President and his cronies have launched.

We got your back John!

Bob