National Review's Joel Miller: "Palin basically got the whole story wrong"

Though it refers to last week's pointless media kerfuffle, this Joel J. Miller blog post at The Corner about Sarah Palin's Paul Revere comments is worth flagging, on account of Miller (a sometime Reason contributor) actually having written a book about Paul Revere. An excerpt from his take:

Sarah Palin said that Paul Revere "warned the British that they weren't gonna be taking away our arms, by ringing those bells and making sure, as he's riding his horse through town, to send those warning shots and bells that we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free."

As the author of a book about Revere's life, when I heard this, I groaned. From Revere's own account, it's clear that he didn't fire a shot, he didn't ring a bell, and he didn't intend to warn the British of anything (unless you count the townsfolk as British, which they technically were for a little while longer).

The unarmed Revere left Boston in total silence. He muffled the oars of his boat as men rowed him to Charlestown, and he rode in silence after leaving Charlestown by horseback. He was, after all, on a secret mission to alert John Hancock and Samuel Adams in Lexington that they were in danger.

Only after scaring up two redcoats on horseback and turning away to Medford did he begin waking the countryside. He first woke the militia captain in Medford and then rode to Lexington raising the alarm — by shouting, mind you, not shooting or ringing bells.

In short, Palin basically got the whole story wrong.

Miller goes on to criticize both Palin's detractors and defenders in this matter. Read the whole thing. If you're a Palin completist, you may also enjoy the New York Post's Kyle Smith eviscerating her forthcoming biopic. Then watch Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie interview Miller about Paul Revere below: