Palin Says She Didn’t Err on Paul Revere

Sarah Palin defended her historical account of Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride of 1775 on Sunday, telling an interviewer “I know my American history.”

Ms. Palin, the onetime Republican vice-presidential nominee and maybe, possibly a candidate for president in 2012, drew guffaws and head scratches last week when she made an appearance in Boston and described Paul Revere’s ride this way:

“He who warned the British that they weren’t going to 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 going to be secure and we were going to be free.”...

She is not the only potential Republican presidential candidate who has had trouble with American history recently. Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a Tea Party favorite, told a crowd in New Hampshire that “You’re the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord.” The battles of Lexington and Concord were in fact in adjacent Massachusetts, not in New Hampshire....