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Inaugural Zombie Error

There are myths which can't be killed: Zombie Errors. One of them made it into the President's second Inaugural address:

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, It rang as if it meant something.

The problem with this, of course, is that the Liberty Bell wasn't involved and the story is just that, a 19th century storybook invention.

Otherwise, it was a pretty good speech, with the usual mix of good things I very much doubt he means (sounded like he was running for UN Sec-Gen in the early sections) and horrific ideas I'm quite sure he'll (try to) implement. But that's partisanship; let's try to get the history right, first.

Posted on Thursday, January 20, 2005 at 4:40 PM | Comments (1) | Return

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