Close Enough 11/24/2009
Posted by fauxpopuli in Uncategorized.trackback
So far as bungled epigraphs go, [Palin's] third chapter is arguably the winner so far, attributing this nugget of wisdom to the renowned former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden:
Our land is everything to us…. I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember than our grandfathers paid for it — with their lives.
Now, if that’s not the sort of thing you’d expect a hall of fame basketball coach to say, that’s because, of course, he didn’t. Students of American Indian history might recognize that passage as belonging instead to John Wooden Legs, the post-WWII Northern Cheyenne tribal leader who — though a contemporary of John Wooden’s — was not the same guy.
i have no words. can’t decide whether that is awesome or horrifying or both.
My favorite comment I’ve seen on this was something along the lines of “Well she only finished 2/3 of her term so I guess it makes sense that she attributed the quote to 2/3 of John Wooden Legs’ name.”
also: “She probably just thought it meant John Wooden’s legs can talk.”