Palin fans attempt to rewrite Paul Revere’s Wikipedia page

By David Edwards

Sarah Palin supporters are literally attempting to rewrite history after she flubbed the story of Paul Revere's ride last week last week, taking to Wikipedia with their own revisions to the beloved story in an effort to make Palin's version look true.

"He who warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh 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 and we were going to be armed," Palin explained to reporters in Boston, Massachusetts Thursday.

But Wikipedia didn't back up Palin's suggestion that Revere's mission was to warn the British or that he rang bells in the process so her fans tried to update the page.

"Most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects," was the revision that one user added to the page.

That update was later reverted with the message "content not backed by a reliable sources (it was sarah palin interview videos)."

Another update to the page said, "Accounts differ regarding the method of alerting the colonists; the generally accepted position is that the warnings were verbal in nature, although one disputed account suggested that Revere rang bells during his ride."

"In the article on Paul Revere, someone has added false information in an effort to support Sarah Palin's FALSE claims about Paul Revere," one Wikipedia editor noted. "This must be removed as it is a LIE designed to mislead."

User Opcnup offered a "humble suggestion" for Palin supporters. "If you want to find a source to work into the article, you should search for sources that agree with what Palin said BEFORE she said it. Sarah Palin doesn't belong in this article, because it's an article about Paul Revere not about Sarah Palin, but if you want to bolster her position retroactively you just need to go back to anything released a week ago or more that counts as a [reliable source] and bring that to the forefront."

"I would strongly suggest locking this page until the Palin controversy blows over and her supporters lose interest in trying to rewrite the page to conform with her erroneous version of Revere's ride," Wikipedia editor Black Max wrote.

Several hours later the page was unlocked.

On Sunday, Palin appeared on Fox News and defended her version of events.

"You realized you messed up about Paul Revere?" Fox News host Chris Wallace noted in an interview with Palin Sunday.

"You know what, I didn't mess up about Paul Revere," Palin replied. "Remember, the British had been there, many soldiers for seven years in that area. Part of Paul Revere's ride -- it wasn't just one ride -- he was a courier, a messenger. Part of the ride was to warn British that we're already there. You are not going to succeed. You are not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual private militia we have. He did warn the British."

"In a shout out, gotcha question that was asked of me, I answered candidly. I know my American history," she insisted.

Nearly half of Palin backers may flee GOP if she isn’t nominated

By Daniel Tencer

A new poll from Rasmussen released Monday reported that Sarah Palin's divisiveness as a candidate may pose a serious electoral problem for the Republicans in 2012.

According to the poll, nearly half of likely GOP voters who support Palin said they would switch to a third party candidate if the former Alaska governor and current Fox News personality didn't secure the presidential nomination in 2012. Fully 46 percent of Palin backers said they were likely to vote third party if Palin lost, with 22 percent saying it's "very likely."

This devotion among Palin fans is especially problematic for the GOP because, as an earlier Rasmussen poll showed, Palin is the GOP front-runner with the largest opposition among Republican voters. Thirty-three percent of likely GOP voters said Palin was the candidate they least want to see win the presidential nomination.

Other candidates' support bases aren't as quick to abandon the party should their candidate not win. Thirty-five percent of Mike Huckabee backers said they would consider a third party if the former Arkansas governor lost, while 31 percent of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's supporters said the same.

But Palin voters abandoning the GOP likely won't be much help to the Democrats, who stand to gain little from disillusioned Republican voters. Rasmussen reported that 90 percent of likely GOP voters said they were unlikely to vote for President Barack Obama, under any circumstance.

Rasmussen noted that the commitment of Palin backers appeared to have grown in recent months. In a survey taken last November, only 31 percent of Palin backers said they would consider a third party.

But Rasmussen suggests that, at least for some respondents, the third party option is an empty threat.

"During the 2008 Democratic Primary season, a fairly sizable number of Hillary Clinton supporters said they wouldn’t support Barack Obama if he won the nomination," Rasmussen noted. "But, given a choice between Obama and McCain, those voters came around and supported the Democratic nominee."

Palin's overall popularity declined in recent weeks, after a series of perceived blunders following the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson earlier this month.

After taking criticism for having placed Giffords' name on a "hit list" of targeted Democratic districts, Palin accused her critics of "blood libel," a move she later defended despite anger from many groups upset at her apparent comparison of her own critics to anti-Semites.

Recent presidential race poll numbers have swung wildly for Palin. In a poll taken earlier this month, Palin ranked in second place with 19 percent support among likely GOP primary voters, behind only Huckabee at 21 percent. But a poll released Friday had Palin at 10 percent, with Romney in the lead at 28 percent and Huckabee at 15 percent.