Not-So-Honest Use Of Abe

(AP (file))

On Tuesday, Frank Gaffney, Jr., writing in the Washington Times, quoted Abraham Lincoln saying "Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged." Yesterday, Rep. Don Young, speaking about the president's plan for a troop "surge" in Iraq, cited the quote on the House floor. "He had the same problem this President has, with an unpopular war," Young said of Lincoln. "The same problem with people trying to redirect the commander in chief."

As it turns out, however, the quote is phony. Brooks Jackson at FactCheck.org reported that the quote showed up last August and quickly spread over the Internet. "Republican candidate Diana Irey used the 'quote' recently in her campaign against Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, and it has appeared thousands of times on the Internet, in newspaper articles and letters to the editor, and in Republican speeches," Jackson noted.

The real author of the line, Michael Waller, says that an editor at Insight magazine – the same magazine at the center of the Barack Obama madrassah scandal, which is owned by the Washington Times – mistakenly put quotes around his words. The Times has not issued a correction.

Brian Montopoli

Brian Montopoli is the national reporter and political analyst for CBSNews.com.

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