Obama Crack About Former President May Not Line Up With the Facts
- Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:01pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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As a sitting president, you better make sure you have the facts straight before taking a jab at one of your predecessors. During the same speech on energy policy where the president speculated that his political opponents would have been “founding members of the Flat Earth Society” during the time of Columbus, Barack Obama made a comment about the 19th president that doesn’t ring true when run through the fact checker:
“There always have been folks who are the naysayers and don’t believe in the future, and don’t believe in trying to do things differently. One of my predecessors, Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone, ‘It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?‘ That’s why he’s not on Mount Rushmore — because he’s looking backwards. He’s not looking forwards. He‘s explaining why we can’t do something, instead of why we can do something.”
While the quote President Obama used does exist on the Internet, historians say the notion is inaccurate and would equate the White House’s research to citing Wikipedia.
Ari Hoogenboom, who wrote the definitive biography, “Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President,” told The Washington Post that Hayes entertained Thomas A. Edison at the White House and “was hardly hostile to new inventions.” The Post notes that the gaffe was not even ad-libbed but in the president’s prepared text.
Stephen A. Hayes, a great-great-grandson of the former president and chairman of the board of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, Ohio, tells The Toledo Blade that Hayes was such a technology buff that he had the White House’s first telephone installed.
“A misconception has persisted for many years concerning President Rutherford B. Hayes and the introduction of the technology of the telephone. The source of this false impression is unknown,” Mr. Hayes said.
The Blade reports that Hayes’s phone number, as listed in the National Telephonic Exchange, was a single digit: 1.
When asked by the Post, White House spokesman Jay Carney pointed to “multiple media references,” as well as an Encyclopaedia Britannica reference and even a previous comment by President Ronald Reagan to defend his boss’s flub.
“I’m not arguing that this is not in dispute, but the quote is widely cited,” Carney said.
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Comments (234)
heavyduty
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:59pmNothing he says lines up with facts or common sense. So what’s new?
Report Post »doomytram
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:09pmInstead of working and leading he and (Axelrod, Plouffe, Messina, Soros) are crafting and plotting. An average work day for the amazing disaster o disaster’s the amazing disastrous Oblamer consists of PR manipulation, mis/dis info, blaming hour, Drudge/GWB study, reparations disguise hour, telepromter study, and re-election meditation. That is what he does between golf, vacation, and social hour. Besides watch ball.
Report Post »cuinsong
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:21pmAhhh………it don’t mater! Besides its not his fault anyway so what’s the big deal?
Report Post »And the band played on “What’s Wrong With This Song” http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_9134749
mwhaley
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:29pmIf the last 3 years were Bush the media would have made so many sitcoms about a stupid president. Since it is Obama we hear not a sound. After all Obama is so smart he gets board being the most powerful man in the world.
Report Post »kennebec
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 10:44pmhayes was an admirer of inventions obama must be reading howard zinn
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 12:30amHe never let the facts get in the way
Report Post »jzs
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 12:39amDOOMYTRAM, your comments are cogent and insightful. Your remarks about reparations and crafting and re-election meditation are so incredibly true, although I have not the depth to understand your every nuance. But I would like to learn more.
You’re awesome if I may say so. I comment deferentially to your profound remarks here only to agree that so many in the world don’t “watch the ball” as you say, but your intelligent and moving comments awaken the sleeping masses who are playing golf for relaxation. Some of them anyway, like Obama. When a mind so profound as yours graces this website or any other, we can only ask, “Do you have a church we can join?”
Report Post »Miami
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 1:26amThese clowns would not know the truth if it hit them in the face, over and over again for a lifetime
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 2:27amHey JZS,
Look at that, the White House relies on WIKI too, just like you.
Will wonders never cease?
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 2:31amJZS says:
” “Do you have a church we can join?”
JZSaul,
I’m sure Rev Wright, or Father Pflager would welcome you with open arms.
Report Post »So
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 8:06amIf the facts don‘t fit Obama’s agenda, he changes them to make them fit.
Facts matter.
Vote the thug out!
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 10:25amobango “IS” an idiot. And the folks who insist he is ‘brilliant’ have not had those statements borne out by facts.
If the bone in his head was any bigger, you’d be able to hang coats on either side of it.
Wikipedia “IS” one (more) of the socialist movements efforts to “redefine” history, words and events with opinion… on demand. An effort to “relativize” existential truth(s). Period.
Report Post »B-Neil
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 10:36amThe President went to Haaaarrrvard law school. He’s a trained liar. GOD BLESS AMERICA and INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
Report Post »Tigress1
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 10:40amObama gets away with telling lies because the media (most of the time) won’t correct him and people are too lazy to find out if he was telling the truth, when most of the time it would only take a 3 minute Google search to discover the truth. Just look at how much he has hidden about his past!
Report Post »Now contrast that with Mitt Romney and you have the complete opposite. Obama hides his shady past, but Romney hides (or at least doesn’t mention) his GOOD past! I just learned this morning that when Romney was Governor he did not take a paycheck! That is a testament to his CHARACTER. This is something that we should have known a LONG time ago! I bet there are hundreds of good things that he has done that we will never hear about. I think he believes that if you do a good deed you shouldn’t talk or brag about it, because then you will have done it for YOURSELF instead of for the other person. (Isn’t there a Bible quote about that? I can’t remember.) Therefore, if Romney won‘t talk about his good past then it’s up to us to do the talking for him! Yeah, we might not agree with absolutely everything Romney has done or said, (is there ANYBODY that you ALWAYS agree with?) but he is a good, decent, kind man with CHARACTER. This is what we need in the White House!
Realist4U
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 2:38pmI agree..he seems to have his own set of facts that he rolls out whenever he doesn’t understand the subject.
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 8:06pmThe quote does exist on the internet, citing a book about technology written in 1982.
The President was correct. President Hayes has been reported to say the quote.
The only evidence that he President Hayes didn’t say it comes form a call supposedly made to The Hayes Library.
If such a call was actually made, it is unreliable. It would be like going to the Reagan library for information about Jane Wyman, Reagan’s first wife.
Not only is theblaze two days late on this story, they didn’t even try to check the facts, because the quote is easily found.
Another poor, misleading job. Poorly, done, theblaze.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 8:49pm@mary be the liz a beth
Report Post »I noticed that you failed to include a link to such an easily found saying. My guess is that you share one of Obama’s famous traits…. lying.
RabidPatriot
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 10:59pmPresident Obama never lets the facts get in the way of a good story.
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 12:45amI’ve heard The Glenn Beck Radio Show.
I could follow his example and lie here.
But I’ve chosen a different route
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rutherford_B._Hayes
quoted in Future Mind : The Microcomputer-New Medium, New Mental Environment (1982) by Edward J. Lias, p. 2;
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:17amRight- it’s just his wayof reinforcing the rewrite of history. Not that he’s ever said anything we should believe.
Report Post »AvengerK
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 12:12pmJZS…you’re a drooling idiot.
Report Post »The curator of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center:
“She then read aloud a newspaper article from June 29, 1877, which describes Hayes’s delight upon first experiencing the magic of the telephone. The Providence Journal story reported that as Hayes listened on the phone, “a gradually increasing smile wreathe[d] his lips and wonder shone in his eyes more and more.” Hayes took the phone from his ear, “looked at it a moment in surprise and remarked, ‘That is wonderful.’”
In fact, Card noted, Hayes was not only the first president to have a telephone in the White House, but he was also the first to use the typewriter, and he had Thomas Edison come to the White House to demonstrate the phonograph. “So I think he was pretty much cutting edge,” Card insisted, “maybe just the opposite of what President Obama had to say there.”
Both you and MARYELIZABETH are two of the most shrill and hopelessly indocrintated leftist idiots on these boards. I cannot stress enough how much of an idiot you truly are JZS.
abbygirl1994
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:55pmI just really wonder what sort of grades this guy really got.. If you are an American you know how many states we have and it isn’t 57.. so far Obama has showed me that if he’s an American citizen he has flunked he should know the facts.. And how many times now has he misquoted??
Report Post »siquijorisland
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 7:27amyes sounds like it
Report Post »Tony in MO
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 8:49amObama was right about the “57 states”, only he was talking about the 57 ISLAMIC states in the world.
Report Post »EddardStark
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 3:09pmHuzzah! At last we have the horrendously buffoonish “Rutherford B. Hayes was a luddite” gaffe of 2012. Now we won’t have to go to the “57 states” well as often. We can talk about President Obama’s OTHER history/civics gaffe.
It demonstrates a pretty large lack of memorable miscues when you have to incessantly return to the same ones, don’t you think?
Report Post »thecid100
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:53pmJust for kicks and giggles, Mr. Pres, can you spell P-O-T-A-T-O?
I mean, without a teleprompter…
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:47pmHow did we ever elect this moron to the Office of the Presidency?
We deserve to be under the wrath of God for alowing this to happen…
WE are doomed…
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:52pmI DID NOT elect this person.
That being stated….
Report Post »“Obama gonna give me (eyeff) five ‘undred ’ollars” is QUOTE from a former co-worker as to why she voted for him in ‘08.
AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:04pmRight now according to media-polls, numbers are low “for voters regret”. I hope to live long enough to see this con-man & his croonies kicked out of office this November!
Report Post »USAMEDIC3008
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 12:34amBADDOGY
Report Post »Should’nt Talk about his religion
Morons are people too
majasdad
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 4:15amThen creep back to your fallout shelter and canned food storage and let the rest of us get on with our lives.
Report Post »handsmcml
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 11:53amIt has been said the “we get the government we deserve.” Watch out or we may not be able to get rid of this one in November. Be afraid, be very afraid. 1984 should have been called 2012. Check out this: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/03/16/executive-order-national-defense-resources-preparedness
Report Post »ProudConservativeinCA
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 1:05pmYup…!!!!
Report Post »Realist4U
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 2:59pmVoter Fraud.
Report Post »right
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 7:33pmNot “We”. I did not vote for him.
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 8:10pmThe president did give workers $500 at $10 a week.
President Bush bought his votes in lump sum $300 checks.
Inflation
Report Post »MCDAVE
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 8:06am@HANDSMCML…Looks like Obama’s preparing for a big National Emergency…This is the kind of laws and legislation that gets passed while the nation worries about Sandra fluke…WATCH THE OTHER HAND,its always doing evil
Report Post »Freebird
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:45pmThis is the same forward thinking Obama that shut-down the space program.
Report Post »liberalescheisskopf
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:00pmBut wait……what about all the Muslim outreach???
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:27pmDidn’t shutt it down- gave it to the *******. Just sayin’.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:39pmListen to the video he also mispronounces Rutherford. What a disgrace.
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:06pm…..corpsman!
Report Post »geonj
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:35pmcarney, like his boss, think if you say it you can convince people it is true. disingenious liars, they are.
Report Post »cassandra
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:35pmobama can‘t seem to get his facts straight on any thing or course since he wasn’t raised as an American how could he, but when you get your facts from communist that want to change our history (aka michelle ) they have no problem lying to the American people the ends justify the means
Report Post »theprophetofpax
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:51pmCassandra,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Michelle Bachmann is a communist and out to change our country. Further more, she is an evil b**ch. thank God that she is no longer running for press. U rock Cassandra, for putting that out there. I support you 100 percent.
Report Post »getourcountryback
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 7:03amOh Profit; that was so funny. Gosh you really stuck it to Cassandra on that one. You must be one of the elite circle of life just like Obamalamadingdong. I wonder if you are one of the “folks” that he keeps referring too?
Report Post »Crazy Times
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:32pm“Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone, ‘It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?‘ That’s why he’s not on Mount Rushmore…”
GIve me two hours and I’m going to start a petition on the white house petitions web site to put have Rutherford B. Hayes added to Mount Rushmore, I swear I’ll do this.
Report Post »Mateytwo Barreett
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:33pmThere are rumors that the US Park service is engaged in surveying the mounatain for suitable space. At this time- it appears that the oucropping to the left of Washington MAY be suitable, should the bust stop short of the ears.
Report Post »Copo
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:40pmIf Teddy Roosevelt is on it then Hayes should be on it. Roosevelt did NOTHING, he was horrible. I don’t understand why history loves him so much, I guess it’s just cause he was the “cowboy” type president, kind of like why, as things are now, history will love Putin.
Report Post »Ailene Wright
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:28pmFlat earth? Coming from the leader of the space cadets that is pretty funny.
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:27pmthe presidents attacks on all that don’t agree with him are despicable. I havent quite heard or seen anything like it that I can remember. beyond the class division and racial division he loves to play into I guess I shouldn‘t be surprised that he has created a war on Christianity and pokes fun and demeans anyone who doesn’t agree with him. His lack of respect for his fellow American‘s disgusts me I really do not understand what kind of person does this in our country’s highest elected office. I know the libs love to throw awful words around but the president? This man needs a lesson in class and respect it is just disgraceful and what an impression it must be making on other world leaders. They must all think our country is backwards
Report Post »Realist4U
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 3:05pmThe Obama Administration are “DIRECTLY” responsible for any and all racial inequities in society. Between their racially biased policies to their racial rhetoric. This was Barry’s plan all along. “Divide and Conquer.”
Report Post »Look4DBigPicture
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:27pmOh come on … Obama thinks he‘s a comedian and comedians don’t have to get their facts straight. Yuk-Yuk
Report Post »korbin
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:26pmoathekeepers.org it’s our last line of defense against this administrations continued hack on the US Constitution. Please take a look and join, you do not have to be military or law enforcement to be a part of oathkeepers. Any and all Americans who trust in and want to uphold the US Constitution are welcome to join.
Report Post »oathkeepers.org
father_of_10
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:24pmI guess there are 59 states after all! Mr. Obama said so.
When in the h#ll are the regular folks in this country going to figure out what kins of a regime we have in office now? If you thought the ruling families of the middle ages were corrupt, or the czars or the communist party, then what do you think we are moving towards with Obama and his Marxists acolytes and handlers?
I hated communists even before they started calling themselves liberals.
Report Post »http://fatherof10.com
drago
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:23pmSupprised carney didnt say Bush, said it first, f-n idiot…….
Report Post »SHOWMESTATEGUY
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 3:48amEven they know the Bush thing is getting old. They have to start laying it off on some other Republican.
Report Post »Holger Danske
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 8:06pmRight — I’m with ShowMe — it wasn‘t Bush’s fault … it was REAGAN’S! Seriously, can this guy take responsibility for anything? Where does the buck stop?
Report Post »Crazy Times
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:20pmAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
When will they stop the lies!!!!!!!!!
The Obama administration can’t even admit when they are wrong! just continue to “re-write” history… geeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:17pmI am surprise the “flat-earth”…what about, we really did not go to the moon but filmed all of the “history-making” scenes at a Hollywood sound set! Now there are some people that “do” believe that! The president’s handlers are slipping!
Report Post »GO-FOR-LIBERTY
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 6:49amWell Moochele did say that we “would have to” rewrite history.
Report Post »jlbs
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 12:39pmI often ask my husband how they are going to explain the Holocaust victims. You know, those that went on that horrendous diet leading to all those deaths. (sarc) Eisenhower told his guys to take pictures as someday there will those who won’t believe this. We have pictures and film of human beings that are nothing but flesh-covered skeletons—some were still living, but most were dead.
I’d like to re-write history and forget that these traitors were in charge, but we can not allow ourselves to do that for fear of repeating this disaster.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 5:13pmAmazing Grace -
Do you know what is even more spectacular than B.O. referring to the Flat Earth Society? It‘s the fact that the contemporary Flat Earth Society was revitalized by it’s current leader, who lives in London, based on a music album called the Flat Earth by Thomas Dolby. Seriously.
I find it very insulting that B.O. would run down a former U.S. President because Hayes may or may not have been skeptical about the invention of the telephone. Being skeptical about a new product isn’t against the law, nor is it a sign of ignorance. It also is not a sign of backward thinking, either. It simply means you don’t know. Also, I don’t know about your family, but in my family, my uncles (and I had 8 of them) hated to talk on the telephone.
Unbelievable.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:18pmWe couldn’t expect them to get facts right when all they want is to ridicule anyone and everything that came before the “Grate One”. They don’t use any correct statistics in any of their talking points. All the numbers on the economy and employment have been “adjusted” to meet their needs. For those who believe this poser and the BS he presents as fact, they are in for a rude awakening and soon. Whomever we elect to replace Obama, we need to start praying for him and our nation NOW. There will probably be an economic collapse which the radicals will want to blame on the next President, unless it happens before the elections.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:17pmCome on, you guys actually want to call out Obama for “Misquoting” someone, not using facts? This is the Chosen One, the Golden Child. If he says it is, then it IS. We have to rewrite our history. This is just silly, bringing up facts. The next thing you all will say is spending trillions is actually saving money. Hey next week, Up will be Down, and the Right will be wrong (oh, he already said that part). His next speech I heard he is proclaiming George Washington actually hid behind his horses during battles and tried to surrender repeatedly, but was stopped by his slave.
Report Post »mensaman62
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:44pmThere is no history prior to Jan 2009…Our dear leader created this socialist utopia….and now I go and get on my knees for Nov 2012.
Report Post »sndrman
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:12pmso what if O‘Kenyan misspoke the socialist media will now run and cover O’kenyan‘s behind and make Hay’s great great grandson a “plumber joe” they(pravada) will now set to change history and destroy this man…..“ends justify the means” always remember that motto….had it been bush or any (r) my oh my he would be called dumb anything that comes to their mouths
Report Post »SteveSD
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:11pmThere are quotes ‘widely cited’ asserting that our current President isn’t a natural-born citizen of the United States. Are you saying, MR CARNEY, that we should blindly accept those, since they are ‘widely cited’?
:)
Report Post »Exrepublisheep
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:27pmHhmmmm, good point.
Report Post »Ducky 1
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:09pmAgain the truth doesn’t seem to matter!
Report Post »Countrygirl1362
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:08pmSo much of what Obama says is inaccurate or a lie, which ever term you want to use, that has never stopped him for saying it, repeating it and believing it himself and expecting others to believe it.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:07pmCarney operates upon the assumption that a sucker is born every minute.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:07pmObama is so bad this all he can do is attack other presidents to try and make them look worse than he is. No one buys it for a second. He can’t blame anyone for the last four years they are all his.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:21pmHe even makes CARTER look good ;-)
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:05pmThank Goodness!!!! Imagine your OWN relative being MISQUOTED and set up for “as a fact”!?!
Obama just wanted the press to post pictures of big ‘ol Hayes to compliment his Wall Street Fat Cats comments he had prepared for NEXT WEEK. His speech writers really had some killer speaches written….
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