WSJ
“How can you prove someone never said something?”
Mr. Langworth says Chris Matthews, a fellow Churchill Centre board member and host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” has misquoted Churchill. Last year Mr. Matthews made a promotional ad for MSNBC in which he recounted Churchill being told during World War II that he should cut government funding for the arts.
“Then what are we fighting for?” Churchill replied, according to Mr. Matthews.
Mr. Langworth says Churchill never said it, though many over the years have used what Mr. Langworth calls “this famous ‘red herring’ nonquote.”
Mr. Matthews, a self-described “Churchill nut,” insists he hasn’t misquoted his hero, but adds, “How can you prove someone never said something?”
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Proving a negative is a losing proposition. Make the other side prove their positive.
apostic on December 7, 2012 at 2:31 PM
Yeah, prove he said it.
Bob's Kid on December 7, 2012 at 2:31 PM
If Matthews is quoting anyone, I’m pretty sure that guarantees it’s deserving of skepticism.
beatcanvas on December 7, 2012 at 2:32 PM
Tingles made the claim…he should be able to prove it.
Otherwise it never happened.
ProfShadow on December 7, 2012 at 2:33 PM
Even if he did say it, it’s lunacy.
“What? Stop forcing taxpayers to subsidize artists who mock the sensibilities of said taxpayers? We may as well surrender to the Nazis now!”
sadarj on December 7, 2012 at 2:36 PM
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”
Churchill.
the_nile on December 7, 2012 at 2:38 PM
How about you prove he did say it you friggen loon.
NotCoach on December 7, 2012 at 2:42 PM
I can still remember the days when Chris ran around the newsroom calling people ‘Ni**ers” and ‘F*gs’.
reddevil on December 7, 2012 at 2:43 PM
“Republicans caused WW2 and the recession in 2009″
–Churchill
Gatsu on December 7, 2012 at 2:43 PM
What can be proved is whether the person “quoting” someone is lying. If the speaker cannot produce the source he is lying to call it a quote.
Capitalist Hog on December 7, 2012 at 2:44 PM
is also described by others as being a bat-sh*t crazy drunken communist nut.
CorporatePiggy on December 7, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Don’t believe everything you read in an email forward.
-Abraham Lincoln
vegconservative on December 7, 2012 at 2:55 PM
In other words, Matthews is one of these people who in his mind is never wrong. If he says Burgess Meredeth broke his glasses in an episode of “The Outer Limits” nothing will convince him it was “The Twilight Zone.”
radjah shelduck on December 7, 2012 at 2:56 PM
“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
-Abraham Lincoln
vegconservative on December 7, 2012 at 2:56 PM
Does it even make sense?
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills
in order to preserve public funding for the arts? Huh?
Paul-Cincy on December 7, 2012 at 3:08 PM
No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
– Francois De La Rochefoucauld
Paul-Cincy on December 7, 2012 at 3:10 PM
Another troll-free thread.
CurtZHP on December 7, 2012 at 3:19 PM
You need to finish the quote.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hillswe shall fight in the hills… In order to preserve public funding for the arts!
Gatsu on December 7, 2012 at 3:20 PM
c.f. Paul Krugman making the same type of mistake, but the other way ’round.
apostic on December 7, 2012 at 3:29 PM
Yogi Berra readily admits that he did not say many of the things atributed to him.
He also has said that it just sounds better thinking he said it.
Jabberwock on December 7, 2012 at 3:38 PM
And thus is CM’s political pontificating exposed.
Jabberwock on December 7, 2012 at 3:46 PM
If memory serves me well, Nazi Germany had plenty of funding for the arts.
sadarj on December 7, 2012 at 4:00 PM
The burden of proof is always on the claimant.
Mimzey on December 7, 2012 at 4:36 PM
Churchill on funding for Britain’s 1940 version of the NEA: “Never have so many given so much to so few.”
andycanuck on December 7, 2012 at 9:12 PM