Dave Weigel, guest-blogging at The Economist, notes this from a speech by New York congressional candidate Eric Massa:
“When Bill O’Reilly insults us, he insults 200 years of tradition,” Mr Massa said. Yes, Daily Kos is five years old, but “he insults the traditions of Thomas Paine, nailing his pamphlet on that lamp post in Boston. He insults the citizen journalism that made this country what it is!”
Does anyone have any idea what he’s talking about? I’ve read biographies of Paine—though admittedly this was a while ago—and this isn’t ringing any bells. Also, Common Sense was published in Philadelphia, where Paine lived at the time. He would reside at various other times in Britain, in France, and in New York, but not (as far as I recall) in Boston. Is there some famous story here that I’ve somehow never come across, or is Massa just confounding his allusions in his excitement?
3 responses so far ↓
1 razib // Aug 3, 2007 at 2:42 pm
sounds like a little bit of martin luther, boston tea party and the real tom paine.
2 David Weigel // Aug 3, 2007 at 3:58 pm
At the time it was like John Belushi in Animal House: “Forget it, he’s rolling.” Massa was in a froth and it sort of sounded like he was running a bit about Tom Paine into a bit about pamphlets being nailed to lamp posts in Boston.
3 Dave2 // Aug 8, 2007 at 10:01 am
Dude, it’s 95 Theses, not 98.