Gaffney, Lincoln, and a quote that wasn’t a quote

A controversy has emerged that revolves around language that Frank Gaffney, President of the Center for Security Policy, used in his February 13, 2007 column for the Washington Times.  In his piece, entitled "Treacherous Agitation," Mr. Gaffney attributed the follow words to President Abraham Lincoln: "Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged."

It turns out, however, that the language in question was not Lincoln’s, but that of the Center’s Vice President for Information Operations, Dr. J. Michael Waller.  In a December 2003 article in Insight magazine, Waller used the above-quoted language to summarize what he thought was the essence of a June 1863 letter by Abraham Lincoln, in which the former President mused on the morality and legality of arresting Congressmen who were “warring against the military.”

In the draft version of his article, Waller did not put quotes around the sentence.  However, his editor, believing the phrase to be a direct quote from Lincoln, inserted quotation marks without consulting the author.  Once apprised of the mistake, Waller admits to not being persistent enough in having it removed. 

As such, the incorrect version spread until more than 18,000 websites carried the non-quote, and until Factcheck.com finally approached Waller in August 2006, almost three years after the article was published.Gaffney did not know the quote was not genuine until after its publication in the Washington Times, when the paper’s editor informed him that several readers had contacted the paper about the validity of the supposed quote.  After the misquote had been verified, Gaffney had the piece pulled from the 20 or so websites that carry his material and expressed his regrets over the mistake.However, while process of retraction was occurring, Congressman Don Young (R-AK) read the quote on the floor of the House of Representatives. Rep. Young soon acknowledged the error and stated he would refrain from further use of the quote.  But, to his credit, he averred that he “continues to totally agree with the message of the statement."

Critics on both left and right have used the mistake to attack Mr. Gaffney.  The words “fabrication,” “made up,” and “faked” have been slung about in the blogosphere like so much mud.  An honest survey of the origins of the non-quote, along with the commentaries of Gaffney, Waller, and other pundits indicates that the controversy emerged not because of malice or mendacity but, as succinctly stated by the Alaska Daily News, because “ an editor at Insight magazine arbitrarily decided to put quotes around it in a 2003 article.”

In the end then, the whole "controversy" was much ado about nothing.

The Record

• (12/23/03) – "When Does Politics Become Treason?," the 2003 Insight magazine article hosted on Dr. Waller’s blog, FourthWorldWar.com
• (8/31/06) – FourthWorldWar notes the mistaken quote of President Lincoln
• (2/16/07) – "Congressional Saboteurs," an article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
• (2/16/07) – Correction in the Washington Times
• (2/16/07) – “Honest, It Wasn’t Abe’s Comment,” story in Washington Post
• (2/20/07) – "Treacherous Agitation," revised Gaffney column on the CSP website