Palin "didn't mess up about Paul Revere"

Politico reports

Presidential hopeful or history teacher?

After a week on the road visiting national monuments and historical sites, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin repeated her claim Sunday that Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere had warned the British that they weren’t going to take firearms away from Americans.

“I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere,” Palin told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace when asked about her gaffe made last week while her “One Nation” bus tour stopped in Boston.

“He warned the Americans that the British were coming, the British were coming, that we‘ve got to make sure we were protecting ourselves and shoring up all of our ammunitions and firearms so that they couldn’t take it,” Palin said.

“But remember, the British had already been there for seven years in that area, and part of Paul Revere’s ride – and it wasn’t just one ride, he was a courier, he was a messenger – was to warn the British that were already there, that you’re not going to succeed, you’re not going to take American arms, you’re not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual private militia that we have.

"He did warn the British," she added. “In a shout-out, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, I answered candidly and I know my American history."

Palin's national bus tour, which spent the past week rolling through the East Coast, has received considerable media buzz. But the 2008 GOP vice-presidential nominee is still weighing whether to jump in the 2012 White House race and continued to insist her traveling road show was only about shining the spotlight on American history and values.

"I’m publicizing Americana and our foundation, and how important it is that we learn about our past and our challenges and victories throughout American history so that we can successfully proceed forward through very heady days, rough waters ahead of us," she said.

'We need to make sure that we have a strong grasp of our foundational victories so we can move forward. That’s what we’re highlighting on this bus tour."