Clinton Makes Abe Lincoln Flub

GOP pounces on gaffe made on book tour
By Shelley Hazen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 12, 2014 12:26 PM CDT
Clinton Makes Abe Lincoln Flub
   (Shutterstock)

Illinois native and possible presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton started the second stop of her book tour yesterday by calling Abraham Lincoln a senator, CNN reports. Here’s what she was trying to do: During a speech in Chicago, Clinton compared the 2008 Democratic presidential primary between her and then-Sen. Barack Obama to the 1860 Republican primary. In that primary, Lincoln—at the time a former House member, not senator—was pitted against then-Sen. William Seward of New York. "A senator from Illinois ran against a senator from New York," Clinton said, referring to the 2008 primary. "Just as had happened way back with a senator from Illinois named Lincoln and a senator from New York named Seward." Yeah, that’s not what happened.

As the Washington Times explains, Lincoln was never Sen. Lincoln, having lost his bid for senator in 1858. Republicans took a dig at Clinton for the gaffe almost immediately: "With Hillary Clinton trying to rewrite her own history during through (sic) this book tour, it’s only fitting that she tried to rewrite Abraham Lincoln’s history," said a party spokesman. And it wasn't Clinton’s first flub this week... (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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