RNC misquotes Abraham Lincoln, sparking Twitter frenzy
The Republican National Committee paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln on Twitter on Sunday by sharing a quote from the 16th president on what would’ve been his 208th birthday.
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count,” the quote read. “It’s the life in your years.”
The same quote and image was also posted to President Trump’s Instagram feed.
Just one little problem: Lincoln never said that.
It appears the quote first appeared in a 1947 advertisement for a book about aging by Dr. Edward J. Stieglitz.
The flub did not go unnoticed on the Internet, as Twitter users mocked the GOP by gleefully sharing their own misattributed Lincoln quotes.
@GOP pic.twitter.com/59LftcZdEN
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) February 12, 2017
"Don't hate the player, hate the game"–Abraham Lincoln, second Gettysburg Address.
— Elizabeth Joh (@elizabeth_joh) February 12, 2017
"When you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything." — Abraham Lincoln
— Sam Rosenfeld (@sam_rosenfeld) February 12, 2017
"SEE YOU IN COURT!"–Abe Lincoln
— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) February 12, 2017
@MaraWilson @GOP Nobody puts Abey in the corner.
— Ben Holmes (@BunkanMerguson) February 12, 2017
His leadership brought us together; his legacy inspires us still. Happy Birthday, President Lincoln! pic.twitter.com/LdW3ZFvyBC
— pat tobin (@tastefactory) February 12, 2017
"I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany." – Abe Lincoln pic.twitter.com/b2YjF1kqWI
— Doree Shafrir (@doree) February 12, 2017
"He was a skater boy. She said see you later boy. He wasn't good enough for her." – Abraham Lincoln @GOP
— shauna (@goldengateblond) February 12, 2017
Meanwhile, it wasn’t a great weekend for official Twitter feeds and historical figures.
The U.S. Department of Education apologized for misspelling the name of W.E.B. Du Bois while quoting the late writer, historian and civil rights activist on its Twitter feed Sunday morning.
The tweet spelled his last name “DeBois” — a typo that appeared to mimic the name of the department’s controversial new secretary, Betsy DeVos.
Trump's official inauguration portrait featured a typo https://t.co/Kw234T9CMc pic.twitter.com/d2ad5UuoWF
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) February 13, 2017
And a poster of President Trump that included a misspelling in a quote was removed from the Library of Congress’ online store after Twitter users noticed the error.
Early Monday, the RNC deleted its tweet with the wrongly-attributed Lincoln quote. But it remained posted to Trump’s Instragram feed on Monday afternoon.
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