What Jefferson Didn't Say

By Baxter

We just saw the latest excerpt from Katie Couric's pink-jacket sit-down with Sarah Palin, in which Ms. Couric asks Governor Palin about the separation of church and state.

Unlike an earlier question about Supreme Court cases, at which she was clearly flummoxed, Ms. Palin jumps to respond.

"You know, Thomas Jefferson said, 'Never underestimate the wisdom of the American people,'" she proclaims.

Funny, we thought. We're unfamiliar with this alleged Jefferson quote. And it doesn't quite sound like the kind of language our third President would use. So we grabbed our Bartlett's to check.

Can't say we found it — but we can tell you something Mr. Jefferson did say:

"He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world believing him. The falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good dispositions."

That's an 18th-century way of saying, "Folks, she's making it up as she goes along."