A reader wants to know if this is a real Lincoln quote, since neocons use it so frequently: “Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or Hanged.”
Thomas DiLorenzo, the expert on the real as versus the mythical Lincoln, responds: “The quote is by an Insight magazine reporter (Michael Waller, ‘When Does Politics Become Treason?,’ Insight, Dec. 23, 2003) who was summarizing Lincoln’s position. It’s not by Lincoln himself.
“Lincoln’s actual views were even more severe: ‘The man who stands by and says nothing when the peril of his Government is discussed cannot be misunderstood. If not hindred, he is sure to heop the enemy; much more if he talks ambiguously — talks for his country with “buts” and “ifs” and “ands.”‘ (Roy Basler, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 6, p. 264).
“Silence, as opposed to defending HIM and HIS ADMINISTRATION when they were being discussed, were treasonous in Abe’s view, and the ultimate penalty for treason at the time was hanging.”
6:51 pm on March 1, 2008
