WATCH: John Oliver's Hilarious Take-Down of Pols Misquoting Founding Fathers

Janet Allon
,
 AlterNet
and
 Janet Allon
October 19, 2015

Ben Carson is always an absurd person, but sometimes he is quite funny, too, like when he rambled incoherently recently about something Thomas Jefferson supposedly said about gun control.

Ummm, no.

Rampant misquoting of founding fathers in presidential campaigns is a growing epidemic, John Oliver hilariously pointed out on HBO's Last Week Tonight Sunday night. Carson has plenty of company on the right with misquoters like Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker and Rand Paul all joining him. Gosh, even John Oliver has been misquoted.

“That is the problem with memes. If you have the right font and the right photo, any quote can seem real,” Oliver said. “And I’ll tell you how I know that. Because for years now you may have seen multiple photos of me comparing gun control to airport security. It’s an interesting thought. Here’s the thing: I never said that! Even though, I’ve now seen it so many times now I’m starting to genuinely wonder if I ever did.”

A favorite historical figure to misquote is Abraham Lincoln. Here, Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. Presidents Clinton, Reagan and Obama have all mis-attributed made-up Lincoln quotes wholesale.

So, helpfully, since actual truth does not seem so popular anymore, Oliver set up a website for the misquoters to consult for their made-up quotes. Definitelyrealquotes.com, 

Helpful.

Watch the video: 

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