* From Gov. Rauner’s 2018 State of the State address…
Abraham Lincoln once said: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’
* Dave McKinney…
Lincoln never said that, according to three top Lincoln scholars.
* As Hannah Meisel just pointed out on Twitter, the fake Lincoln quote has reappeared at an Illinois State Fair tent…
*** UPDATE *** From Jennifer Schultz at DoIT…
Hi Rich,
Wanted to send this your way based on the post from earlier today. As you know, this quote has been widely attributed to President Lincoln for many years. We have checked with our partners at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and confirmed there is no evidence that he indeed said it. We will be replacing the sign with the verified quote below.
“If we never try, we shall never succeed.”
Abraham Lincoln - October 13, 1862 in a letter to Major General George B. McClellan
Thanks,
Jennifer
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:42 pm:
Rauner never misses a trick to go full phony.
Phony costumes, phony quotes…
- PublicServant - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:42 pm:
And the best way to quote the past is to invent it.
- Gov Gridlock
- Highland IL - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:43 pm:
‘The best way to predict the future is to create it you know…make it up.’ - Bruce Rauner (but laugh first).
- Ducky LaMoore - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:45 pm:
“The problem with the internet is there are quotes from historical leaders that aren’t easily verifiable.”
-Albert Einstein
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:46 pm:
My favorite part is “Try your hand at our beanbag toss.”
- Fixer - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:47 pm:
His grandfather must’ve taught him that quote in his trailer. Was probably something wrong in the translation from Swedish though.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:50 pm:
===My favorite part is “Try your hand at our beanbag toss.”===
It’s pretty yummy as a throwaway bit, like an 8-year old changing the subject from their homework they just made up.
- Last Bull Moose - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:52 pm:
DoIT has a problem documenting existing systems. Seems fitting they would screw up the Lincoln quote.
- P. - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:55 pm:
Maybe a $300/hour Deloitte consultant can stop whatever project they are not working on and bring some duct tape over by the fairgrounds.
- Precinct Captain - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:55 pm:
If there weren’t any fake quotes and fake news, there’d be nothing good for the governor.
- The Dude Abides - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:55 pm:
The quote is as fake as Rauner’s plan to bring thousands of jobs to Illinois.
- @misterjayem - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:56 pm:
“Try your hand at our beanbag toss.”
None dare call it cornhole.
– MrJM
- Perrid - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:56 pm:
I got tired of the puns about DoIT and “do it” about 3 days after the agency was formed.
- Anonymous - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 12:59 pm:
“The deaths at Gettysburg were Madigan’s fault.” - Abraham Lincoln, from the Gettysburg Address, November 1863
- My New Handle - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:01 pm:
To whom in Rauner’s milieu does the truth matter, anyway? I have yet to see a headline that Rauner Lied. Maybe Illinois journalism is complicit by not leading a story with the lie pointed out rather somewhere down the column.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:02 pm:
===I have yet to see a headline that Rauner…===
What about the Cupich…
- Anon221 - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:07 pm:
I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him.
Abraham Lincoln- https://www.azquotes.com/quote/531014
- Steve Rogers - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:08 pm:
Gov. Rauner has an entire state agency under his control and dedicated to the study of Abraham Lincoln and Illinois history, and no one from the administration bothers to consult the experts before putting up the quote?? Brilliant.
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:12 pm:
“The best way to pay for the pensions is to not pay for them.”
-Abraham Rauner
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:14 pm:
“We need more storage warehouses”
– Abraham Lincoln, first director of DoIT
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:14 pm:
“The little details are for those with too much time on their hands.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1858
- Leatherneck - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:15 pm:
I don’t know if it’s still there, but there’s also a fake Lincoln quote on the south side of Springfield. At the 10-year old Walmart on South 6th near Southern View (one of the Springfield “donut hole” municipalities within the city) off I-55 Exit 92.
I don’t know if it’s still there but a columnade in front of the store attributed the quote “People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be” to Lincoln.
SJR article about the quote four days after this Walmart opened in July 2008:
http://www.sj-r.com/article/20080720/News/307209947
Also as of 2008, there were also other instances of Lincoln-related gift shops and merchandise sold in Springfield with questionable Lincoln quotes:
http://www.sj-r.com/x1346888322/Wal-Mart-not-only-place-with-questionable-quotes
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:19 pm:
“Don’t look for the best quote to make a point, make up a quote to the point you want to make.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1857
- Earnest - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:21 pm:
I tossed a beanbag. Unfortunately it came up empty because the site address of the hole had been changed to improve it. I went and picked up the beanbag and found there was a new line to get to the new site of the hole. Unfortunately they asked for my username and it turned out I needed to go to an administrator for the new line because they had updated their naming conventions. I went to do that and went and tossed my beanbag, but they had changed the site address again. I went to the new line but my password didn’t work. I checked with DoIT but they said it was an issue with a different state department. I contacted them but they sent me back to DoIT. Now another department of DHS has contacted me because I was supposed to have submitted my beanbag three days ago.
- Macbeth - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:23 pm:
Good god. That’s not Lincoln.
That sounds like a PT Barnum quote.
- Earnest - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:23 pm:
I thought the quote Rauner actually used was: “In order to create the future, you have to destroy the present.” Or maybe that was from the Decatur power point presentation?
- Anonymous - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:24 pm:
“Bruce Rauner is a smart, articulate & charismatic leader for all of Illinois. I wholeheartedly endorse him over that chubby guy from Chicago.”~~ A. Lincoln
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:31 pm:
“The one who makes up the best quote probably has the worst facts to make a point.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1859
- Skeptic - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:34 pm:
“And the best way to quote the past is to invent it.” — Abraham Lincoln, 1865
- a drop in - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:34 pm:
“Don’t believe all the quotes attributed to me.”
-A. Lincoln 1866
- Skeptic - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:34 pm:
(or was it 1866?)
- Nick Name - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:38 pm:
===Good god. That’s not Lincoln.
That sounds like a PT Barnum quote.===
Or a made up quote from one of those cheesy motivation posters.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:39 pm:
“If I didn’t say it, then attribute it to Ben Franklin.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1855
- Some Dude - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:41 pm:
Clearly beanbag isn’t politics.
- Huh? - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:41 pm:
If you hear a laugh when a governor starts to answer a question, you will know he is lying.
A. Lincoln, 1865
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:43 pm:
“There’s no place I love more than Springfield, my hometown. Except maybe Hawai’i in off-season”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1852
- Michael Scott - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:45 pm:
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
- Abe Gretzky
- revvedup - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:46 pm:
“Don’t believe every quotation you read” -Lincoln.
New names for DoIT:
DontDoIT
CantDoIT
UnDoIT
WhyDoIT
DoIT: Our quote is fake;the beanbags are real.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:51 pm:
“I’m pen pals with Major Marquis Warren”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1863
- 37B - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:56 pm:
“I predict that less than 3 years from now the State of Illinois will have a $16B bill backlog and the social services net will be in tatters.”
B. Rauner - February 4, 2015
- West Side the Best Side - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:58 pm:
“You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that’s enough to make a good living.” A. Lincoln, 1860
- Davos Seaworth - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:00 pm:
Another great, timeless Abraham Lincoln quote,
Be excellent to each other. And… PARTY ON, DUDES!
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:05 pm:
Actual Lincoln selfie…
- Chris - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:09 pm:
“Lincoln once said: “Blame Madigan”, which is why I keep saying it so much. No one ever went wrong quoting Lincoln too often.”
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:10 pm:
“If I’m going to trust anyone to tell my story in a film, (Steven) Spielberg would be that person.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1864
- Huh? - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:32 pm:
Mike Madigan was Speaker when I was a representative. I was able to work with him. Solid Democrat, knew his stuff.
A. Lincoln, 1864
- MickJ - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:56 pm:
My favorite Lincoln quote “Bruce Rauner is a liar and a failure.”
- The Way I See It - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 2:57 pm:
Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.
- Abraham Lincoln
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:06 pm:
“I always enjoy reading The Capitol Fax Blog”
-A. Lincoln, 1862
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:14 pm:
To the Update,
“When you mess up, find any quote other than the one that was debunked to make yourself look smart.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1852
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:15 pm:
“Fake internet quotes are forever”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1857
- Skeptic - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:16 pm:
“They’d have to shoot me to get me back in Springfield.” — A. Lincoln (hat tip to the Cardologist)
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:17 pm:
“Check the internet twice, cut and paste once”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1858
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:20 pm:
“Hope that display is recyclable”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1857
- Reserved - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:23 pm:
Why is DoIT advertising in the first place? Second, now taxpayers are paying for 2 pointless signs? Is this good stewardship of public funds?
- Michelle Flaherty - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:24 pm:
The “Hi Rich,” email is basically the written version of Rauner’s laugh response to questions.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:24 pm:
“I’m not here to say things you want me to say for some poster.”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1855
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:26 pm:
Skeptic, I have that t-shirt framed. One of my favorite Abe collectibles.
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:29 pm:
“The Departments of Government should not be titled so as to be instantly mocked”
-Abraham Lincoln, 1861
- WhoKnew - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:31 pm:
- Earnest - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 1:21 pm:
I think you have over simplified a very complex issue…
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 3:37 pm:
“The right font makes any quote possible”
- Abraham Lincoln, 1859
- Joe M - Friday, Aug 10, 18 @ 4:09 pm:
“If you are caught in a lie, don’t do a little laugh - and bug out your eyes like a deer caught in the headlights - people will know you are lying” - A. Lincoln.