Fact Check

Lou Holtz Nails It

Was an essay about 'Two Americas' penned by former football coach Lou Holtz?

Published Dec. 30, 2014

Claim:

Claim:   Former football coach Lou Holtz penned an essay about 'Two Americas."


INCORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, December 2014]


Did Lou Holtz really say this or is it yet another hoax? See the text below. I tried to search for it on your site and can not find it.
 

The Democrats are right, there are two Americas. The America that works and the America that doesn't. The America that contributes and the America that doesn't. It's not the haves and the have nots, it's the dos and the dont's. Some people do their duty as Americans, obey the law, support themselves, contribute to society and others don't. That's the divide in America.

It's not about income inequality, it's about civic irresponsibility. It's about a political party that preaches hatred, greed, and victimization in order to win elective office. It's about a political party that loves power more than it loves its country.

That's not invective, that's truth, and it's about time someone said it. The politics of envy was on proud display a couple weeks ago when President Obama pledged the rest of his term to fighting "income inequality." He noted that some people make more than other people, and that some people have higher incomes than others, and he says that's not just. That is the rationale of thievery.


 


The other guy has it, you want it, Obama will take it for you. Vote Democrat. That is the philosophy that produced Detroit.

[Click here to expand text].


 

Origins:   Shortly after President Obama gave a speech about income inequality in December 2013, writer Bob Lonsberry published an

essay on his web site titled "Two Americas" about the "The America that works, and the America that doesn’t."

The article didn't initially gain too much attention, but that situation changed when the text of Lonsberry's essay started circulating via e-mail with former football coach Lou Holtz's name featured prominently at the top in ways that inaccurately suggested he was the article's author, such as "Lou Holtz Nails It!", "Told As Only a Coach, An Old Coach Can," "Lou Holtz on America Today," and "Lou Holtz's Viewpoint."

As Bob Lonsberry has confirmed, however, the "Two Americas" essay was not penned by a famous former football coach. It was written and originally published by Lonsberry on his own web site on 9 December 2013.

Last updated:   30 December 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags