Other than discounting any statements attributing positive qualities to a party being discussed because some people will inevitably disagree, I don’t really know that this has any pertinence.

but I don’t think it’s really a gotcha to claim that “when Ulysses S Grant predicted one side being patriotic and intelligent, he was talking about our side.”

What if I add the context that this was in the middle of a speech advocating for public, state-funded schools, explicitly free of religious instruction?