More Proof of Plagiarism, Stories Don’t Add Up

When is the story about John McCain’s campaign finance scheme going up (or has it been here alread?). He was playing with a 10 point spread.

Whew! Now that’s unprecedented creativity.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/mccain-loan/?resultpage=1&

Oh enough already. “Plagiarism!” ain’t got no legs. It really looks desperate, in fact. Why can’t Hillary challenge Obama on her own merits? What’s up with this bullshit “plagiarism” crap? Journalists are already dutifully chugging out all the instances where she, too, has “plagiarized”.

This is such a tawdry little “issue”. “Plagiarism!” doesn’t belong in a Democratic primary campaign. She’s turning this election into an episode of Jerry Springer.

Doesn’t she have anything serious to offer in this election?

Whoops! Forgot the y in already.

Wow! This is great, ripping apart all these presidential folks. Why, I think I feel like Hyena’s must (much maligned I fear) when shredding a carcass or attacking a lone lion.

It is also, I admit, bordering on the comic, just how obsessively Susan and Larry are breathlessly chugging out hyperventilating post after post after post on “Plagiarism!”

What is this, the 10th in two days? Doesn’t the Hillary Campaign have some sort of meaningful press release that can be regurgitated dutifully?

I await the next installation: “Obama’s Secret Love Child” or perhaps another round of “Obama’s Ties to Terrorists”. Or maybe it will be “Obama’s Secret Love Child Has Ties to Terrorists”.

Here are a couple examples of Hillary’s “plagiarism” of Obama:

The New Republic’s Noam Scheiber notes that “you can’t listen to a Clinton speech without hearing multiple riffs she’s filched from other candidates.” Back in November, he flagged her Obama lines, which ranged from hope and unity to sharing her aspiration to be a President not only for blue states, but the entire United States. 2008-02-18-Picture5.png In Iowa, Clinton pilfered Obama’s catch phrase “fired up and ready to go,” and lately she has also sounded like John McCain — they both tout a slogan about being “read to lead on Day One,” whatever that means.

Since it’s considered so clever to project a candidate’s weakness onto an opponent, it’s really no surprise that the Clinton Campaign is now attacking Obama on trumped up allegations of sounding like another politician.

More available at The Nation’s web site.

Love this site! We should all go to some run down bar and get liquored up and engage in an old-style bar-room brawl. Then we’d end it and buy each other drinks. I guess that’s both sides of Irish in me talking.

And didn’t Christ plagiarize Zoraster?

“Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for..” Wait, that was JFK. Well, being Christ, I guess he can travel faster than light so he could time travel…?????

Ahhhh, crap. This is to complicated. I have to pull out Einstein’s stuff on this. But wait, Max Planck almost had it and Einstein used Planck’s constant E=h(bar)v and……………..

Wow - once it bad but this is starting to look like a pattern for Obama. And the MSM seem to be taking a serious look at this pattern of his - NBC led off their national news this evening with this story.

I mean seriously - for someone who relies so heavily on rhetoric and words, he has a hard time coming up with anything original or from the heart. It’s about time someone started to dig into that rhetoric and ask for more than just nice speeches.

Thanks for posting this Susan - nice catch!

Let’s see: If Hillary continues to campaign like this, she is going to be relying on the “below average”, people with IQs at least half if not one standard deviation below the national mean. That group is, by definition, a minority, and therefore, cannot carry the election for her. She better come up with more than “Plagiarism!” soon or most people aren’t going to be greatly impressed with her or her candidacy.

Oh Dear. I didn’t demean people with lower IQs. I demeaned people who ACT like people with lower IQs.

Yeh…and I will Back her Up..Boy..You are reminding me of my “MAD DOG” Days..

Obama’s “WordGate” problem begs the question every citizen should ponder: Why does Obama couch his agenda (or criticisms) in borrowed, lofty rhetoric rather than state his values and purpose with impunity?

Perhaps WordGate, coupled with Obama’s questionable past relationships, are echos of some hidden character and judgement flaws that the media — up to now — have ignored.

Moreover, the messianic fervor of Obama’s presidential campaign is troubling, particularly when you consider the extraordinary executive powers Congress has allowed Bush to amass unchecked.

To Banquos ghost. It was bad enough when the Republicans were telling BS about Hillary but when Democrats start doing it, that is really low. I notice you have no real specifics just BS vague charges and/or trumped up charges. Hillary has worked all her like for progressive causes. She deserves better from jackasses like you.

Leave the children out of this! I agree with the poster who says, “What kind of example are we setting?” The kids should be allowed to be kids. Oh no! I know someone said that before but I don’t have the primary source.

They need to be conditioned by the corporate marketing machinery before they are ready for the political marketing machinery that awaits them when they are eligible to vote. Their untility is in helping the economy and learning to choose.

Their $10 billion a year in disposable income (mostly parent’s money) causes them to be subjected to sly but wonderful product marketing campaigns for gear and everything else. The practice they receive in choosing say, Burger King over McDonald’s or Nike over Puma or Rolex over Timex will serve them well when it comes time for them to choose between brand A from the Republicans or brand A from the Democrats.

I’d like to acknowledge that the foregoing thoughts were sponsored/inspired by the works of Marx (much maligned I fear), Marcuse, Lenin and Bush the Minor, the latter for his post 911 advice “go shopping”.

From Talking Points Memo:

“Clinton fingerprints on plagiarism flap

Fact Check: Clinton Denies Driving Plagiarism Charge Against Obama _ Despite Fingerprints

Staff
AP News

Feb 19, 2008 19:21 EST

Hillary Rodham Clinton says reporters, not her campaign, uncovered evidence of Democratic rival Barack Obama sharing speech lines with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

She made the claim Tuesday despite the fact her campaign posted video clips on YouTube illustrating similarities in the speeches and has suggested in several instances that the shared lines amount to plagiarism.

THE SPIN: “It’s not us making this charge, it’s the media,” Clinton told Honolulu television station KITV Tuesday. “The media is finally examining my opponent which I think is important. We’re trying to pick a president, someone for the toughest job in the world.”

She added: “I think the media is going to be putting forth whatever facts and information it has for voters to assess on their own.”

In an interview with another Honolulu station, KGMB, Clinton noted that Obama and Patrick share a strategist, David Axelrod, “who is apparently putting words in both of their mouths.”

She added: “I think that’s a serious concern.”

FACT CHECK: Any suggestion that the story had a life of its own, apart from the Clinton campaign, is disingenuous.
[SNIPPED BY ADMIN]

OBAMA WINS WISCONSIN IN LANDSLIDE WHILE TAKING HILLARY’S BASE OF SUPPORT

Sorry guys, you fought hard and you lost. It’s still not too late to sign up to campaign for Maverick. Have fun.**

BWAAAAAAAHAAAAHAAAHAAAAAHAAAAA!!!!!!!

** Remarks attributable to my neighbor Chucky

So…when your kid “borrows” whole sections of a term paper from someone else, and gets caught, you, as the upstanding parent that you are, go to the school to lobby for your child not being suspended or receiving a failing grade, on the basis that your kid had his or her friend’s permission to use the material, right? How could that possibly be a big deal, right?

Come on, people - are you so desperate not to see the flaws in your candidate that there is no standard you aren’t willing to compromise?

I think it sets a terrible example. I guess you can add it to the whole steroids-in-sports mess. Athletes that we cheered for their skill and prowess cheated the sport and cheated the fans - how is this Obama thing different? How have the thousands of people who listened to Obama not been cheated, not been deceived, not been sold a fake?

Have we not had enough of deception and lies? I, at least, have had enough of political figures thinking that we are that stupid.

It’s part of a pattern of short-sighted risk for the hope of long-term gain. Part of what pisses me off is that in this age, there is always a record, always a video, always a transcript - and he was assuming what? That he wouldn’t ever have to explain himself? That no one would ever hear him speak, wonder why it sounded so familiar, and decide to check it out?

It’s like Rezko - Obama and the Mrs. wanted a home more in line with their ambitions, and they worked the angles, used the connection to someone with a shady and questionable history, and waht? Figured no one would ever put the two names together and ask any questions?

His story on both counts has changed, each time having to come clean with a little more info after more details were discovered. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I wonder what else is lurking that will be “found” at the worst possible moment. How many GOP operatives do you figure are building a nice, fat file on Obama?

Wake the hell up. There is no one - no one - who is worth compromising the standards we set for ourselves and the ones we endeavor to teach our kids, and when you find yourself willing to excuse in a presidential candidate things that you would not tolerate from those closest to you, something is very, very wrong.

Doing drug is OK, plagiarism is OK. Just can’t wait till the Rezko trial starts. I’d really like to see the limit of Obama supporters.

Whether it’s technically plagiarism or not isn’t the issue to me. The issue is that a man who presents himself as a visionary and stresses his authenticity has been revealed to be a product, and more’s the pity, a product with recycled advertising. With what Axelrod likely charges, he ought to come up with fresh riffs for a new client.

Or was Patrick the test market project?

this is just so weak i cannot believe it.
almost as weak as the issue with michelle obama finally being proud of her country

if this is what the clinton campaign is relying on, then they are doomed.

the comparisons between drunk bush and obama in terms of being lack-of-experience are bogus. any fool could have seen that gwb would be a terrible president, completely unprepared and un-curious. sadly, for our country, he (and his handlers) took advantage of it for all it was worth and more.

you can’t seriously believe that obama, who was a community organizer among other things in his career (not just given businesses to ruin) would turn every instrument of our government over to cronies do you?

who knows, maybe obama will be a terrible president. we have tough times ahead. but do you seriously believe that he will lie and only hire advisors that will lie for him as well?

anyways, i think we should all get ready for obama’s nomination, because without some kind of hail-mary/miracle he looks like he will be the nominee

lets get ready for more wisdom from karl rove, that guy is a genius and his insight is terribly important for our country (he’s a straight shooter)

don’t turn this into a strictly anti-obama blog

The word ‘believe’ appears four times in this post, including comments. Guess what, 3/4 appears in one comment, and it happens to be from a Hussein Obama supporter.

I urge everybody here to do a random counts in internet blog comments, Hussien Obama supporters tend to use the word ‘believe’ a lot. That tells us something, right?

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100% original theory, copyright Plagiarista

It’s a shame that supporters were too busy falling for the personality to see the person. We must find a way to make these candidates accountable to us…to listen to us…because they are just not that progressive. So far we’ve been made to hear what they want…what they plan…when will they listen to what we want, to what we think they should do. We aren’t electing kings and queens here but representatives, of us and of our party. Our current elected officials stopped listening to us or to our polls and are acting out of their own personal beliefs rather than what we say we want them to do. How can anything change if they refuse to hear us, the people and listen only to the media and the lobbyists? We are the government and they are supposed to represent us in its operations. The legislature and the judicial rush to cover and legalize or conceal the executive’s lawbreaking no matter what the people say. But unfortunately supporters are too busy cheering and applauding and chanting to ask questions or demand answers and this is the time when we actually have some influence with our vote. Why are we just accepting that this is the way it must be because this is what the candidates are offering. We want to be able to fire you or not hire you if certain conditions aren’t met. It’s like hearing, “but you said you loved me”…”I did, then, for a brief moment ..now will you shut up and get out of my house”. It’s about what Pelosi’s constituents hear. “Yes we can what?” “No you can’t do that and get away with it”. Stop just accepting everything without question?

All these comments do is point out how this story was incorrectly framed from the beginning. Here we are discussing plagiarism when we should be discussing the similar campaigns of 2 candidates. Obama supporters are in a frenzy over what they see as fresh candidate with vision. All Hillary’s campaign needed to do was to demonstrate that this is not true. That another guy rode into office on the SAME campaign and the same speeches. If that isn’t a problem for some, then how about a little discussion about Deval Patrick’s first year in office. Now maybe the Democrats don’t care to do this, but I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut the Republicans will. Thereby destroying the false notion that Obama stands the best chance of winning in Nov.

I’m a Hillary supporter, but I am now outwardly critical of the way she has campaigned. Her communications person SUCKS! So many missed opportunities and just plain WRONG responses.

From the New York Times:

In Politics, Inspiration or Plagiarism Is a Fine Line

By SAM ROBERTS
Published: February 20, 2008

The accusation on Monday by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign that Senator Barack Obama recently plagiarized a passage from a speech delivered two years ago by a friend has opened a door to charges and countercharges about borrowed phrases and unattributed inspiration in the 2008 campaign.

But it also revived questions raised in 1993 about whether President Bill Clinton, in his Inaugural Address, borrowed references to springtime from two sources without crediting them at the time.

Mr. Clinton began his inaugural by proclaiming: “Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal. This ceremony is held in the depth of winter. But, by the words we speak and the faces we show the world, we force the spring. A spring reborn in the world’s oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America.”

A few days earlier, the president-elect said that in drafting his address he had drawn on a number of sources, including a four-page outline by the Rev. Timothy S. Healy, president of the New York Public Library. Elaborating a decade later in his autobiography, Mr. Clinton recalled that he was dissatisfied with the latest draft of his address, but added:

“I did like one passage, built around the idea that our new beginning had ‘forced the spring’ to come to America on this cold winter day. It was the brainchild of my friend Father Tim Healy, former president of Georgetown University. Tim had died suddenly of a heart attack while walking through Newark airport a few weeks after the election. When friends went to his apartment, they found in his typewriter the beginning of a letter to me that included suggested language for the inaugural speech. His phrase ‘force the spring’ struck all of us, and I wanted to use it in his memory.”

Mr. Clinton incorporated the phrase, but did not credit Father Healy by name.

A few days after the 1993 inauguration, Jimmy Breslin wrote in his Newsday column, “When Healy sent Clinton that phrase it was with the idea that he would be alive and that he would hear Clinton say, ‘In the words of the Rev. Tim Healy …’ ”

Earlier on Inauguration Day, Mr. Clinton attended a prayer service where another friend, the Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn, delivered a sermon in which he said: “On this fateful day, we enter a springtime, we believe, of a new beginnings. There may be spring rains and storms, but it is springtime in America.”

Mr. Breslin wrote at the time that Mr. Taylor in his morning sermon “was unknowingly providing more thoughts and phrases for the speech.” Somebody had announced that Mr. Clinton “had finished his Inaugural Address at four in the morning,” the column continued, “which appears incorrect.”

Howard Wolfson, one of Mrs. Clinton’s top advisers, said Tuesday: “Tim Healy helped President Clinton write the speech by offering suggestions for it. That doesn’t fit any definition of plagiarism that I’m familiar with — no one is accusing Senator Obama of lifting speeches from one of his speechwriters or advisers.”

On Monday, Mr. Wolfson accused Mr. Obama of plagiarizing the remarks of Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts from a 2006 campaign appearance. Mr. Obama acknowledged that he should have credited his friend Mr. Patrick in speech on Saturday in Milwaukee, but he said the Clinton campaign was “carrying it too far.”

Obama Calls Plagiarism Flap “Best of Times, Worst of Times”
It’s the leading page today, check the Borowitz Report archives once Andy posts something else.

Funny thing, Patrick has much better delivery.

I do not believe this