Great American "Plagiarists"

[RBInMaine]

So, Team Hillary, I guess we should go through everyone in our history (including HILLARY herself) who has ever used language or ideas or arguments similar to another's and now label them all as "Plagiarists." Here are a few for you to begin your next round of nasty attacks.

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in a Memorial Day address is 1884 stated: "It is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return."

Hm? Did JFK "plagiarize" this when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." ?? (JFK was actually known to keep notes of such quotes.)

How about the many similarities between MLK's movement of non-violent civil disobedience and those of Thoreau and Ghandi, including much of the same language used in his speeches and throughout the movement??

George Mason's preamble to the Virginia constitution, adopted on June 12, 1776 just prior to the Declaration of Independence included the words: "All men are created equally free and independent and have certain inherent and natural rights among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."

Hm? Did Thomas Jefferson "plagiarize" the Declaration of Independence??

History is chock full of such examples. Team Hillary better be damn careful about tossing around the "Plagiarist" label especially given her own very recent history of using others' lines and phrases.

Barack Obama and Deval Patrick are good friends who have swapped bits and pieces of speeches between them now for several years. Several months back Patrick suggested Obama use the tactic he had used to respond to attacks that he was all rhetoric and no substance. Obama has now credited Patrick and has said he should have done so in the moment, even though Patrick had previously suggested he use the phrasing and has since said he is glad Obama did so. In fact, I understand this is actually not the first time Obama has used the language. I understand it was vetted earlier in '07. Anyhow, Hillary and her people need to be damn careful before they go trying to use this pretty damn minor incident to attack Obama's solid character. It'll come back to haunt her bigtime.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Apparently they swapped "Hope & Change " too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRSVsUvqb_Q&feature=related

[RBInMaine]

6. No No wait, they both stole it from Bill, or maybe Jesse, or Bill...

While the Clintons attack Obama for talking about "hope" as "cheap talk", it was fine for Bill to talk about being the "Boy from Hope" and "Still believing in a place called Hope" incessently in 1992. And yes, "change," Bill used "change, change, change..." all throughout the 1992 campaign. Now that's a meaningless and "cheap" word too. So Iguess Obama and Patrick have "plagiarized" Bill.
Or wait, no, maybe Bill stole "hope" from Jesse Jackson who from at least 1984 talked so often about "keeping hope alive." Uh, awe, gee, hm, so I guess we have "plagiarists" copying "plagiarists" copying,... awe, gee, shucks, who knows??? See what happens when you start down this road. You should damn well think about it. (Hm, While I'm at it I guess I would also have to ask, if Hillary is all about substance, tell me just what GREAT things she has accompished for America??? Hm. Failed secret healthcare plan. Voted for the Iraq War and won't admit it was an error. Takes more money from corporate lobbyists than most Republicans. Yeah, great "accomplishments". She has no more experience or accomplishments than Obama and much of what she has done and does, like taking the lobbyist money, is awful.)

[islandmkl]

2. you just don't get it...Obama can not have a message for the masses...

unless he has totally new thoughts and unheard-of-before ways to express them. Otherwise, he is just a retread JFK or Gandhi or King or Jefferson, etc...and what did any of those guys ever accomplish? Again, the Clintons attack the source when they have no argument for the message.

[NYCGirl]

3. Woody Guthrie about Bob Dylan:

“Oh, sure, he steals from me, but that’s okay because I steal from everybody!”

[Bicoastal]

4. It's funny, but MLK HAS been accused of plagiarism...one DU'er even told me

(s)he lost respect for the man because of it.

Some people just don't get it, really--politicians, activists, and other strivers are inspired by their peers and forebears. They model themselves after their teachers, their friends, their parents, their idols. Originality does not truly exist in a vacuum. Once you haul out the charge of plagiarism on such expansive terms as we saw today, every politician, orator, spokesman, musician, artist, and writer is suddenly guilty of it.

[RBInMaine]

7. Yes! And a few lines or phrases is NOT the whole person.

Absolutely. Great point and what I was getting at indirectly. And what Obama said today is EXCELLENT and spot on target. He said, "Wait a minute now, I have written two books and most of my own speeches." (They all have speech writers.) In other words, don't take a few words, lines, or phrases out of a complete context and use it to broad-brush the entire person and that person's entire narrative. Politicians and others are indeed influenced by others and bring similar ideas and language into their consciences and make it PART of their own larger narrative. Indeed, we ALL do it in one way or the other. You have to damn careful before tossing out the "plagiarist" or "fraud" label. Hillary and her people should know better than to do down this road.

[DesEtoiles]

5. Hillary looks like a big, whining crybaby.