James Fallows on plagiarism and the latest tempest in a teapot that is shaking Clintons supporters

[Mass]

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/02/on_plagiarism.php

The "plagiarism" flap over Barack Obama is bogus and overstated. It makes me think worse about whoever is pushing this complaint, rather than about Obama himself.
...

Read further to read something by somebody who, as a professional writer, probably hates plagiarism.

Sadly, this latest attempt makes me less likely to work for Hillary Clinton if she is the nominee, and, in my opinion, it makes a woman less likely to become president.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Imagine if she made it to the General Election.

What would she do? Accuse McCain of dodging the Vietnam draft?

[TexasObserver]

3. She'd claim he wasn't captured. He asked to be put in a cage.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. He plagiarized the idea from Rambo II.

[ShortnFiery]

6. With Ted Nugent as they both dropped acid and pooped in their pants!

:crazy: Really, nothing is below The Clintons to "spew forth" in order to stir-up shit for their own personal ambitions. :nuke:

[grantcart]

18. she would morph into that crazy girl on SNL that is always out boasting everyone else lol

[ShortnFiery]

2. Thank you James Fallows - a respected "voice of reason." eom.

[cooolandrew]

4. That is a very good point actually is she spoiling it for any potential women to run. Honesty is ..

the best policy. If Barack was anything liek Kenneth Blackwell I would shun him as a black person for showing me up, and trying to ruin it for any decent candidate. You have seen this with black people's reaction to Powell and Condi, it's matter of integrity. Barack to me has shown massive amounts and energised young voters disconnetcted from politics. He has the whole world excited about him and is making proud each day. His campaign has been very clean and he was fine inIowa then it got negative there after when team hillar y saw potential defeat. Surely women need a candidate to be proud of and not let them down.

[Perry Logan]

7. "Bogus and overstated." Sounds like every anti-Hillary post I've seen at DU.

[Dogmudgeon]

14. There's been a run on Kool-Aid

After I read about 50 posts screaming that Hillary lies, cheats, steals, summons evil spirits, abuses children, hates rock-n-roll, and pulls the wings off butterflies -- and then declare they could never vote for someone who is so negative -- I start to suspect that this is all a work of satire.

But it isn't.

--p!

[MissMarple]

15. "This is personal, to me." Who said that first?

James Fallows is correct. But this is right out of Rove's little bag of tricks. Always accuse your opponent of what you are doing yourself. Sadly, it often works, especially with the naive gopper base. I hate to see Hill use it. She has become like her enemies.

Check out this DUer's post. Support your candidate, but please don't deny the obvious. We should be better than that. This is a tempest in a teapot.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4661949

[JackORoses]

17. So Hillary can do no wrong? I think even you know that is bullshit.

Keep watching, one of these days, and it won't be long, you will see her for what she is.

Her loyalty is not to you, though you are her willing servant.
Ask Patti Solis Doyle what it's like when the Clinton's decide you are no longer beneficial.

[UALRBSofL]

8. How people forget what happened to Biden

But then again Obama gets special treatment from the media then did Biden. That said, most Hillary supporters remember the Biden conspiracy whereas most Obama supporters were too young to vote.

[Mass]

10. Read the article. Fallows did not forget Biden and he is able to make the difference.

Sadly, you cannot.

I respect and admire Joe Biden, but his "similar" case in 1988 was completely different, and actually bad. On the stump he was telling someone else's personal story -- as it happened, Neil Kinnock's -- as if it were his own. That is not the kind of detail you just swap into and out of a stump speech to make it more powerful. Indeed, the mystery is how anyone could actually utter words -- "My daddy was a coal miner," "there I was, at Valley Forge" -- knowing them not to be true. And -- mentioning again that I respect and admire Biden -- the incident wounded him because in fact he had been a very weak student in college and law school. Not, say, the president of the Harvard Law Review.

[yellowcanine]

11. Biden presented someone else's "life story" as his own. Hardly the same thing. And I am an Obama

supporter and I remember it quite well and had already been voting for 16 years when it happened.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

12. OH SNAP

Stupid young people and their new found love for democracy! POLL TAXES! BRING BACK POLL TAXES!

[anigbrowl]

13. Biden listed an entire speech - no comparison.

And you seem to forget that in giving this speech he identified himself as the son of a coal-lminer - like the original speechmaker, Neil Kinnock of Wales (in the UK). There is a considerable difference.

Plagiarism isn't an academic issue to me - back in the 90s I submitted a partial complete book manuscript to a publisher I had worked with before for consideration and had it rejected, only to see it completed and published under another author's name about a year later.

As far as I'm concerned, if Deval Patrick told Obama 'here, use this thing I said in a speech during my campaign, it went down well', I have no problem with it. The complaints of the Clinton campaign are high-schoolish and just make it seem as if the candidate is jealous of Obama's rhetorical ability. It's a stupid tactic by her campaign people, because Hillary Clinton's strength was that she spoke more about policy and claimed to have a greater interest in kitchen-table issues. By going negative, her campaign ensures that the news cycle continues to be about Obama and lessens the coverage given to the Clinton platform. Personally I don't think this is going to pay off except with people who like grumbling.

and no, I don't support Obama just because he talks well. I supported him early on because of his platform, which I just think is better and wiser than that of his competitors.

[housewolf]

9. It greives me to see the Clintons acting badly

I keep hoping for something better from them. Unfortunately, Hillary's campaigining tactics probablly make it less likely that we will elect a woman president in 2008. I'm very sad to see her hurting herself.

[Nedsdag]

16. James Fallows is the man!

I love reading anything he writes. He's correct about the so-called "plagiarism flap."

[Cha]

19. hilary's not going to be the nominee.

End of story.

[Window]

20. Thank you for sharing this.

I bet MESS NBC won't have him on.



Peace:thumbsup: