SubscribeHillary Camp Accuses Obama Of “Plagiarism”
From those mixers at the Politico:
Clinton aide accuses Obama of plagiarism
By Mike Allen
Feb 18, 2008Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, today accused Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) of committing “plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night.
Wolfson made the explosive charge in an interview with Politico after suggesting as much in a conference call with reporters.
On the call, Wolfson said: “Sen. Obama is running on the strength of his rhetoric and the strength of his promises and, as we have seen in the last couple of days, he’s breaking his promises and his rhetoric isn’t his own.”
“When an author plagiarizes from another author there is damage done to two different parties. One is to the person he plagiarized from. The other is to the reader,” said Wolfson.
Obama closely echoed a passage from a speech that Deval Patrick, now the Massachusetts governor, used at a campaign rally when he was running for that office in 2006.
The Clinton campaign circulated a pair of YouTube links of the two speeches on Sunday…
An Obama official said: “They’re friends who share similar views and talk and trade good lines all the time.”
Obama apparently ad-libbed the remark, which was not in his text.
The Massachusetts governor said in a statement: “Sen. Obama and I are longtime friends and allies. We often share ideas about politics, policy and language. The argument in question, on the value of words in the public square, is one about which he and I have spoken frequently before. Given the recent attacks from Sen. Clinton, I applaud him [for] responding in just the way he did.”
The Obama campaign immediately struck back with a document headlined: “Here are a couple of places Clinton freely borrowed rhetoric from Obama.”
Among the examples are Clinton’s use of Obama’s signature chant “fired up and ready to go” in Davenport, Iowa, and later her echoing of his rally cry, “Yes, we can!”
The plagiarism wars are the nastiest turn yet in the Democratic presidential nomination race as the campaigns gird for clashes in debates in Texas and Ohio, to be followed by primaries in those states on March 4.
I actually thought the Obama “plagiarism” was not all that newsworthy. After all, this is a pretty obvious route to take. And surely even Mr. Patrick wasn’t the first to use this rhetorical gambit.
Moreover, both Mr. Patrick and Mr. Obama share the same “advisor (speech-writer), Mr. David Axelrod.
(Though this must come as quite a blow to most Obama followers to learn that their hero employs a speech writer.)
But it is clear that the Hillary camp think this is something they can use against Mr. Obama.
Which only shows how truly desperate the Clintons have become.
Next they will be going after him for lifting Bob The Builder’s catch phrase.
(Though some say Mr. Obama borrowed that line from Mr. Patrick’s “together we can” campaign sloganeering as well.)
15 Responses to “Hillary Camp Accuses Obama Of “Plagiarism””
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February 18th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Wait… I thought everything he said was divinely inspired!? I’m so hurt. I can’t listen to a speech of his without thinking he is just vomiting up prerecorded talking points… probably because he is.
February 18th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Joe Biden, call your office.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
What difference does it make whether it’s plagiarized or not? He never says anything of substance anyway.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Hillary Clinton’s Plagiarism?
If you live in glass house you should not throw stones. See from ABC.com blog:
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Clinton: “Si Se Pueda is Right”
Email
Share January 22, 2008 8:06 PM
ABC News’ Eloise Harper Reports: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., flew across the country to receive the United Farm Workers endorsement in Salinas, California on Tuesday. The Union, founded in 1962 by Cesar Chavez, represents 27,000 farm workers.
The Senator took the stage with bleachers filled behind her with UFW members wearing red t-shirts chanting “Si Se Puede!” Clinton who rarely utters Spanish to Hispanic crowds, shouted back at one point during her remarks. “Si se pueda is right! That’s right, yes we can!” Clinton used the wrong tense of the the word “puede,” presumably accidentally to the crowd.’
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Hillary Rodham Clinton and her word-twisting husband Bill Clinton are both lawyers. Billary knows better. Their sense of entitlement (she would be the nominee by February 4th) now is faced with a stark reality — she has to earn her keep and relying on Bill’s record just is not good enough.
Incidentally Hillary’s book is entitled “It Takes a Whole World to Raise a Child”. I hope she properly attributed by Albert Scheven, a former missionary in Tanzania, in 1958 cited as his source: Farsi, S.S. SWAHILI SAYINGS FROM ZANZIBAR. Vol 1, Proverbs, 1958, Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau.
See H-Net discussion which rightly notes that “Hillary Clinton does not count as a source” for an African proverb:
February 18th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
“I see Obama using the language of Malcolm X in his speeches in South Carolina. Before a largely African-American audience, Obama used the terms ‘bamboozled’, ‘hood-winked’, and ‘okie-doke.’ These terms were made famous by Malcolm X on the stump in his days with the Nation of Islam. Obama is attempting to conjure that connection with the South Carolina audience to clue them in to the Clintons’ tactics. I guarantee he won’t use that lingo in front of whiter audiences because it won’t resonate the same way. In this particular example, I watched as a handful of individuals in the background, and two in particular, laughed and rolled their eyes as he invoked the words of Malcolm. They knew the deal.”
“Actually, Obama can borrow from Malcolm X in front of whiter audiences knowing it will sail overhead (unless there are Spike Lee fans listening), just as he borrowed ‘Yes, we can’ as a slogan from the illegal immigration activists and Cesar Chavez without whiter audiences recognizing it.”
“Nevertheless it is passing strange that a candidate who belongs to an ‘Afrocentric’ church that bestows awards on Louis Farrakhan would borrow from Malcolm X — who was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam — right before complaining about e-mails claiming he is Muslim.”
From http://www.proteinwisdom.com
February 19th, 2008 at 1:53 am
You know, if I were conflicted about whether to vote for Obama or - I don’t know, Daffy Duck - this MIGHT swing me to the Duck ticket. Happily, I’m not conflicted. So he plagiarized a speech. Give him a zero for the speech and don’t let him make it up, but it’s not like it’s going to make any difference in his final grade.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:21 am
More, from AP:
As usual, when someone on the left gets caught doing something, it’s “inadvertent.”
If most Republicans did it, they’d get nailed to the wall by the Press.
I discount McCain in that list, because of course he’s not really a Republican. :D
February 19th, 2008 at 10:07 am
I find it (sad) but interesting that our political process has dumbed down to the point that people are harping on this empty suit candidate plagiarizing lines (actually they are second and third handed plagiarism) - rather than concentrating on the fact that this man (and his ‘posse’) can’t come up with a single inspirational line that encapsulates his values, beliefs and ideas. Perhaps that is because he has none. . .
Which combined with his (non)Muslim family ‘history’ and further combined with his ethno-centric church - and topped off with his completely liberal socialistic views on issues - makes me more afraid of him than Hillary (in a way - even if I do believe if the Hildabeast wins, she would attempt to finagle a way to making herself el Presidente for Life - at least on that one, even some Dems and Libs would fight to prevent it) - I’m not so sure that people would realize exactly what this guy was doing until it’s too late. And finally - to imagine even a single Muslim (in the World) even thinking, much less saying - We have a Muslim as President of the US - should make each and every one of us pause and seriously think before voting or the reverse - imagine even a single radical islamic terrorist even thinking, much less saying - The Infidel US has a Muslim who turned on the faith, we must destroy him and the evil Infidel US that lead him astray. . .none of this bodes well for a B. Hussein Obama Presidency or the US.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:14 am
BillK ;
…”“Now hold on a second. Let’s see - I’ve written two books, wrote most of my speeches,” Obama told reporters at a news conference ….”
What does writing two books have to do with anything? If you’ve read excerpts from either you will have found the passages as empty of original thought as any of his stump speeches. Everything this guy says, writes, or does is a plagiarism. His whole life is a plaigiarism. Hillary has written at LEAST two books….does this make them both a couple of geniuses? Maybe if either had actually written the books themselves, but then…….How clever.
Reminds me of a couple of Battlebots!
February 19th, 2008 at 10:47 am
I just had another thought. Since both campaigns seem obsessed with the others’ plagiarizing, why don’t they make it into a contest? Let’s see…
(HILLARY) Si se puede!
(OBAMA) Si, ella es pudenda!
(HILLARY) Am not!
(OBAMA) Are so!
(HILLARY) I know you are, but what am I? I know you are, but what am I? Nya, nya, nya, Plllluuuuuuuuuuuuubt!
February 19th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
An update from the Associated Press on all of this nonsense:
Man, that such a story would appear in the AP does not bode well for camp Hillary.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Cut to the scene in the Wizard of Oz just after the pail of water was thrown on the Wicked Witch.
That is where we are today.
I AM MELTINGGGGGG
Burn in hell forever bitch.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Both are fighting for the things I detest the most . Some of us actually like this ” place ” the way it was . D.C. leave me alone ! I don’t need your ” help ” . We’ll do just fine if you would just leave us alone .
P.S
Their both saying the same things .
February 20th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Everybody needs hope. And I hope we can all get it. For only through the dream of hope can we achieve our dreams…of hope. At least that’s what I hope. For you see, it has always been my dream to come to the people–MY people if you will–with my dream that they can hope to achieve their dream. Now, some may say this is just a dream, but I believe in dreams. And the dream of hope cannot be stamped out by those who are hopeless or even dreamless. This is the future that I bring to you. To hope, and to dream, and to have a dream, because I have a dream. What is that dream you may ask. My dream is one of fulfilling dreams with my speeches of hope. Thank you and God bless those who vote for me.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
AmericanIPA:…..”Everybody needs hope….”
Seems as I’ve heard this before, but I could be wrong. Try this. Re-write your post, and in place of the word “hope”, insert “trust”, and in place of the word “dream”, insert “promise”. AND, it’s not plagiarized either.
See! Even you can be a speech writer for Barack O-bom-buh-buh-bom-buh-buh-bom-buh-bom-bom-buh-bom-buh-buh-bom-buh-buh-dingy-dong-ding-…..(every once in a “Blue Moon”) bama