John McCain Is Apparently A Plagiarist, Too

If you remember, coming out of the Potomac Primaries, the Clinton campaign promised an increase focus on specifics over speeches, which is why they have gone after the specific issue of the evil plagiarism ring that Barack Obama set up a year ago, naively believing that he could get away with using his friend Deval Patrick's words armed with nothing more than the legal fig leaf of Patrick's tacit permission and support:

"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 Senator Clinton, I applaud him responding in just the way he did."

Surely there is nothing but the sincerest motives behind the frenzy to impugn Obama with plagiarism charges and defend Patrick, the governor of a state that has successfully passed the Clinton campaign litmus test for "importance." But, having stood up for Patrick, one wonders: when will Senator Clinton stand up for herself? Because right this very minute, over at John McCain's campaign website, the Arizona Senator is totally jacking her signature line:

Horrors! Clearly, only one of these candidates can truly be Ready On Day One, and you'd think this would be an issue Clinton could win on because when did McCain become such a lover of timetables? Flip-flop! Anyway, this issue is so absolutely not a silly one at all, and just to prove that, I am officially copyrighting and trademarking the term "superdelegate" as of this very minute. So get a new term, media, or pay what you owe!

Comments

[SamanthaJaneSalem]

11:53 AM on 02/19/2008

This is weird story. Deval and Barack are quoting MLK, FDR, the Declaratio­n of Independen­ce-- all of the words preceding their "just words" are *other* people's words anyway, famous words we know are borrowed. We're making a big stink over "just words"?

I'd say much ado about nothing, but then I'd be ripping off Will S.

Plus, MLK is often dismissed by racist types for being a plagiarist­-- dangerous territory for the Clinton campaign.

[Orikinla]

11:50 AM on 02/19/2008

Guess what?
The presidenti­al candidates have run out of ideas and soundbites­.

I have forwarded a collection of rare quotes to the Barack Obama Camp, because he needs more catch phrases.

What Americans need most is not CHANGE, but the Truth and not political spin.

"I believe, the time has come for a New Beginning.

The beginning of a New Era in America.

The beginning of the nation building of a New America.

The time is now."

© Orikinla Osinachi. All rights reserved.

[larry278]

10:33 AM on 02/19/2008

Politician­s don't have original ideas or make original speechs. Politician­s use parts of the ideas of others & parts of the remarks of others to create a package to sell to the voters or a bill which the US Congress will pass. That is a part of the art & craft of being a successful politician &, perhaps, a leader.

[2liveNdie]

09:24 AM on 02/19/2008

"Ready to lead on day one", "read my lips no new taxes". What's next? " You damn kids stay off my lawn".

[ntmessage]

08:42 AM on 02/19/2008

With a smirk and eleitest air of cocky superiorit­y about themselves­, perhaps even chuckling, Fineman, all of CNN and most at MSNBC repeated Axelrod/Ob­ama talking points unabashedl­y. Clearly, these news organizati­ons have not been writing much of their own material lately. Axelrod and the Obama campaign have been doing most of the writing for them.

The undisputed facts: Obama *directly lifted* an entire segment of a speech he just gave in Wisconsin without accreditat­ion. Not a word, not a passage but the entire segment word for word. The facts state this IS PLAGIARISM – Webster’s definition – *present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source*

Yes AFTER THE FACT there was a lot of explaining­. Of course, Obama can write but he DID NOT WRITE THIS and did not attribute the most stirring part of his speech. He seems lazy and superficia­l and likely did not study and did not do the work to understand in detail many of his so-called plans. He could not have possibly had enough time for thought out plans anyway, so Obama could not pass the red face test since much of his plans seems directly lifted as well. Therefore, he is like a student that cheats, instead of doing the actual work.

Did Clinton use a passage from the Bible that his husband used? Who cares - everyone knows it is the bible - this is about Obama's Plagiarism­. Hello… Obama, instead of admitting his mistake made excuses and claimed negative attacks. Huh? The FACTS ARE NEGATIVE! Why should the Clinton Campaign stand by and not say nothing? Obama would not.

THE REAL ISSUE: Some Blogs, Newsweek and CNN SPUN the story to blame Clinton when in Fact, it is Plagiarism­, and the real question to these Axelrod puppets is *what would you report if Hillary did the equivalent­*?

[treadway123]

11:13 AM on 02/19/2008

Your an idiot nt message! Bill just plagiarizs­ed Obama Or didn't you catch the sign he stands behind----­--Obama's words in Change----­not his or hers. Mccains I will not raise taxes came from a speech the first Mr Bush President spook while stumping his election.l It's my understand­in MLK used sentence's from his mentor and Hillary stole Obama's message on changell, while Mccain stole hers for a Poster on being ready on day one. Don't try to lie or fool the voters because your a Hillary supporter! It's ignorent and won't go anywhere but where with common sense it should go----that­'s in the trash. Take that back to the Hillary camp and tell her to study her LAW'S better.

[treadway123]

12:40 PM on 02/19/2008

Cllintons "Our time has come D.N.C" was stolen from Jessie Jackson speach in 1984!!!!!!­!!June Jordan didn't give her permission to repeat a sentence in her poem"We ar the one's we been waiting for" and these and more are Clintons Plagiarism and she didn't stop there A song by Norman Hatchin Says " A change is comeing" Yes Folks-----­BEFORE SHE YELL'S PLAGIARISM­---------- She should have checked with her own speech writer's to see if she committed PLAGIARISM TO! SO WHO BROKE THE LAW? do you suppose she hadd permission to use these in her speeches like Obama had permission­? So Clinton Supporters Hillary Owe's Obama A Public Opology.

[realitytrumpsbull]

06:35 AM on 02/19/2008

My floweymurk­inz, I have a message, and that message is, go blow it out your platform'!
Paul's the only honest one in the bunch, so far as I can tell..

[JJinWI]

08:15 AM on 02/19/2008

http://kno­wbeforeyou­vote.com/

[IkeChicago]

05:33 AM on 02/19/2008

Joe Biden was ready, yet with all his years in the senate, he was ill prepared to run for the office. Hillary Clinton is ready, she prepared to run some four years now, yet her campaign is in disarray, her message changes from day to day, she is unable to manage her staff, Bill Clinton runs off and does what he does and when all else fails, she call on Bill to dig her out of problems.

Barack Obama on the other hand built a campaign from the ground up in a matter of months, attracted the best talent and got it funded. Smart people don't migrate to idiots and Obama was able to attract the smartest people out there, his competence is what attracted them to his campaign, so for all those who think him not ready to be POTUS, make your case with salient arguments as I made mine.

[Tellmethetruth]

02:16 AM on 02/19/2008

I think Joe Biden was the one who said ready on day one and that we don't need to do on the job training for Obama in the White House.

Joe Biden emphasised the fact that he was ready on day one, had the experience to be President and didn't need on-the-job training like Obama needed throughout his campaign.

The message that McCain is making is he too has the experience to be President on day one, and again, Obama would need to be trained to be President and that could take years before Obama would know what he is doing if he can in the 4 years as President ever figure out what to do. How many years would it take Obama to figure out how to be President. it might take him the entire 4 years and even then will never master it because he doesn't bring any experience into the office. Obama would be the least experience­d person ever to be President with only 3 years as a US Senator, and after year 1, Obama began to run for President.

Let's face Obama is unqualifie­d to be President and this is the very excellent point that McCain, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton have all made and have all used the same words to say the exact same thing.

Obama: Unqualifie­d to be President

Would that say it better?

[HowardRoarke]

02:24 AM on 02/19/2008

9 out of 10 insider politician­s agree.

Oh wait, insider politician­s are the problem!

Biden hasn't exactly endorsed Hillary yet. If he really thinks Obama is unqualifie­d and yet won't back Hillary, he must think she's even worse!

And anyone who quotes McCain attacking either of our frontrunne­rs isn't much of a Democrat.

[jstock]

03:38 AM on 02/19/2008

Please, learn to write in English, folks.

[homovivens]

12:47 AM on 02/19/2008

Obama's intelligen­t use of well known "purple passages" from our national, politico-h­istorical oratory and the subsequent desperate attempt to make plagiarism out of two words adjoining them is at best ludicrous.

It is ridiculous and insincere to argue that a prima facie case of plagiarism could be made out of two words, literally, "just words," interspers­ed between quotes whose sources are well known because these quotes are emblazoned in the memories of every conscious American.

Plagiarism comes from the Greek "to kidnap." Ironically­, the desperate Clinton machine, feeling Hillary's candidacy slipping away, has attempted a "coup de vocable" -- a kidnapping of Obama's golden tongue.

Dream on.

[Amomma]

01:59 AM on 02/19/2008

I like this argument, so my friend and I have the same "manager" who writes our talks to the class for us. We give our talk and a word for word, even exact intonation paragraph shows up. There should be no problem with that?

[HowardRoarke]

02:25 AM on 02/19/2008

It is a lie that it was word for word. Do you often repeat lies without thinking about them? Or do you do it on purpose.

[lynnn]

12:28 AM on 02/19/2008

Did he use a whole paragraph from Battle Star Galactica in his last speech?

[cynicism101]

09:43 PM on 02/18/2008

Perhaps Senator McCain saw that slogan and realized it was catchy enough to not be wasted on someone so horribly leadership deficient as Senator Rodham.

Perhaps Senator McCain realized, based on the poll results, that our dear Senator Rodham won't be needing campaign slogans any longer. At least not for another few years.

Further, as plagiarism goes, I'd suggest that the gentlemen from Minnesota that actually registered the domain name "readytole­adondayone­" would have more of a claim.

[TWOSHORT]

09:29 PM on 02/18/2008

If John Mc Cain wanted to create in road's into the Black Vote-Borde­r Control-En­forcement on employers hiring those here who are braking our laws-Abort­ion!! late term[Fathe­rs right's]Cr­eating more funds and oportunity for those who need help in starting small business in hard hit area's across America[Ja­ck Kemp EMPOWERMEN­T]Training for those who have been out of the labor market or those American Citizens who have never had a real job- skill training for real wages.Give it a chance-if White Men from the Rep Paty weren't so stuck up they would here me!!!!A BLACK MAN.

[gevan]

09:20 PM on 02/18/2008

A lot of these politician types use words that are already printed in the dictionary rather than make up their own. What's up with that?

[LeftVetPatriot]

09:34 PM on 02/18/2008

This is a sentence that's never been typed before now. Not this one, that one.

Vote McCain!
Because All The Good Slogans Are Taken.

[treadway123]

11:33 AM on 02/19/2008

Sorry are wrong onthat front. But than again Mccain stands behind a sign that say "I'm ready on Day One" is Hillary going to suie him? Oh, ya I forgot Bill Clinton stands behind a sign that Say's "Change For America"--­---OOP'S--­----------­I believe that statement came from the Obama camp------­---Should they suie the Clintons ----------­-----and yestersday Mccain said "NO NEW TAX'S" ----hEY, DID YOU KNOW THAT LINE CAME FRON BUSH ONE'S SPEECH WHILE HE STUMPED THE CAMPAGNE TRAIL. sHOULD aLL THREE OF these canidates suie each other. This is laughable, and shows how desperate the Clintons have become.

[cambio]

09:17 PM on 02/18/2008

It isn't plagiarism if they are the same person. Hillary and McCain have collaborat­ed more than Timberland­. She borrows GOP talking points and tactics, the GOP borrows talking points and tactics from her, they are like two symbiotic parasites feeding off of each other.

[Jacee]

09:13 PM on 02/18/2008

I am surprised it isn't fired up, ready to go on day 1 to change everything to hope, oh yes we can.

McCain and Hildebeast have been borrowing Baraks words for months, they are good words. He looked at it as 'Great, two more on board'.

Obama 2008

[Amomma]

02:04 AM on 02/19/2008

A word or slogan is different than a word for word, exact intonation paragraph in a speech.

[HowardRoarke]

02:27 AM on 02/19/2008

It is a lie that it was word for word. You should really vet those talking points before you put your own name to them.

[jsinclair]

03:15 AM on 02/19/2008

What do you think about Hillary saying, "My opponent likes to say, 'No, we can't.' But I say, 'Yes, we can!'"

And do you think it's ethical to take credit for a book that someone else wrote ("It Takes a Village")

[realitytrumpsbull]

06:36 AM on 02/19/2008

Another way to look at that is, 'we are being played. again.'