Did McCain Plagiarize His Georgia Speech From Wikipedia?

CQ Politics:

A Wikipedia editor notices some similarities between Sen. John McCain's speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. They appear similar enough that most people would consider parts of McCain's speech to be derived from Wikipedia.

Read the whole story: CQ Politics

Comments

[VolvoBirkenstock]

Correction: The speech was plagiarized by a staffer.

Mc just read it aloud.

[mosh]

ok, thanks, that makes all the difference. As long as the candidate can read, no problem.

[SCG2]

It's not easy coming up with exciting speeches to fill Mc Cranky's teleprompter. First you need to correct the spacing so he can turn his head rhythmically as he's reading, like a pulsing oscillating fan,
then culminate with a angry old man fist shaking at the moon moment.

[Coinyer101]

im pretty sure tucker bounds probably wrote this speech directly from wiki,without mccain's knowledge.he just appears to be the type that would do this.

[Coinyer101]

i agree with me.

[proudloudlib]

That belly laugh just sent me into a coughing spasm!

[JRandomPoster]

You'd think that if he was going to plagiarize, he could at least steal from the US Department of State website. They at least are considered to be somewhat authoritative. Wikipedia is great, but a man who wants to have his finger on the Big Red Button, who has spent as long in Congress as he has, ought to have better information sources.

[FdeBear]

Hey I totally agree! But Wikipedia should only be treated as a launching pad for further research since no one is held accountable for the accuracy of the information.

[UrbanInterloper]

McCain's speech obviously was written or at least edited or approved by his top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, whose lobbying firm has been on the payroll of the goverment of Georgia from 2003 to the present. (Does anyone seriously think the McCain campaign would not use this connection in a speech of this nature?)

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/08/scheunemann-mccain-georgia/

And really, wouldn't both this lobbyist group and its Georgian client be inclined to edit a Wikipedia article about Georgia, sort of regularly? In all likelihood, the material on Wikipedia and the material in McCain's speech both come from much of the same sources. That doesn't mean it has to be coordinated for this speech.

In fact, I'd be surprised if the speech and the article were not similar.

[proudloudlib]

In research writing, even if you move a few words around, it is still considered an indirect quote or a paraphrase, and attribution is required!

[FdeBear]

Not likely. These people are so busy they rely on others to check sources. Likely they gave it a cursory review. And yes! I do think the McCain campaign would not use Scheunemann to edit and I don't think updating the information on Wikipedia is on the top of ANYBODY's to-do list - particularly Georgian officials.

[TheKnownTruth]

John and Cindy sitting in a tree
plagiarizing recipes and speeches
for you and me.

Birds of a feather live together.

[rasthedestroyer]

then that means, i only need one stone....

[dodosong]

The second version was not really even attempting to hide the fact of plagerism, rather it was to respin the more balanced facts from Wikipedia and to 'spin' them with the veneer of positions and politics of the corporatocracy.

[aaronburr]

Wow, must be a slow news day with your deity vacationing on Maui.

This really lameo story is based on three minor quotes from a 1,064 word statement. Even then the quotes were excerpted for maximum negative inference:

Wiki (actual): “Ancient Georgian states were the kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia. The latter, one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion early in the 4th century, subsequently provided a nucleus around which the medieval Kingdom of Georgia was formed in the 9th century.”

Wiki (excerpt quoted): “one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion”

McCain (actual): Georgia is an ancient country, at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and one of the world’s first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion."

McCain (excerpt quoted): “one of the world’s first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion."


The other two quotes are a bit longer and even less close to verbatim to anything in the Wiki entry. Also interesting to note that the Georgia History page of Wiki was just conveniently recently modified on 10 August 2008:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Georgia_(country)#Georgia_under_the_Soviet_Union.2C_1921_-_1990

Would not be the first time political operatives tried to tweak a Wiki entry to their advantage.

[jsinclair]

You obviously don't teach. This kind of plagiarism in an academic setting would result in a hearing and very likely follow-up action.

Is "Wikipedia" the source you want your president be using when making policy statements and decisions about world crises?

Good luck with that.

[Donnat]

Once elected, McCain will start getting all his news and speeches from "The Onion"

[aaronburr]

You obviously don’t read! (And who says I don't teach?) With all due respect to your academic pretensions, dream on about a hearing or follow on actions. As a response to a world history class homework assignment to write a basic history of the Republic of Georgia this would not draw a second look. You could not even prove Wikipedia was the - or even a -source! Similar basic historical material can be found in dozens of places. You go around calling students “plagiarists” on this kind of half baked evidence and you’ll get yourself and your school sued for slander.

[americanwomaninpa]

aaronburr:

Thanks.

[Coinyer101]

dont believe him.go read it for yourself.he's twisting wili.

[zippywpinhead]

"lameo"?

Like, fer sure dude... Thanks for giving us the insight and perspective of 12 year olds all across the country...

[aaronburr]

Nice response. I guess we'll have to assume I'm right on the facts since all you can do is make snarky remarks.

[aaronburr]

Wow, what a incisive example of liberal erudition.

[Coinyer101]

your d u m

[aaronburr]

Wow, what a incisive example of liberal erudition.

[mosh]

As long as McC actually remembers the historical facts, he can get his speeches from the encyclopedia for all I care (some of his bigger gaffes sound like his info comes straight from the original 1953 volume).

The man needs educating desperately especially around foreign affairs so I hope John studies the wiki site daily. He needs to really nail down that sunni/shite/kurd thing before the frederick douglas debates. Whoops. Damn.

Keep up the good work John!

[ShamusNYC]

Heard that the first draft of the speech was plagarized from Ray Charles, verbatim. (Georgia on my mind...)

Just a rumor...

[zippywpinhead]

naw, he wrote the first draft while sitting with his buddy General Sherman...

[pinkypeterson]

Thank you Wikipedia editor for bringing this to someones attention - hope it sticks!
But of course McCain doesn't even know what he did wrong - "I read what they gave me, What? I got to see how I voted on that before I can respond"

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

WOW so McBush learns how to us the internets and this is what we get. Another 12 year old stealing his book report. We know McBush did not write the speech but that fact that a speech writer would use Wiki to base an argument for an international crisis is more proof that McBush is playing geopolitical checkers while Putin is playing chess.

[JenMI]

Definitely not plagiarism on McCain's part.....H­e didn't write the speech, he only read it...and not very well.
OBAMA 08

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

The audacity of d ope

[mosh]

Yikes, that's scary. What if he succeeds?

[jsinclair]

I want to hear him admit just that. Especially since he was trying to show what a wonk he is on the subject.

I don't think he even understood what he read.

And I'm sure he doesn't know what "Wikipedia" is.

Which actually makes it even worse. This was his BIG CRISIS SPEECH!!

His worst gaffe yet, imo.

[Missmn]

The fact that he read it makes it his. It doesn't matter whether he wrote it or not, it became "his" speech as soon as he gave it - unless he credited the staffer who wrote it, that is.

[proudloudlib]

who in turn would have had to credit Wikipedia

[PaulinaSmedes]

What, they can't afford a subscription to the Britannica?

[zippywpinhead]

they spent all their money on the Britney/Paris ad...

[PaulinaSmedes]

guess Britannica is too elitist anyways :-)

[mairs]

We won't hear this on the MSM except for Olbermann. It will sink out of sight instantly.

[MiddleRoad1]

What surprises me is that old Mc-Donald knew how to navigate to the wikipedia page

[jsinclair]

s-p-e-e-c-­h-w-r-i-t-­e-r

[bosshogg]

i think the most important question is who taught him how to cut and paste.....­..........­..........­...

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

Can't you just see him in his hotel room with the Video Professor's tutorial?

"Well, I see this shiny little 45 record, but I don't seem to have a record player for it....."

[Mildmannered]

Where is that "any" key?

[proudloudlib]

Thinks the cd drawer is a cup holder.

[zippywpinhead]

C.indy did while browsing for more authentic family recipes at recipe.com

[proudloudlib]

While browsing the internet prescription drug sites, you mean. Oh, well, I could use a valium myself after reading all this drivel.