Clinton Lies About Plagiarism Attack

Hillary Clinton flatly denied that her campaign was attacking Barack Obama for using the words of another politician, telling reporters on Tuesday that her campaign had not made the charge. The Chicago Tribune reported her remarks from an interview with KITV in Honolulu on Tuesday:

"Look, it's not us making this charge. It's the media. You know, the media is finally examining my opponent which I think is important because we're trying to pick a president, someone for the toughest job in the world [...] So, I think the media is going to be putting forth whatever facts and information it has for voters to assess on their own."

Obama Campaign spokseman Bill Burton shot back on Tuesday evening. "Senator Clinton knows full well that her campaign held a conference call with reporters to fan these flames and the fact that she suggested her campaign had nothing to do with it is exactly the kind of evasive tactic voters are rejecting," he said in a statement.

Clinton's claim is demonstrably false. Her campaign has aggressively and openly pushed the plagiarism attack, including a national conference call by senior campaign aides on Monday. Her aides also circulated a YouTube clip comparing footage of Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick.

Initially, Clinton operatives apparently did attempt to conceal their involvement. The first New York Times article about the clip reported:

The similarities from a passage of Mr. Obama's speech on Saturday and in remarks that Mr. Patrick delivered on Oct. 15, 2006, were highlighted by a rival campaign that did not want to be identified. Clips of both speeches are archived on the Web site YouTube.com.

Yet by Monday morning, Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson and Rep. Jim McGovern openly made the plagiarism attack on the conference call, while the campaign openly distributed the YouTube clip without requesting to only be identified as a "rival campaign." The story has now dominated campaign coverage for two days, so Hillary Clinton is obviously aware that her campaign is making the charge.

The Clinton campaign's attack on Obama's use of the line "just words" was widely panned as a baseless and desperate ploy. Her cover-up might go over even worse.

--
From The Nation.

Update 2: The AP reports that Clinton's claim is "disingenuous":

Clinton Fingerprints on Plagiarism Flap

Hillary Rodham Clinton says reporters, not her campaign, uncovered evidence of Democratic rival Barack Obama sharing speech lines with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

She made the claim Tuesday despite the fact her campaign posted video clips on YouTube illustrating similarities in the speeches and has suggested in several instances that the shared lines amount to plagiarism.

THE SPIN: "It's not us making this charge, it's the media," Clinton told Honolulu television station KITV Tuesday. "The media is finally examining my opponent which I think is important. We're trying to pick a president, someone for the toughest job in the world."

She added: "I think the media is going to be putting forth whatever facts and information it has for voters to assess on their own."

In an interview with another Honolulu station, KGMB, Clinton noted that Obama and Patrick share a strategist, David Axelrod, "who is apparently putting words in both of their mouths."

She added: "I think that's a serious concern."

FACT CHECK: Any suggestion that the story had a life of its own, apart from the Clinton campaign, is disingenuous....

(First) Update: The Politico reports on Clinton's false assertion, though the article avoids directly labeling it false:

Clinton, in remarks to the ABC affiliate in Honolulu that were reported by the Chicago Tribune, asserted: "Look, it's not us making this charge. It's the media."

But on Monday, the Clinton campaign announced a conference call "to discuss a recent speech delivered by Sen. Obama" and included a YouTube link that showed Obama remarks side by side with similar comments by his friend, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

On the call, Howard Wolfson, the campaign's communications director, said: "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."

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Comments

[ProgressiveNotLiberal]

Clinton should fold now to avoid further embarrassment and Party destructive ways. Her shamelessness needs to be buried, alive if need be.

[SKayum]

So it's come to this. The man gets caught doing something shady, and the outrage is that someone dared to accuse him of it. Wow.

[desmirl]

The Clinton campaign is in the toilet. Ten straight losses and more coming. Once she loses Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, she may come to her senses and realize that although the Democrats may be ready to nominate a woman as president--SHE'S NOT THAT WOMAN! Until then, the Clinton campaign will roll in the mud and try to splatter Obama with as much as they can throw. And every dirty thing they do doesn't help Hilary near as much as it helps John McCain.

[beattitudes56]

Ok today's word is MENDACITY look it up boys and girls...

[joanndarc]

Bill was the reason why Lil' Bush came to power as he actually made the Domacratic party weaker. Hillary is pulling the same trick, the family tradition, what can you do about it?

[Ides]

I feel bad for the Clinton campaign. It's like, if they attack him, they look bad, if they don't, he looks even better. Is this what it's like to, you know, have a campaign not based on lies and distortion and dirt?

[LeoMarvin]

The similarities [...] were highlighted by a rival campaign that did not want to be identified.

Now THAT is rich.

[moda31]

every article i read about this yesterday said that this was the subject of a clinton conference call. why turn around and deny something that would easily be rebuffed by all kinds of people. not only do they look like liars, but they're not even good at it.

[SamThornton]

If the Clinton campaign is reduced to lying about lying, then it won't be long before there'll be a coverup about denying they lied about lying.

Just keeps getting better and better.

[radlib1]

DEVAL PATRICK - I ASKED OBAMA TO USE MY WORDS

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Deval_Patrick_I_asked_Obama_to_0219.html

From ABC's Good Morning America, broadcast February 19, 2008.

:: governor patrick, good morning to you.

:: good morning, diane.

:: the clinton campaign accused barack obama of plagiarizing the words you used in the 2006 campaign. you're laughing. that's a serious charge.

:: i am laughing. it's an elaborate charge, an extravagant one. i've known barack for almost 15 years now. we talked a good deal during my own campaign and his. we fully expected. i fully expected he would sustain a charge at some point trying to belittle his ability to motivate people with language. i got the same kind of attack when i was running for governor of massachusetts.

it's not like he's writing a law review article or a book or something like that. he should have credited me with the use of two words. meaning those words, just words. i suppose he should have credited the declaration of independence, and john f. kennedy and franklin roosevelt whom i quote as well. the point is, we have a candidate here, barack obama with terrific ideas, with more law making experience than hillary clinton as fine a candidate she is but he has added vision to motivate people to reach for it.

barack obama's candidacy is not only about words, it's about really great ideas. it's about a record of legislative and community activism. about bringing change and being an agent of change. and the dimension of being able to articulate what that vision is and motivate people to reach for it is an added dimension. so, sure, the competitor candidate is going to try to trivialize that. it is those words, ability to inspire. i think that is a tremendous power of barack obama. i'm neither surprised nor troubled that he used the words that i asked him to use of my own.

:: governor patrick, thanks for being with us.

:: thank you, diane.

[ndolomar]

oh joy...yeah, this is the leader i want as a "change agent." if she's willing to split the democratic party so she can return to the white house, what won't she do once she's in there?

[HowardRoarke]

Talk about misreading America.

Hillary Clinton, fighting the best campaign 1998 never saw.

[timm0]

You know, I'm almost getting to the point of pitying her. Is it possible for the Clintons to STOP pumping bullet after bullet into their own bloody feet? The more of this that goes on, the more disgraced and tarnished her legacy becomes.

[Plank]

This is the same cowardly tactic the Clinton campaign used before. It's always some behind the scenes attack that's either denied or ends up in a firing. This is not healthy for democracy. Those who cater to the lowest common denominator do not deserve the media attention they're getting.