Well...This is a stretch.

Deval Patrick and Barack Obama have shared the stage, and share a lot of political common ground. If the linked article is correct, they are friends as well.

All Obama needs to do, now, is explain the relationship and that both knew whose words were being used.

I don't see the big deal...After all, they are only words, right?

I wouldn't say plagiarized. I would say 'inspired by'. Deval was probably 'inspired' by someone else.
Rhetoric. Recycled rhetoric.

Yawn, either it is or it isn't.

"may"...pfft

Just... almost... got... dirt on... Obama... f*ck!

Maybe next time.

It's funny how far they have to stretch to besmirch him. With Hillary, it's so easy because she killed Vince Foster.

Barack Obama's "Words Matter" speech may have been plagiarized from a 2006 Deval Patrick speech

Wow. Talk about a stretch. Where is the plagiarism, exactly. The phrase "Just words?"

Frankly, that's the type of thing anyone could come up with on Fark. This is a ridiculous.

Two stories about Bill Clinton getting into a slap fight with an Obama supporter already in the queue and THIS gets a greenlight?!

c'mon guys, if you want more traffic on the site you gotta give me something to work with!

Greenlit.
Obamatrons won't like this one single bit. I can hear the lambs screaming.

I for one am pulling for Obama to win the election because I want to see if he'll choose a Hispanic running mate, and prove Dave Chapelle correct. Perhaps Henry Gonzalez or something.

Well I am convinced.
I was totally wrong about the current administration's fascism and imperialism being anti-American. I will totally vote for more of it if there is a chance that a candidate's speech might look like somebody else's. Because, let's face it, The Constitution is just a piece of paper and the people who drafted it could not have imagined and would have cowered in fear of the events of 9/11. They were the original American cowards.

Caseyallaround: Obamatrons won't like this one single bit.

You got us all wrong. I was in first to this thread with an honest, non-ravening answer. I actually do like this. If this is the best Clinton can do, that is excellent news.

Sorry, Clarice.

By the way, rather than 'Obamatron', I prefer the term HOPEMONGER.

cambie: I for one am pulling for Obama to win the election because I want to see if he'll choose a Hispanic running mate, and prove Dave Chapelle correct. Perhaps Henry Gonzalez or something.

I just want to hear Hillary's concession speech to Obama. That will be extremely interesting and I hope i'm able to be home to watch it on TV.

skink: I prefer the term HOPEMONGER.

I think I can get behind that one.

Caseyallaround: Greenlit.
Obamatrons won't like this one single bit. I can hear the lambs screaming.

Um...that screaming you hear is coming from Hillary's campaign managers.

this has not been a fun campaign for Team Hillary. By this point in the schedule, Hillary was supposed to be planning her strategy in the general campaign, writing her acceptance speech for the upcoming convention and deciding who to pick as her running mate. Obama was NOT in the plan!

Weaver95: cambie: I for one am pulling for Obama to win the election because I want to see if he'll choose a Hispanic running mate, and prove Dave Chapelle correct. Perhaps Henry Gonzalez or something.

I just want to hear Hillary's concession speech to Obama. That will be extremely interesting and I hope i'm able to be home to watch it on TV.

Bill will probably give it. She never gave one when she lost SC, or when she lost WA or NE or LA, or when she lost the Potomac primaries.

She's a biatch.

DamnYankees: Bill will probably give it. She never gave one when she lost SC, or when she lost WA or NE or LA, or when she lost the Potomac primaries.

She's a biatch.

Ohhh....i'd LOVE to see Bill stand up and give Hillary's concession speech! If that were to happen, she would *never* be able to run for public office again. Can you imagine the fallout? Everyone would be snickering behind her back that she wasn't tough enough to handle the campaign and that her hubby had to bail her out....

Weaver95: DamnYankees: Bill will probably give it. She never gave one when she lost SC, or when she lost WA or NE or LA, or when she lost the Potomac primaries.

She's a biatch.

Ohhh....i'd LOVE to see Bill stand up and give Hillary's concession speech! If that were to happen, she would *never* be able to run for public office again. Can you imagine the fallout? Everyone would be snickering behind her back that she wasn't tough enough to handle the campaign and that her hubby had to bail her out....

Well, that's exactly what happened after SC. People didn't seem to care.

I find it amusing that Weaver is actually rooting for Obama.

George Bush has somehow been able to unmake the universe.

DamnYankees: Well, that's exactly what happened after SC. People didn't seem to care.

I think people will care more when Mr. O gets the nomination, and she rides home.

I've got bated breath to see it.

DamnYankees: Well, that's exactly what happened after SC. People didn't seem to care.

To be fair, I don't think people saw Bill giving Hillary's concession speech in SC as a sign of weakness. I'll go out on a limb and catagorize that incident as more of a tactical move from Hillary....she was *pissed off* at losing that election and knew that getting up in front of a camera to speak about it was going to be difficult to do without saying something biatchy on live TV. So she had Bill do it for her and she got her head together off stage.

What, you mean all that "city on top of a hill" stuff wasn't original?

Weaver95: DamnYankees: Well, that's exactly what happened after SC. People didn't seem to care.

To be fair, I don't think people saw Bill giving Hillary's concession speech in SC as a sign of weakness. I'll go out on a limb and catagorize that incident as more of a tactical move from Hillary....she was *pissed off* at losing that election and knew that getting up in front of a camera to speak about it was going to be difficult to do without saying something biatchy on live TV. So she had Bill do it for her and she got her head together off stage.

How is being too pissed to give a speech not a sign of weakness?

Action Replay Nick: I find it amusing that Weaver is actually rooting for Obama.

George Bush has somehow been able to unmake the universe.

I'm not 'rooting' for anyone. I am merely amazed at how well he's running his campaign. He is literally running circles around Hillary.

Look - Hillary went into this fight with something like $120 million dollars and what appeared to be a solid lock on every election up to and including Super Tuesday. She also seemed to have every superdelegate in her back pocket and the party leaders were all rooting for her.

Here we are a couple months later, and Obama is *ahead* of Hillary in the number of delegates AND raising more money than her. Plus, Hillary seems to be having cash flow problems. Quite an achievement against someone like Hillary, who's supposedly been planning this campaign since Bill Clinton's first term in the White House.....

So while I can't say I agree with or would vote for Obama I think it's safe to say that i'm impressed with his professionalism.

DamnYankees: How is being too pissed to give a speech not a sign of weakness?

hmm...I see your point.

Not a gripe at all Weaver, I feel the same way. I've liked Obama from the beginning as far as the DNC folk go. A Constitutional scholar who's not afraid to talk about his past, new blood in the Federal Government, doesn't take graft, etc.. etc...

Far and away my favorite. And if it's between him and McCain, it's a no brainer for me. McCain is an unprincipled coward and a party stooge any time it actually matters. I know he's a media darling and will fool some moderates, but I won't be one of them.

Ya and this just in:

Hilary's new "see I'm young and hip song" sounds a lot like a ripoff of "ABC, 123" from Michael Jackson. (new window)

Obama people should be kinder and more intelligent in their support of him. THAT might just make me believe the whole 'Change' mantra. If his supporters keep slinging stupid ignorant biatch/ugly/coont comments everywhere, that just proves to this campaign of his is not different and not special.
And who said Clinton planted this? Expect lots more of the same and worse once he get the nomination. I swear, Rove is orchestrating this whole thing. And laughing his ass off.

Well, the vacant, populist nonsense they are both expressing is so shallow that I wouldn't care if it were plagiarized.

And, yes, they all are just words unless you back it up with actions, which Obama has yet to do in his brief, finely-planned political rise.

Caseyallaround: If his supporters keep slinging stupid ignorant biatch/ugly/coont comments everywhere, that just proves to this campaign of his is not different and not special.

In other news, Obama's supporters on the internet are all official members of his campaign.

Or, you're just grousing about the internet being serious business.

Probably the latter.

Caseyallaround: Obama people should be kinder and more intelligent in their support of him. THAT might just make me believe the whole 'Change' mantra. If his supporters keep slinging stupid ignorant biatch/ugly/coont comments everywhere, that just proves to this campaign of his is not different and not special.

Yeah, but the problem is that Hillary really *is* a vindictive biatch queen with a control fetish a mile wide. Kinda makes it difficult to find something nice to say about her, y'know?

And who said Clinton planted this? Expect lots more of the same and worse once he get the nomination. I swear, Rove is orchestrating this whole thing. And laughing his ass off.

Personally, I don't go in for the paranoid conspiracy theories regarding the Clintons. What fascinates me most about both of them is their monumental arrogance. I think that Hillary really did believe that she was 'the chosen one' and that the nomination would be hers without having to lift a finger. Obama's campaign shocked her, and she's been scrambling to get back on her feet ever since.

skink: By the way, rather than 'Obamatron', I prefer the term HOPEMONGER.

Nothing will be left when he comes into contact with Hillary's MOPEHUNGER.

Gee. I'd like the CHANGE to be an issue driven campaign. Not a 'who's got the best personality/looks/speeches/internet trolls' campaign.

Plagiarism doesn't matter. Only words matter.

I agree with Weaver regarding the Clintons' complacency and their shock at Obama's ability to run a campaign.

But it's their own fault. When Obama gave the keynote address at the 2004 national convention, he provided a sharp contrast to the charisma-free Kerry (submarining his campaign from the start). It was clear to everyone watching that he was dynamic, inspiring, and inspirational. All the things Hillary was not. He was Roy Hobbs striking out the Whammer beside the train tracks.

Stay away form Barbara Hershey, Barack!

Caseyallaround: Gee. I'd like the CHANGE to be an issue driven campaign. Not a 'who's got the best personality/looks/speeches/internet trolls' campaign.

Hillary's negative personality traits are part of the reason she's losing the race to Obama. Face it - Obama gives one HELL of a speech. He's articulate, he's well mannered, and he's charismatic. Hillary tho...when she lost SC, she stalked off in anger and left Bill to make her apologies for her. Even when she wins a primary, she comes off with an 'of course I won you idiot, i'm The Chosen One' vibe. And her speech delivery is wooden and decidely not charismatic.

At the end of the day, I think Obama just wants it more. Hillary seems to expect that she's going to win and treats the campaign as if she's already got the nomination. That blindness has cost Hillary the lead in the race and it might just cost her the nomination.

hillbillypharmacist: Just... almost... got... dirt on... Obama... f*ck!

Heheh. This.


/try again, Hil & McCain.
/Scary that you're both saying the same things these days....

chakalakasp: What, you mean all that "city on top of a hill" stuff wasn't original?

You mean Reagan's 1974 speech,
Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, "We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God, even if He is temporarily suspended from the classroom.

Or when he announced he was running for President in 1979,
We who are privileged to be Americans have had a rendezvous with destiny since the moment in 1630 when John Winthrop, standing on the deck of the tiny Arbella off the coast of Massachusetts, told the little band of Pilgrims, "We shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world."

It sounds like he gave proper credit.

Hrmm... I wonder if it's late enough to get back into the true discussion of Toaster Oven/Waffle Maker '08. The true voice of the future.



/Parking Meter 08's time is expired!

sarcastrophe: Toaster Oven/Waffle Maker '08. The true voice of the future.

Where does he stand on child obesity?

On the plump side, I'm sure.

hillbillypharmacist: Where does he stand on child obesity?

On the plump side, I'm sure.

He warns that children should not make such decisions (he has warning labels that say as much even). Parents should be responsible for their children.

Toaster Over stands for change you can truly believe in. I can't count the number of times I've seen a piece of bread go into Toaster Oven and watch him turn it around and change it into toast. He has experience.

sarcastrophe: Toaster Over stands for change you can truly believe in. I can't count the number of times I've seen a piece of bread go into Toaster Oven and watch him turn it around and change it into toast. He has experience.

Toast is a good analogy for the state of Hillary's campaign right now.

this changes everything not.

So we're going to assume that Obama has no speech writers?

This doesn't seem like that big of a deal. If it becomes one, some lowly campaign aide gets the ax.

End of story.

"All intellectual property is theft"

Quatchi stole that from one of the Marx Brothers.

We're all standing on the shoulders of giants on one level or another. Can't see this turning into anything major.

They both plagiarized MLK!

Half the Founding Fathers speeches are based on Cicero. Big deal.

Toaster Oven was purchased at Wal-Mart and made in China. I like Waffle Maker, but Oven's past is on the dark side of the control dial.



Oh, and plagiarizing? If you crib some lines from another person's speech like that and it's not really in order word for word, it's more of a riff than straight plagiarism. It's a stretch to say this is a major snafu by Obama, and a bigger stretch would be taking a minor thing like this and trying to turn it into a major smear.

/someone should point the haters to Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence" essay from the February 2007 issue of Harper's

Hey, someone photoshop Obama's head onto Mr. Clean's body

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8563.html

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 responding in just the way he did."

NON-ISSUE.