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Biden's plagiarisms the talk of the internet

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

By now, discussion of Biden's plagiarism is all over the internet. Mostly covering the obvious.

One sees things like: The allegation of plagiarism that drove Biden from the 1988presidential race. [from the Star-Tribune] IPBiz notes that the "specific identifying features" of Kinnock's speech appropriated by Biden make this more than "alleged" plagiarism, but, more importantly, were not factual as to Biden (his father and grandfather were not coal miners, and people in his wife's family had gone to college). Biden did plagiarize and Biden was untruthful.

from the AP: Biden admitted back in 1987 that he had committed plagiarism while a freshman [ie, a 1L] at Syracuse University law school and that he occasionally used other people's words in his speeches without giving credit. [AP also brings up the Mississippi matter involving Jim Biden: On the tape, Balducci says he had spoken by phone to Jim Biden, Sen. Biden's brother, "and we're gonna meet the Bidens around noon," according to the transcript.]

from The Plagiarism Ticket: From Whom Will They Take Their Mottos?

Obama probably sees any anxiety over plagiarisms as "so eighties". (...)How can anyone take seriously Obama as a change agent when he places one of the most senior of beltway blowhards within a heart beat of a possible, if albeit increasingly implausible presidency? When Biden first start running for the Senate in 1972, John McCain's address was Hanoi. When Barack Obama was born, Richard Nixon was on TV talking about a second term in office. When Joe Biden was born, nobody even had a TV.

From the IHT: In his [Biden's] farewell speech, he said the "exaggerated shadow" of his mistakes were overshadowing his candidacy.

Kinnock wouldn't be drawn on the controversy at the time, apart from a brief statement noting that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." The Labour leader's speech did him little good either: The commercial boosted his approval ratings in Britain, but he still lost the subsequent election to then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

From trailblazers blog: Joe Biden, a mediocre Syracuse University student, fulfills chancellor's dream -- sort of [IPBiz notes that Biden's recollection of his law school funding in the year 2000 had remarkably improved over his statements in New Hampshire in 1987.]

from FrontPage: How Does He Help?, which includes the text: Unfortunately, the Biden pick is to gravitas what a forest fire is to home equity. In reality, Biden emphasizes every one of Obama?s vices while muffling his own virtues as a candidate.

Full post as published by IPBiz on August 25, 2008 (boomark / email).