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If you’re going to run a campaign making fake claims of plagiarism, you had better not be engaged in doing the exact same thing your making accusations about!

In this NPR roundtable I talk about why Clinton’s claim of Obama plagiarism is false.

Moving beyond that, what’s really so unbelieviable about it, other than it being so petty, is that Hillary routinely as a matter of course does the same thing. And even worse, she lifts stuff from Obama himself! And he didn’t give her permission.

For one, she routinely repeats Bill Clinton rhetoric from days gone by. Here’s one example:

Hillary Last Night: “You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country.”

Bill In ‘92: “The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time”, according to CNN

An article at Democratic Undergroud shows these lifts of repitious phrasology by Clinton, that is identical to the type of usage that she says is plagiarizing for Obama:

Here’s a major problem for Senator Clinton’s campaign if her staff and surrogates really want to engage in this so-called “plagiarism” debate. At the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Senator Clinton employed what’s called “anaphora” — a common technique of repeating a word or phrase for emphasis in a speech:

I see an America where we stand up to the oil companies…

I see an America where where we say that 47 million people uninsured…

I see an America where where we have schools worthy…

I see an America where where college is affordable again…

And so forth. It was a seriously awesome section of her Jefferson-Jackson speech. It’s a shame that (again, as long as the gloves are off and there has to be this ridiculous “plagiarism” debate) she lifted the “I see an America” anaphora from other politicians, including then-Governor Jimmy Carter. June, 1976:

I see an America poised not only at the brink of a new century, but at the dawn of a new era of honest, compassionate, responsive government.

I see an America with a tax system that does not steal from the poor and give to the rich.

I see an America a job for every man and woman who can work, and a decent standard of living for those who cannot.

I see an America in which my child and your child and every child receives an education second to none in the world.

I see an America in which Martin Luther King’s dream is our national dream.

I see an America on the move again, united, its wounds healed, its head high, a diverse and vital nation, moving into its third century with confidence and competence and compassion, an America that lives up to the majesty of its Constitution and the simple decency of its people.

I also discovered that the “I see an America” line has been used by Congressman Kucinich:

I see an America where equal access and equal rights are obtained by all

And John Edwards with the “I see and America” anaphora:

I see an America where last year the CEO of one of the largest health insurance companies in America made hundreds of millions of dollars in one year. I see an America where ExxonMobil’s profits were $40 billion just a couple of years ago. Record amounts, record profits.

Hell, a Republican running for Congress in the New York 20th named John Wallace used the “I see an America” anaphora (pdf file — there’s a whole page of it, but Wallace is not worth quoting here).

Is “Yes We Will” any different than “Yes We Can”?

How about forgetting a one word difference, Hillary Clinton used “Yes We Can” as a campaign slogan ONE DAY AFTER accusing Obama of plagiarism:

It’s her stance that using even a phrase that someone else used is plagiarism; so she’s not just a plagiarizer, she’s an utterly hypocritical plagiarizer.

Can we steal somebody else’s campaign slogan, Hillary Clinton says, Yes We Can!

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This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm and is filed under Politics, youtube. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.