There was a point in the spring when the media was abuzz with talk of “plagiarism.” Apparently, Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), who are friends, shared some a few rhetorical lines. Politicians do this all the time, both Obama and Patrick had each other’s permission, and there was nothing untoward about it. The media flap lasted a few days before everyone suddenly realized how inane the story was, and the political world moved on.
I’m wondering if we may be poised for yet another “plagiarism” flap. CQ’s Taegan Goddard
has the story.
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 directly from Wikipedia.
At one point in the speech, McCain described Georgia as “one of the world’s first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion.” The Wiki page describes Georgia as “one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion.”
This one was a little more interesting. Here’s the Wiki page (emphasis added throughout)…
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia had a brief period of independence as a Democratic Republic (1918-1921), which was terminated by the Red Army invasion of Georgia. Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in 1922 and regained its independence in 1991. Early post-Soviet years was marked by a civil unrest and economic crisis.
…and here’s the McCain speech.
After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922. As the Soviet Union crumbled at the end of the Cold War, Georgia regained its independence in 1991, but its early years were marked by instability, corruption, and economic crises.
Taegan has a third, which was relatively similar, but not quite as blatant.
<snip>
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/12/mccain-georgia-and-change-you-can-xerox/#more-31759
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
