Why does Obama continue to get away with plagiarism?

[RobMoney$]

In February Obama ripped off the speech of Gov. Patrick of Mass. Now, he's taken a political cartoon WORD for WORD and passed it off on as own.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=173473

The whole lipstick on a pig thing...yeah, not even his AT ALL.

[mikizee]

Everyone rips off everyone.

[DroppinScience]

Well, if you even watched that un-professional brutal video you linked, you'd know they weren't claiming he plagiarized the "lipstick on a pig" line. That phrase has been in existence for quite some time, and you can find footage of your best friend John McCain saying that too.

The video is claiming Obama stole lines of "except for education policy, foreign policy, tax-policy, etc. we're gonna change things up!" from a political cartoon. I dunno, is this stuff copyrighted? It could be coincidence. Either way, this is another silly issue you're bringing up.

[RobMoney$]

I know you always try to find a way to dismiss any criticism against your almighty Obama, but stealing and lying are still important issues to me in a President.
Plagiarism is stealing and lying.

[yeahwho]

Originally Posted by RobMoney$

I know you always try to find a way to dismiss any criticism against your almighty Obama, but stealing and lying are still important issues to me in a President.
Plagiarism is stealing and lying.

That is good news, I have a few lies here for you to sort out.

[ToucanSpam]

Originally Posted by RobMoney$

In February Obama ripped off the speech of Gov. Patrick of Mass. Now, he's taken a political cartoon WORD for WORD and passed it off on as own.

http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=173473

The whole lipstick on a pig thing...yeah, not even his AT ALL.

To be fair, this podcast/internet news report is pretty unprofessional. That being said, they bring up an important point. Obama has been known to use lines similar to other speeches/quotes/political cartoons. I don't know if this is particularly a new idea or if it really matters. I think of it this way: Dane Cook takes some of his material from other places and he doesn't have a reputation for being the most original comedian. But he delivers the shit out of the material he uses and he's got a reputation for being one of the funniest comedians around.


You're right about Obama ripping other people off, RobMoney. He does that; it's irrefutable. But is that a serious enough issue that it completely taints his reputation as one of the best speakers, or maybe the best Presidential candidate? I'm not really sure either way.

[Bob]

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09...ampaign-trail/

Obama delivered the same applause line during speeches in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday and Farmington Hills, Mich., on Monday. Only during the Monday event did he attribute the line to a cartoonist.

“You know, there was a cartoon the other day, it’s true,” he said before repeating the line. “So this is just a bunch of empty talk.”

Asked about the lifting of Toles’ line, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said that the candidate did not initially know the source of the line, which he had gotten from a friend.

“This came to Senator Obama from a friend who didn’t indicate where he had gotten it from, but the questions it raises certainly continue to ring true,” LaBolt told FOXNews.com.

“He did not know it was from a cartoon and when he was informed that it was, he credited the cartoonist.” LaBolt said.

Toles told FOXNews.com that after the first use, Post editors got in touch with the campaign and Obama made sure to credit Toles when he used the line on Monday. But in Tuesday’s speech, he again used the line without referencing the cartoon.

Toles said he is OK with Obama’s use of his line now that it has gotten credit.

“Of course, I don’t do cartoons for this purpose,” Toles said. “But if they’re cited with attribution, I think I’m all right with it.”

He added that he was unsure how he felt about Obama using his line without citation the first time.

“I thought about it, but didn’t come to a conclusion,” he said.

even fox news is giving him the benefit of the doubt

how many ways are there to say you want to change washington anyway?

[RobMoney$]

Originally Posted by Bob

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09...ampaign-trail/



even fox news is giving him the benefit of the doubt

how many ways are there to say you want to change washington anyway?

Yeah, they raised the issue that Obama said he first heard the line from a "friend" in the original video I linked.

As if Obama writes his own speeches and wrote that into this speech after he heard it from this "friend" who shall remain nameless.

And even if that entire scenerio were true, you'd think SOMEONE on his staff would have pointed out the fact that it was plagiarized.

When you take into account that he's done this before, it's pretty obvious that he plagiarized it.

SHAME, OBAMA,...SHAME!

[RobMoney$]

Yeah, Lambert is just trying to muddy the issue of the plagiarism charge by attacking the production of the podcast I linked.
Try sticking to the issue at hand Brett, he stole other people's ideas on several occassions and attempted to pass them off as his own without giving credit.

Is that a serious enough issue that it completely taints his reputation as one of the best speakers, or maybe the best Presidential candidate?

That's a question that each individual voter will have to decide for themselves. What I do know is that it's relevant and shold be brought to everyone's attention so they can use that when making that decision on whether it taints Obama enough or not.

Dane Cook takes some of his material from other places and he doesn't have a reputation for being the most original comedian. But he delivers the shit out of the material he uses and he's got a reputation for being one of the funniest comedians around.

The President of the United States is trying to gain my trust, Dane Cook is just trying to make me laugh. There's a bit of a difference there. Being influenced by someone, paying homage to someone, or even doing a cover of someone else's song or art is NOT plagiarizing them.

BTW, I could care less what kind of a Public speaker you are. Just because someone may have good public speaking skills in no way correlates to them being a good President.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by RobMoney$

Yeah, Lambert is just trying to muddy the issue of the plagiarism charge by attacking the production of the podcast I linked.
Try sticking to the issue at hand Brett, he stole other people's ideas on several occassions and attempted to pass them off as his own without giving credit.

by "several" did you mean "two"? or are you saving some other ones for later?

[RobMoney$]

Originally Posted by Bob

by "several" did you mean "two"? or are you saving some other ones for later?

Once a liar, always a liar.

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he's done it before this campaign.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by RobMoney$

Once a liar, always a liar.

I'll bet dollars to doughnuts he's done it before this campaign.

so "two". got it.

i'm kind of having trouble with the whole stealing theory, though. i mean i agree that there's really no way he came up with that line on his own, it's too similar to be coincidence, i'm not saying he came up with it on his own, but i don't understand why he'd want to steal.

i mean was he sitting around in his living room one day, reading the washington post, and then he sees this cartoon and he says to himself "oh man, that's good stuff, i think i'm going to steal this and not give credit and, you know, hope nobody notices. it would be a big scandal if someone noticed and certainly a scandal is the last thing i need right now and i mean i have a whole bunch of speech writers so i probably don't really need to steal it, but.....no it's cool, nobody will notice. when's the soonest i can use it? 4 days? great! let's go plagiarize some cartoons!"

i'm just having some trouble believing that. i think it's far more plausible that a friend or some other associate gave him the line without telling him where he got it from, obama liked it, didn't go out of his way to make sure it wasn't stolen, and then used it. dude's got speechwriters, his lines come from a bunch of people.

before you ask, no, i can't prove this (neither can you btw) and yes, i am biased, but that said, i just can't fathom why obama (or any politician) would run the political risk of stealing material and then using it a short four days later (particularly given the clean image that he's running on). is he that hard up for material? it just doesn't seem reasonable to me.