"Along with the prestige and recognition
the DNC paid for my new hair!"
Posted on 11/09/2005 12:23:10 AM PST by nickcarraway
Rep. Sherrod Brown wrote to Sen. Mike DeWine last Friday, voicing concern about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's labor record.
Brown's language was crisp -- and was plagiarized.
Roughly 90 percent of what Brown, an Avon Democrat, wrote in his letter was lifted from an Internet posting by a blogger, as Brown's office acknowledged Monday when The Plain Dealer presented the similarities.
Brown had not credited the blogger, Nathan Newman of NathanNewman.org, or any other source.
For instance, Newman, an attorney and labor and community activist, posted this on his blog Nov. 1: "What is striking about Alito is that he is so hostile even to the basic rights of workers to have a day in court, much less interpreting the law in their favor."
Brown's letter merely changed the last clause so the sentence read, "What is striking about Alito is that he is so hostile even to the basic rights of workers to have a day in court, not to mention interpreting the law against them."
Brown's letter cited details of 13 rulings by Alito, who in early 2006 will face confirmation hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The problem is, Brown's descriptions in 12 of the cases were almost verbatim what Newman wrote on his blog.
Students can be flunked for copying others' words without attribution, and journalists can be fired. While the line dividing politicians and online political commentary sometimes seems fuzzy, University of Chicago political scientist Daniel Drezner, himself a blogger and co-editor of a forthcoming book on poli tics and blog ging, says Brown went "outside the bounds."
He compared it with Sen. Joe Biden, the Delaware Democrat who dropped out of the 1988 presidential race after it was learned he plagiarized part of a stump speech.
"It strikes me as pretty much the same thing," Drezner said. "It's plagiarism."
Brown's office acknowledged that it should not have used Newman's words without giving him credit. Spokeswoman Joanna Kuebler said she found Newman's work when researching labor issues. Brown's legislative staff confirmed its accuracy, and Brown then signed the staff-prepared letter, Kuebler said.
"We should have cited it, and we didn't," Kuebler said. "The Republicans were rushing to confirm Alito, and we wanted to collect as much accurate information as quickly as possible."
Brown has filed papers to run against DeWine in 2006, though he'll have to get through a primary first. His letter to DeWine, which he released to reporters Friday, was as much a political taunt as it was heartfelt correspondence to a Judiciary Committee member.
"We couldn't decide who to respond to -- the person who sent us the letter or the person who wrote the letter," joked Mike Dawson, DeWine's communications director. "So we decided not to respond to either."
"We should have cited it, and we didn't," Kuebler said. "The Republicans were rushing to confirm Alito, and we wanted to collect as much accurate information as quickly as possible."
How fast are we rushing to January? Did I miss the train? I was just waiting until it came to me. Damn.
"Brown has filed papers to run against DeWine in 2006"
*DeWine served as an Ohio State Senator, a four-term U.S. Congressman, and as Ohio’s 59th Lieutenant Governor. Mike DeWine was first sworn into the United States Senate on January 4, 1995, as the first Republican U.S. Senator to represent the Buckeye state in more than two decades. In 2000, he was the first Republican U.S. Senator in nearly a half-century to be re-elected to serve Ohio.*
http://dewine.senate.gov/
DeWine is a staple of Ohio State politics. I've heard his name since I was a kid. He won't lose his seat without a major scandal to knock him out of it, and he isn't a scandal type.
Joe Biden and Doris Kearns Goodwin must be very proud of him.
Doesn't plagarizing raise a demorat up at least one rung on their status ladder?
Neil Kinnock, please pick up the white courtesy phone.
I think we've found Biden a running mate...
And what's surprising about this? Face it, politicians thrive on stealing, whether it's dollars or words. It's what they're good at.
Dewine has a lot of his base angry. DeWine might win reelection in a state that is trending left. But if he has opposition in the primary he could lose the nomination. The base is ticked.
Lots of Republicans in Ohio are angry. Look at the Taft Job approval numbers.
When the base is angry they don't go to the polls. Lots of Republicans will not vote for a Democrat. When unhappy they just don't vote.. period. That can be enough hand sitting to take the state from a Republican state Government to a Democratic State government.
Republican turn out in Ohio in 2006 will be lighter than usual. And the state was very close in 2004. DeWine is in a fight for his political life and anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish.
Taft was the best political name in Ohio. It isn't anymore. DeWine was a not as good a name as Taft. But it was a good name. Today it is a damaged name. Not as damaged as Taft but damaged never the less.
I happened to catch that idiot a few days a go on CSPAN while channel surfing. She was talking about Lincoln and then FDR.
She said that while many of the things FDR did prior to our involvement in WWII to help England were illegal it was really okay because ...it was for a good cause.
I almost did an Elvis with my TV, but the 9mm wasn't handy :-)
"Along with the prestige and recognition
the DNC paid for my new hair!"
Taft will lose re-election because he is very nearly despised by his base. I just hope he steps down for a better conservative.
But I just don't see DeWine losing. No real good argument for why he should stay or go, only that I just don't see it happening. He may not be hugely popular, but he is too well known as a Senator. I grew up with a lot of democrats. Some friends of mine from highschool, jobs I held before the Army, etc... are Democrats who would vote for DeWine just because they know the name, just because they see it every year. Sam Purses (D), former mayor of Canton stayed mayor because his name was known, not because Canton has ever leaned far left. Former mayor Richard Watkins (R) won because Purses made some salty city expansion deals. Current mayor Janet Creighton won because she got the backing of the wildly poular Watkins when he retired, not because Canton leaned far to the right. That is probably the best defense I have for my belief that DeWine will stay.
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