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Democratic Senator Hit With Plagiarism Allegations
Townhall.com ^ | July 23, 2014 | Matt Vespa

Posted on 07/23/2014 3:09:45 PM PDT by Kaslin

Well, it seems “Papergate” just ensnared Montana Democratic Senator John Walsh. Mr. Walsh was appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock to replace outgoing Sen. Max Baucus, who decided to become the Obama administration’s Ambassador to China. Walsh is described by the New York Times as having something the Democrats lack in their political ranks: a seasoned military record. Walsh is a decorated Iraq War veteran, but his reputation might be marred by a final term paper he wrote in obtaining his master’s degree, where a substantial portion was written without crediting anyone (via NYT):

An examination of the final paper required for Mr. Walsh’s master’s degree from the United States Army War College indicates the senator appropriated at least a quarter of his thesis on American Middle East policy from other authors’ works, with no attribution.

Mr. Walsh completed the paper, what the War College calls a “strategy research project,” to earn his degree in 2007, when he was 46. The sources of the material he presents as his own include academic papers, policy journal essays and books that are almost all available online.

Most strikingly, each of the six recommendations Mr. Walsh laid out at the conclusion of his 14-page paper, titled “The Case for Democracy as a Long Term National Strategy,” is taken nearly word-for-word without attribution from a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace document on the same topic.

In his third recommendation, for example, Mr. Walsh writes: “Democracy promoters need to engage as much as possible in a dialogue with a wide cross section of influential elites: mainstream academics, journalists, moderate Islamists, and members of the professional associations who play a political role in some Arab countries, rather than only the narrow world of westernized democracy and human rights advocates.”

The same exact sentence appears on the sixth page of a 2002 Carnegie paper written by four scholars at the research institute. In all, Mr. Walsh’s recommendations section runs to more than 800 words, nearly all of it taken verbatim from the Carnegie paper, without any footnote or reference to it. In addition, significant portions of the language in Mr. Walsh’s paper can be found in a 1998 essay by a scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a research institute at Harvard.

On Wednesday, a campaign aide for Mr. Walsh did not contest the plagiarism but suggested that it be viewed in the context of the senator’s long career.

Montana is one of the states Republicans seem poised to pick up in the 2014 midterms.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Montana
KEYWORDS: 113th; 2014elections; 2014senate; demoncrats; johnwalsh; maxbaucus; montana; stevebullock
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To: Kaslin

Shouldn’t that be “democrat” rather than “democratic”?


21 posted on 07/23/2014 3:47:04 PM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: Steely Tom

True


22 posted on 07/23/2014 3:49:13 PM PDT by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

It’s a socialist world - no such thing as private property for those not part of the inner leftist circle.

Everything the proletariat has belongs to everyone else.
(in the minds of the liberals)

Anything a liberal wants is up for grabs.
/s


23 posted on 07/23/2014 3:52:17 PM PDT by Iron Munro (The Obamas Black skin has morphed into Teflon thanks to the Obama Media)
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To: Kaslin

Democrat and plagiarism, how unusual.


24 posted on 07/23/2014 3:56:19 PM PDT by NH Red
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To: Kaslin
moderate Islamists,

While one can make the case for moderate Muslims, there's no such thing as a "moderate" Islamists. It's like saying someone's a "moderate Klan member."

It's use by Carnegie is an morally relativistic attempt to moderate the language around Islamic radicalism. The appropriation of it by this jacka** illustrates that he not only plagiarized but did so without actually understanding what he was plagiarizing.
25 posted on 07/23/2014 4:02:55 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: tanknetter

Was he a Teddy Kennedy protege ?


26 posted on 07/23/2014 4:19:55 PM PDT by bt-99 ("Get off my Lawn")
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To: humblegunner

“...So he had a blog.”
**************************************************

Yes, inspired by Al Gore, he invented blogging.


27 posted on 07/23/2014 4:45:38 PM PDT by House Atreides (ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN FOR CHILDERS 2014 .... Don't reward bad GOPe behavior.)
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To: Kaslin

Walsh occupied a two-star General slot as the Adjutant General of Montana. However, the United States Army refused to grant “Federal Recognition” to Walsh because of the findings of an Inspector General investigation of Walsh. He remained a Colonel.
There should be an investigation into the Soldier’s suicide that Walsh talks about.


28 posted on 07/23/2014 5:08:12 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Kaslin
A 14 page Master's Thesis?

I've done much longer 100 level writing assignments.
29 posted on 07/23/2014 6:09:51 PM PDT by 98ZJ USMC
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Comment #30 Removed by Moderator


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