The political left sure gives itself plenty of elbow room.
The New York Times recently referred to President Obama's flip-flops on national security - deciding not to release more incendiary terror detainee photos and to go forward with the military tribunals Bush was using - as "course corrections."
Wow. Can we fluff your pillow, Mr. President?
Now, Times columnist Maureen Dowd is accused - and by all appearances guilty - of plagiarism.
Yet, an initial Associated Press story on the incident never even mentions the "P" word, and calls Dowd's lifting of the paragraph an "error."
Moreover, it appears the Times feels it's enough to "correct" Dowd's column online.
In contrast, the facts are fairly damning.
Dowd used an entire paragraph from the liberal blog Huffington Post without attributing it - changing only a few inconsequential words, but otherwise using it word for word.
Where most journalism students come from, that's called plagiarism.
Dowd oddly claims she never read the blog - that she merely heard about it from a friend.
Right. And not only the friend, but Dowd herself recalled the passage word for word.
Even if she had otherwise changed the wording, the train of thought certainly wasn't Dowd's, and she never acknowledged that either. She simply made it her own.
Plagiarism has always been as offensive to a true journalist as garlic to a vampire. But in this day and age - as ethics and credibility are strained daily by an Internet frontier unschooled in traditional reporting and accountability - for a reputable newspaperwoman to be repeating online talking points is a high crime indeed.
Sadly, you likely won't see that reported, either.
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ACES, please print a side by side example of the paragraph you speak of so that we, your readers, can determine whether Dowd changed "only a few inconsequential words, but otherwise (used) it word for word." Thank you. GGpap
ACES, don't be confused. Plagiarism only applies to conservatives. Liberals share a common, in depth understanding which can make them appear to be part of a choir. That unified chant you hear is just a coincidence.
The NY Times is much like the Huffington Post. I wouldn't be surprised if the same writers don't write for both. She may have written the original piece for the Huffington Post under an assumed name their asinine views are so similar. Obama has flipflopped since he started making cabinet appointments. He continues, saying one day no prosecution of those involved in waterboarding, changes the next day, now is back to saying no. Ditto Gitmo, war, etc. He doesn't have a clue and should be thankful the press is letting him slide.
GGpap - Since you are either unable or unwilling to do a little research on your own to help crawl out from the cloud of ignorance you live under, I spent 30 secs searching. Here ya go: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/thejoshuablog/2009/05/ny...
Hey RIVERMAN, good post. Does anybody remember Arianna Huffington as a die hard conservative Republican while she was married to Tim Huffington and thought he had a shot at becoming a senator? She must really hate not being a senator's wife. So, since he lost, she drops him like a bad habbit and goes her merry liberal way. It's a good way to get her name and face in the American public. No such success possible in her native Greece. I guess men aren't the only ones who can be blinded by ambition.
southernguy08 on Tue May 19, 2009 5:02 AM Actually Huffington's Ex was Bi-sexual and droped her if I remmeber correctly! He did become a senator, A women scorned....
Well, Ms. Dowd is correct in saying that she never seen a blog. She is 57 after all. If she was my age TODAY and she had done that, I would not have given her a pass.
willistoned - That comment was even more dopey than your normal ones. So because she is an old lady of 57 she doesn't know what a blog is? Gimme a break.....
Let's hope willi checks out that link. I get the idea he ignores most of the ones posted for him. For evermore, no one should believe a word that willi posts.
GGap - It was on every major national news outlet what the blogger said and what Dowd said. She changed the word "we" (meaning us as a nation) to the words "the Bush crowd". Everything else was the exact same.
Southernguy08, Arianna Huffington is a capitalist. She saw an opportunity to make ALOT of money off of the weak minded. Same thing with Mediamatters' David Brock. There is GOOD money in liberalism.
CARCRAFT, I never heard the bi line about Tim Huffington. Sounds like some National Enquirer news to me. And, he never became a senator, at least not a US senator. Dianne Fienstein and Barbara Boxer are still the senators from California, as far as I know. Maybe he became a state senator. It's more like a woman disappointed.
The Chronicle is on its high horse about plagarism?! LMAO. Isn't this the same Chronicle that won the Georgia Press Association Award for Opinion Page Plagarism?
The ACES has no right to criticize any reporter for using internet talking point when all you have to do to predict what the ACES will be talking about tomorrow is listen to Limbaugh or Hannity today...
Motortman5039, the letter is about plagiarism. Go look up the definition.
you're making cruel and unusual demands, shag.
ACES: The article references plagiarism with it mentioned in the headline, but starts with a paragraph about the president. Trying to connect the president with plagiarism appears to be the real intent. And the ethics quotes are worthless because your publication is one of the worse abusers of poor judgement on particular issues, lazy reporters, and biased opinions. But please, what is a plip flop? Why do non-minorities in the non-minority media point to a change of statement as something indicative of wrongdoing? What about whats best for the country and not whether someone changed their minds about an issue. However, those shortcomings demonstrate your true beliefs and true character, of which, most folk already know. Nothing new here...
justus, I am sorry that you hate being black. You "think" that everyone is biased or racist, but it is you. You have some kind of deep insecurity and self loathing of your own race and you assume that every one else must feel the same way. VERY SAD.
Google "NYTimes kills damaging Obama story". Nuff said about that rag.
Why does ACES have a problem with Obama's "course correction"? Doesn't that mean that he was on the wrong course and had to correct it? I'm not sure how that was fluffing his pillow. AC's suggestion of using "flip-flop" is suggesting a term that is more slang than proper English.
The AC editorial staff needs to get their facts straight. It was Josh Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo that Dowd plagiarized from, not huffingtonpost. In fact, it was liberal bloggers who first discovered the plagiarism and called Dowd on it.
bdittle, I think it is because Obama ran his campaign criticising everything Bush did. Now, it appears, that he actually agrees with many Bush policies. Rendition ( or torture moved to other countries), military tribunals( for terrorist), listening in on phone calls, spending out the yahoo..perhaps he should apologize to Bush for all his second guessing. It appears being President is a tough job.
There goes JUSTUS with his "non minority media" rants again. I'll say one thing for you JUSTUS, you're consistent. Idiotic yes, but still consistent. And BDITTLE, you're kidding, right? If this "course correction" had been done by a Republican, you and the other libs would be all over him like white on rice! Most of the media doesn't just fluff O's pillow. They give him a pass on everything, including bowing down to foreign kings, apologizing to other countries and saying we Americans are arrogant, and appointing a total incompetent for Treasury secretary. Yeah, some impartial media we have in this country. But let Fox News report one negative fact about O and they're labeled nazis by the libs.
The only time I heard "flip-flop" used to describe a president's/candidate's position is when the GOP used it in mass when describing John Kerry. Course correction in my mind is just proper English for the slang flip-flop. So what's the big deal? I think you guys are trying to see a conspiracy that is not there.
It's only a flip/flop when a conservative does it. It's only negative when a conservative does something. It's "progressive" otherwise. (I got the memo)
ITDoc, John Kerry was conservative? That is news to me. What this article is really about is a small time paper puffing its chest because the giant has a chink in the armor.
Justus4 words are in his own words "nothing new here." His handle here should spoutandrun
Ha..... See this proves my theory that the majority of the Progressives are unable to process information and make their own conclusion. Its the same, copy and paste "POST", that the progressives bombard the AC message boards. It would be more fun if they could actually challenge my thoughts with their own thoughts. Then I wouldn't be so board and revert to sarcasm.
To of whom it may - I know full well how to research the news I wish to read, thank you. My comment was addressed to the ACES in hopes that they would make the information available to some of their readers that do not use the internet to read there news. Further, I do not trust the ACES to always write accurate news when political viewpoints are expressed. GGpap
lol.....look at willistown being an age discriminator. What a great liberal mind!