Plagiarism charge hits Biden climate change plan

[brooklynite]

Politico

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign came under fire on Tuesday for putting out a $1.7 trillion climate change plan that included passages identical to previously published documents, in an echo of the plagiarism scandal that helped drive him from the 1988 presidential race.

Biden's campaign called the latest episode an error.

“Several citations, some from sources cited in other parts of the plan, were inadvertently left out of the final version of the 22 page document,” a Biden spokesperson said in an email. “As soon as we were made aware of it, we updated to include the proper citations.”

Josh Nelson, vice president at the progressive group CREDO, first flagged the similarities in a pair of tweets. The text contained the same language about technology designed to capture and store power plants' carbon dioxide emissions as documents previously released by the nongovernmental organization Center for Climate and Energy Solutions as well as the BlueGreen Alliance, a coalition of environmental and labor groups.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. Hmmmmm

[BannonsLiver]

45. Ummmm

[Cha]

90. Actually it's from BlueGreen Alliance!

Last edited Tue Jun 4, 2019, 10:58 PM - Edit history (1)

Link to tweet

[Blue_true]

102. I have respected that group for several years.

Their response to this shows why they deserve respect.

Thanks for posting that response Cha.

[Cha]

105. You're Welcome, Blue_true..

to Otto Lidenbrock.. I'm just spreading the word!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=139897

[mcar]

126. A hugh scandal!!11

Not.

Thanks, Cha.

[kstewart33]

149. Thank you Cha! nt

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

55. Imagine if this was Bernie... then look out!! But hey, it's Joe...

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

87. Ancient history!1!!LL!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

88. LOL!! You know it!!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[susanr516]

92. I have to agree with you

[Hortensis]

133. If only it WERE Sanders. Biden's done FAR more for all

environmental issues than Sanders ever did. Absolutely anyone, literally you or me, could have voted as a +1 to whatever the Democratic caucuses have decided for 30 years. Being a leader takes far more. And we would have come punched the yes-no button a few times a week for far less than $174,000 plus princely bennies.

Btw, "Green New Deal" was already long used by the United Nations and by Obama when Ocasio's associates belatedly claimed that label and issue for themselves alone. That's highly immoral btw. This huge issue affects all humanity and shouldn't be weaponized in pursuit of political power.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

137. So where IS the Green New Deal that's been "long used"? Using a term of art & pushing for the actual

implimentation of a policy are two completely different things.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hortensis]

143. Where IS it? It's WHERE the vote went, wherever that is.

If we checked up the asses of all the people who badmouth Democrats, I imagine we'd find a bunch of them. As I recall, a lot of wannabe "revolutionaries" thought throwing the nation to the wolves would kick start their revolution. So they did, and what happened?

It's kinda way past time, with Democrats out of their way after 2016, for "the revolution" to have taken control and FIXED this. They had 2 years including the midterms (big chance for revolution!) with nothing but the Republicans between them and their takeover, including their Green New Deal platform. And they did nothing.

As a Democrat maybe you should start thinking about things like the house's Climate Action Now Act and other actions instead, and please pass the word to any revolutionaries you know not to sabotage these too. And don't blame us for not just passing it into law already, blame those revolutionary asses for not taking the senate once we were no longer a problem.

May 2, 219: The House passed the Climate Action Now Act in a 231-190 vote on Thursday, making it the first climate bill to pass the House in a decade. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the bill would “go nowhere,” so it’s unlikely to come up for a vote in the Senate. Read more about the bill in the story below, first published on March 27 when it was introduced.

After a raucous day of Senate Republicans trolling Democrats on a Green New Deal vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday morning stepped up with a clear message: Climate change is a pillar of House Democrats’ legislative agenda in the new Congress.

In a press conference, Pelosi announced that House Democrats were introducing HR 9, the Climate Action Now Act, which aims to keep the United States in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. It’s one of the first 10 bills introduced by the new House majority and will likely come to a vote this year.

[betsuni]

153. +1

[George II]

135. When did this become a discussion about BS?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

147. You're ABSOLUTELY right... my bad!! This shouldn't become a discussion about Bernie...

given the subject of the OP, entitled "Plagiarism charge hits Biden climate change plan." So, yes, I agree, we should confine "the discussion" to the subject of the OP, namely the "plagerism charge" against Biden.

Regarding that subject, it was disappointing, to say the least, to see yet another such charge of plagerism... I expected that Biden would exercise more caution, especially after what happened to him in the 1988 Democratic primary race, in which he was forced to withdraw.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[progressoid]

139. Hmmmm indeed. Thank goodness it's not 1988.

This kind of thing would sink a candidate back then.

[Lordquinton]

154. Another action that shows he hasn't learned.

This, the inappropriate touching, the Hyde Amendment. He hasn't learned anything.

[JudyM]

158. Also his comment that once tRump is gone the other side of the aisle will cross over & work with him

That is truly not seeing what we are up against. Unless he has some magic powers.

[zentrum]

2. Front page of the NYT's

...today had this plus several other blunders by Biden. About his statements about 1988 civil rights actions etc. I didn't buy the paper and just read what I could on the stand.

Not sure what the Times is up to.

[brooklynite]

5. Reporting the news?

[mobeau69]

9. LOL

[TheRealNorth]

47. Meanwhile Trump encourages people to break the law

And hands out pardons to war criminals.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

109. +1

[zentrum]

49. Weird--eh?

It was sort of an editorial masquerading as news. It talked about all the faux pas he made back in 1988 and are we ready for that again? Because, they said, there are "hints" of that today, in his third try.

Of all the things to report on---you'd think the Times could centerpiece a more important story. The headline actually used the word "calamity".

Besides--he seems like just the kind of candidate the Times would like. I really don't get this undermining.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

57. Didn't know that was allowed... thought only if it reflects negatively on Bernie!!

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[CentralMass]

127. +1

[zentrum]

146. LOL. How right you are.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

148. Sadly, yes.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[George II]

136. Did he say he was at the "March on Washington with MLK"?

[jalan48]

3. Oops.

[Cha]

98. Statement from BlueGreen Alliance..

Link to tweet

[George II]

134. So it's "much ado about nothing" except for supporters of other candidates. Thanks for that tweet!

[peggysue2]

4. An error that was quickly corrected

What else do you have???

[brooklynite]

7. Are you implying that this is "bashing" / "assasination" / "a hit job"?

I post stories about politics and the campaign. Feel free to do likewise.

As for your response, there's both the personal component and the campaign component. A candidate with a sloppy campaign team can also get into trouble.

[peggysue2]

24. I'm saying straight out this is much to do about nothing

An error quickly corrected.

Btw, bashing, assassination, hit job are your words, not mine.

[brooklynite]

32. This words show up here regularly when someone doesn't like a story about their candidate...

[peggysue2]

42. I repeat:

Your words, not mine.

[CentralMass]

128. :+1

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

61. If this was Bernie's campaign that did this, we'd never hear the end of it.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Eko]

72. Apparently

we cant hear the end of it for Biden either.

[sweetloukillbot]

113. Or from Bernie supporters trying to make it all about them

[Demsrule86]

117. Absolutely yes...and considering that in my opinion no other candidate can beat Trump ...a form

of political suicide that could cost us the house in 20 and give Trump four more years. I hope we don't see another wasted opportunity...especially when it means for more years of Trump.

[LanternWaste]

121. It's not at all like alleging Biden's roll-out was shaky.

So there is indeed, progression of that aspect.

Trouble, indeed.

[mobeau69]

11. Unfortunately, there's a lot. It can't be posted though. Do some research.

Hints: Syracuse University School of Law, Neil Kinnock, Iowa State Fair.

[zipplewrath]

78. Again

That is the fundamental word here. If there was a campaign that should be sensitive to this, it's Biden. Kinda goes to the fundamentals. Obama had a reputation for "no drama Obama" because he paid attention to these details. And in the end if there was a problem, they turned it into a "teachable moment".

The man has been a gaff machine his entire career, which can work as a senator, or even as a BFD Vice President. It can kill ya in a primary.

[EarnestPutz]

6. People make mistakes and I have no problem with that. Campaigns are not....

....and probably should not be run like white collar law firms or funeral parlors. I would hope that either of these two nongovernmental agencies would be pleased to see their ideas put forward as policy by the current front runner, and would forgive him for playing catch-up with the attributions. My opinion.

[wellst0nev0ter]

48. Few people make the same high profile mistake twice

[mobeau69]

8. Not this bad movie again! Just what I've been afraid of.

Error?

This is not good.

[LanternWaste]

122. Almost as bad a pneumonia.

How very, very concerning, indeed...

[Peacetrain]

10. What is the issue??? they left out some citations but was updated..

You got me here.. he is putting forth a plan on based on science and other published works.. not on his own special thoughts for the day.. and they updated the citations left out..

[mobeau69]

13. At best it's sloppy work and indicative of poor management at the top.

The pukes are licking their chops to bring up the Iowa State Fair fiasco when the general rolls around.

We just don't need this shit in this cycle. We need a new fresh leader without the baggage. The hell of it is that we've got 'em.

[Peacetrain]

16. I am from Iowa... what is the Iowa State Fair Fiasco??

Inquiring minds would like to know..(that being me) Not worried about this .. yep sounds like someone did not read the final report and hit send.. but its not someone trying to say this is his original work.. so its not plagiarism... I can't even begin to tell you the number of times I have had to back track because I forgot the citations in a final paper.. sheesh.. always catch it.. but one of these days it could get away from me.. but yep.. it is not something you want to repeat..

[mobeau69]

18. Can't be posted here. Research it if you really want to know.

[cwydro]

114. Why can't you post it here?

I did a quick search and found nothing.

[CentralMass]

129. I just googled Joe Biden + Iowa State Fair. Found an article

from the NYT by Matt Flegenheimer dated June 3 2019.

[Blue_true]

104. I have done big reports like that. It can be tough getting all notes on sources right.

To me the whole thing is a non issue.

[honest.abe]

116. No one is without baggage.

I would say Joe considering his long service in government is remarkably free of "baggage".

[Cha]

28. The "issue" is for those

who don't want Biden, and they're latching on to anything to pile on.. bring his poll numbers down.. we'll see.

It's a big damn deal for some of those supporting other candidates.. let them revel in it.

[mobeau69]

41. Exactly. Like the pukes.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

64. Exactly like Bernie has been treated... I can appreciate your outrage.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

93. No sense of irony.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

99. None at all... and it will only get worse as Bernie continues to gain in the polls.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Joediss]

130. Bernie

Bernie will never get my vote in the primarys. When.you got lying piece of shit like the young Turks who told lie after lie that probably cost Hillary the election , they are big Bernie supporters. And any presidental candidate that goes on Fox news, they can forget about my vote.

[George II]

138. Cough, cough, the polls are going the other way.

[ehrnst]

142. Yep. (nt)

[ehrnst]

140. You mean these polls?

The survey from Morning Consult finds that Sanders’s support among people between the ages of 18 and 29 has dropped from 45 percent in March to 33 percent in May.


In poll after poll, he places a distant second behind former Vice President Joe Biden among the senior set, the demographic that has long had more sway over who becomes president than any other. His campaign acknowledges it's a problem and is trying — so far, unsuccessfully — to fix it.

Polls (yep, it's early, we know) show Sanders losing support, as others such as Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris gain ground. A Monmouth University national poll released last week shows Sanders with the support of 15% of Democratic-leaning voters, a decline of 25% from March. A Monmouth poll of New Hampshire shows Biden with a 20-point lead over Sanders, roughly the same margin he beat Clinton by in the state in 2016.

Don't believe everything you think...

[Peacetrain]

44. its a big nothing burger..

just a distraction .. the first thing that came to my mind was "squirrel"

[Cha]

81. A big "nothing burger" that some

will be soooo disappointed that it's not the whole meal.

[Iliyah]

63. fake news (Murdoch) is

definitely reporting it...….

side note to Cha,

Took my Toyota for lube and oil change in Gardena, CA. It's right across the street from "Gong Cha" which is down the street from Ted's Liquor store (Ted Lieu).

[Cha]

82. That's funny, Iliyah!

Good ol California! I miss it!

[JudyM]

159. Leaving out a citation is fine if the language is in quotes. The absence of both looks more

intentional.

[RedParrot]

12. Amateurish campaign errors are better done early

Later in the campaign season mistakes like this can become deadly if expertly exploited by an opponent Biden campaign can learn from this. Others take note, it can happen to them too.

No excuse for sloppy staff work.

[mobeau69]

20. But Joe and his campaign supposedly have all the experience that others, like Pete, lack!

I hear it here constantly.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

66. Pete has run a flawless campaign, as far as I can tell and that's sayin something

when you consider he's only run for the office of mayor. This being Joe's THIRD primary election, and given the circumstances surrounding his loss in the '88 primary race, I'm a little surprised by this unforced error. But, I don't see it as a major gaffe... no doubt, Joe will recover from this minor setback.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[RLG]

75. I wouldn't call it "flawless". I would call it lucky.

It would be flawless if he had substantial support from the AA community.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

77. Lucky?! hahaha... riiight!! Mayor Pete has run a great campaign based on hard work

and smart policies.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[RLG]

83. No, it's luck because of the demise of one candidate.

You know it and I know it.

Yes, it helps that he's smart and slick, but it also helps that another so-called younger candidate's campaign has sadly faltered.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

84. Have no idea who or what you're talking about, sorry... I know Mayor Pete is third

on my Top-Ten list of Democratic candidates for a reason and luck has zip, zilch, nada, nothing to do with it!!


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[RLG]

86. And if he was not in the race, who would be your third candidate?

nt

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

103. I don't see how askin that question answers my question about what you meant by your last response.

If you'd rather not explain, that's okay, just say so.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[RLG]

108. OK, how can it be a "flawless" campaign without African American support?

Can you answer me that?

[marylandblue]

118. His campaign execution is flawless, his career is not.

Some bad decisions he made as mayor have made AAs distrustful of him. He is reaching out to them, just as he should. If he does not gain their trust, it is not because of a campaign error, but because he started with two strikes against him.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

14. Unfortunate coincidence it's Biden

People have their knives out for him. The polls show twitter does not reflect real life, but twitter does affect news cycles and themes. Biden gets lots of heat on twitter with people in some cases wishing he screws up.

Most of our candidates will have identical climate policy goals, with some differences or tweaks in the extent to attaining them. That he fails to cite sources in some passages of a 22 page document is unfortunate but for Biden it is a knock back because of his past.

[mobeau69]

17. It's not about the policy but nice try. nt

[ancianita]

15. Looks like media pile on over a questionable charge to me.

Why is a science based document from anyone subject to copyright? It's fact-based, not
creative or original under copyright law to begin with. Credit is nice, yes, but this doesn't rise to the level of a charge of plagiarism.

Biden's people's only "error" was technical.

Campaign plans don't rise to the same accountability as journalism or college. These flaggers were demanding something the Biden people didn't owe them.

Any scientific factual basis of any NGO's document -- how is that NGO's document subject to copyright?

Do their docs declare copyright registration? I find it hard to believe.

Aren't NGO's federally funded even if they don't formally represent government? Don't their documents belong to the public?

Are tweets of copyrighted documents subject to copyright? Seriously?

This sounds fishy. NYT has reported some weird stuff lately.

[demmiblue]

39. Wow, just wow.

[Blue_true]

106. Also, copyright policy for literature says non copyrighted public domain information is fair game.

Of course Biden's staff could have referenced the group that generated the public domain information properly.

One reason why inventors DON'T publish information that has no copyright or patent level protection is that another person or group can use that information to potentially develop very valuable products, and defeat the inventor in Court afterward.

[ancianita]

120. I get it. Money. Giving proper credit where credit is due shouldn't be hard.

It also shouldn't be a flashpoint for journalists who prefer to research mistakes of Democratic candidates over vetting horrendous corruptions of Republican candidates.

If they had been this driven in 2015, we wouldn't have the current corrupt occupant ruining this country.

Any "No, you can't put that idea out there -- buy the rights!" should only apply to fiction, not ideas in a climate crisis.

The whole human business-before-planet way of life is what got us here, anyway.

I'm reminded of the old 'crabs in a basket' image.

[Blue_true]

156. I get your frustration.

Not many people realize that Earth is basically a lone spacecraft in a massive sea of nothing else. As of yet and likely for at least a century, we can't get to another planet that is easily inhabitable for billions of people and even if we could reach such a planet quickly, the logistics of transporting billions of people there would be an absolute bear, if not impossible.

Right now we either fix the problems we have created with Earth or Earth kills us and a lot of other life and start over, but just further along on it's own lifetime.

[ancianita]

157. I know I sound like a broken record on this, but Inslee truly has a way out of this for us.

We can't go on with the cascading disasters that he knows how to stop.

We can't go on being isolated from climate alliances with other countries and the Paris Climate goals.

Inslee would end the $5 TRILLION in oil subsidies and put that toward clean energy restructuring at state levels, with plenty of tax incentives and subsidies for states that commit to infrastructure greening.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

19. btw some people are saying he lifted it from beto

which by logic means beto lifted it from nongovernmental organisational groups

ultimately democrats are for the most part in agreement with the issues, and the policies are devised by consulting experts. no politician comes up with a complete plan on his or her own will. it's just biden is the one who really didn't need this to happen. it's minor but it gives people on the right wing who are already against him, and people to the left of him who don't want him ammo.

[ancianita]

52. "Some people are saying..." puh-lease, that's a right wing talking point. Want to keep up divisive

Last edited Tue Jun 4, 2019, 07:53 PM - Edit history (1)

talk?

There is no "this" that Biden "didn't need" to have happen.

Biden didn't plagiarize.

Seriously. Who really cares where he got his plan. This isn't college or journalism or fiction writing. It's a climate plan. A plan. Plans come from all kinds of places.

When it comes to campaigning, good ideas are good ideas. And Beto has never produced anything "some people" want to give him credit for.

Advice: This is just not helping. Please consider that when you post.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

21. UPDATE FROM ONE OF THE GROUPS

[marble falls]

23. Says it all. They were proposing, and Biden is promising. There's no harm and no foul.

[mobeau69]

29. Using their work is not the issue. Proper citation is. nt

[marble falls]

31. Which was corrected tout suite and with what seems to me to be a sincere apology.

[mobeau69]

38. Try that excuse on a high school, let alone college, research paper and see what it'll get you.

Nada.

[JI7]

58. but this wasn't a school research paper where the student is being graded on doing the work themselv

policy proposals can be written by anyone and nobody thinks the candidates themselves did the work.

[mobeau69]

62. The work should still be cited.

Especially when this issue sank his 1988 campaign.

[qazplm135]

65. No it didn't

Failure to put all citations into a position paper is FAR different than lifting an entire speech and claiming it as your own.

[Sugarcoated]

91. Which, if I understand it correctly from the bio I watched on Biden

he had attributed speech bit to the British politician in prior appearances but failed to do so the one night and Maureen Dowd happened to be there.

[LanternWaste]

124. This isn't the red-meat you wish it to be.

The story is a non-issue to everyone not chasing chum, will die within 36 hours, and a lot of people will immediately and conveniently forget how much passion they invested into a double-zero-nothing-burger served on wry.

But go one if you must... it's bemusing if nothing else.

[MrsCoffee]

131. Try harder.

[marble falls]

73. Good thing this isn't high school or college.

[Scurrilous]

33. Thanks!

[marble falls]

22. Jebus. Is it an impeachable offence?

[wellst0nev0ter]

50. No, but it's a mark of sloppiness

You'd think Biden would be sensitive such issues by now.

[marble falls]

74. One might also think he didn't personally write the copy to campaign literature.

[greatauntoftriplets]

80. He likely never read it before it was posted either.

[marble falls]

119. I would bet on that.

[Prosper]

111. Biden should

make a clarifying statement taking advantage of the publicity. Take advantage of free press .

[SouthernProgressive]

25. It's a good plan and Biden will work with many groups...

For a path forward.

The charge of plagiarism here is questionable.

[OhZone]

26. Opps! Forgot the footnotes. nt

[Honeycombe8]

27. Oh-oh. But it's early, and I'm sure staffers wrote that plan up.

So it wasn't Biden. It's staffers who usually draft a plan up, for the candidate's review. They left out some footnotes. That's a big deal, if you're the one who came up with the idea and wrote it up, and a candidate is using it w/o giving you credit. But it's been fixed.

This will probably fade away.

Trump may latch onto it, but remember when Melanie's speech was Michelle Obama's speech verbatim?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

70. I don't see this as a major gaffe and, yes, will likely fade away...

But, still surprising that it happened given Joe's history.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[4now]

30. meh

[Mr.Bill]

34. A little perspective here.

If Biden gets the nomination he will be running against a guy who has told thousands of documented lies. He lies every time he speaks. He said today he didn't see any protesters in London. Any of our candidates will look like a facts and truth machine by comparison.

Update: He just was shown on MSNBC saying there was a very small group of protesters.

[Hoyt]

35. If the stuff supposedly plagiarized are good for climate and citations were added, no big deal.

[jberryhill]

37. Yup

“Plagiarism” is an academic offense. This was not an academic work.

[mobeau69]

46. LOL. Melania should've tried that incorrect definition!

[jberryhill]

67. A speech is generally expected to be an original work of authorship

A policy proposal is a functional specification which one would expect to be a selection of good ideas. Originality is not a criterion for whether a policy is good or bad, which is interestingly absent from the discussion here.

[progressoid]

141. Well, he was accused of plagarizing a speech as well.

It was kind of a big deal during his first run for president.

Major controversy beset Biden's candidacy, beginning on September 12, 1987 with high-profile articles in The New York Times and The Des Moines Register.[19] Biden was accused of plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, leader of the British Labour Party.[20] Kinnock's speech, delivered to a Welsh Labour Party conference on May 15, 1987, and then rebroadcast during the UK 1987 general election, made reference to his background and that of his wife Glenys. It included the lines:

Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? [Pointing to his wife in the audience:] Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?

While Biden's speech made reference to himself and his wife Jill Biden and included the lines:

I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? [Pointing to his wife in the audience:] Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I'm the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?[20]

Biden went on to duplicate other parts of Kinnock's speech, such as their forebears' ability to read and write poetry, their strength in working for hours underground in a mine only to come up and play football afterward, and their being limited by lack of a "platform" upon which to stand.[20]

Biden had in fact cited Kinnock as the source for the formulation on previous occasions.[21][22] But he made no reference to the original source at the August 23 Democratic debate at the Iowa State Fair being reported on,[23] nor in an August 26 interview for the National Education Association.[22] Moreover, while political speeches often appropriate ideas and language from each other, Biden's use came under more scrutiny because he fabricated aspects of his own family's background in order to match Kinnock's.[15][24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden_1988_presidential_campaign

[jberryhill]

145. This may come as a shock to you

But having been a lifelong resident of Delaware, I am quite familiar with Joe Biden's history.

If you want to go back decades, Joe has done all kinds of interesting things.

However, the Kinnock speech has nothing to do with this particular episode.

[progressoid]

151. Indeed, the Kinnock speech has nothing to do with this particular episode.

But it does apply to your statement that a speech is generally expected to be an original work of authorship.

[jberryhill]

152. Yes and he was rightly criticized for that

So?

Again policies aren’t graded on whether they are original, but whether they are good ideas.

[jberryhill]

36. Uh, a good plan is a good plan

This was not an academic work, thesis, or exercise in creative writing.

This is a nontroversy.

[Butterflylady]

40. Here we go again.

The best thing about Democratic Underground is the administers included a trash button.

[brush]

43. If true I don't get how this stuff happens. You'd think these writer/researchers...

hired for pretty pennies no doubt, would know about "ibid and op cit."

[mobeau69]

54. And plagiarism apps.

This is 2019 after all.

[wellst0nev0ter]

51. It may not be a crime

But it's certainly embarrassing. Biden better hope this thing blows over quickly.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

53. Having done it before, you'd think he'd make it clear to his team that it's unacceptable.

[dem4decades]

56. Wait? What? Biden isn't publishing his own climate studies?

WTF is going on? This is bullshit, who is attacking him for this?

[jberryhill]

68. I'll bet he doesn't even have his own laboratory or a degree in climate science either!

Shocker.

[vsrazdem]

59. It may be a big nothing burger, but when you have previously dropped out of a

presidential race because of these same allegations, you should certainly make sure it does not happen again. Very poor judgment by staff, and that does not bode well for the future campaign.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

79. My point exactly... though it's not a fatal blow, it certainly doesn't bode well

for someone who is in his THIRD primary race for President. Having lost twice previously, especially under the circumstances surrounding the 1988 primary election, you'd think Joe would be EXTRA careful to avoid these sort of accusations.


Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[Freethinker65]

60. Meh. It was corrected. Get it out in the open and own the mistake.

It isn't like having having a foreign agenda driven campaign manager working for "free" while denying it until the bitter end. Or having your attorney and tabloid buddies pay off sexual harassment accusers.

Biden is not my first choice, but this is not the end of his campaign.

[honest.abe]

69. Someone on his staff should have caught this.

Last edited Wed Jun 5, 2019, 06:44 AM - Edit history (3)

Sloppy and poor judgement. Joe may need to make some changes on his team.

However have said that in reality this should be a non-issue. Joe is not claiming to be an expert on climate change and not trying to claim anything as his own original ideas. In fact I doubt there are any original ideas floated by any of the candidates regarding climate change. He is a politician, and his role is to push ideas that he thinks are good which is what he is doing.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

71. tweet

Link to tweet

[Cha]

89. Mahalo, Otto!

[peggysue2]

94. Oh dear!

That really does let the air out of the outrage tire, no?

[betsuni]

97. Biden Plagiarism headlines everywhere sure happened quickly.

Mission accomplished!

[peggysue2]

101. Strange how that happens isn't it??????

And then in comes the disinfectant, aka the facts and disclaimer.

[MustLoveBeagles]

96. Thank for posting this

[RLG]

76. Um, what about this?

Link to tweet

[bullwinkle428]

85. Serious question here - is the person or persons who are responsible for the original work

complaining that their work was in some way "stolen" by the Biden campaign? If not, then I don't really see the reason for any complaints by anyone. Different story if they are making that claim.

[peggysue2]

95. See post #71

Source says they're 'fine' with people using their documents and research. As long as promises are kept in pushing important and vital policy and infrastructure.

Case closed.

[honest.abe]

112. No, they are not. In fact they seem pleased their proposals are being used.

Agree, this is pretty much a non-issue.

[Blue_true]

100. A nothingburger, IMO.

Big documents are very difficult to fabricate when one is trying to pay homage to existing ideas and work in new ones. Was it sloppy on their part, yes, but certainly not dishonest.

[mr_lebowski]

107. Srsly? What a friggin' joke ...

On top of the fact that this isn't really 'creative' work being quoted, the works used were part of the overall bibliography, as the article states. The paper just missed a couple of citations.

[tirebiter]

110. When Woody Guthrie

Was charged with stealing other peoples’ Songs, Pete Seeger described it as the folk process. This is the political process. As ideas become popular they can be adopted.

Biden as the leading candidate is pushing elements of the Green New Deal. Does anyone here think FDR came up with the entire New Deal? He didn’t invent the atomic bomb either. He just used it to end the war.

[stonecutter357]

115. you change my mind about Biden ......

JK #fake-news!

[Cha]

123. lol

They be tryin'

[mtnsnake]

125. Old habits die hard. Next time Joe copies someone else's stuff,

he should at least change the wording just enough so he doesn't get caught again. LOL

[honest.abe]

132. The issue isnt copying, its not providing the proper credit or citation for the content.

In fact the original source has no problem with what Joe did, they seem to be happy their recommended policies in publicly available documents are being pushed by a candidate for President.

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[ucrdem]

144. They went to press with that the same day he released it?

Let me guess, they'd written it in advance?

[LibFarmer]

150. Meh ... all plans are hybrid and agglomerations

of several other proposals.

This is not plagiarism.

[lark]

155. Total BS and much ado about absolutely nothing.

BlueGreen Alliance said they were happy that Joe liked their plan enough to use parts of it. This is a made up non-issue, just like anyone saying "Medicare for All' isn't stealing from Bernie, just using a good idea because they believe in it.