Comments on: The McCain Plagiarism Scandal http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/ Content Theft, Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:06:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Some Quick Thoughts about the HuffPo Scandal - PlagiarismTodayhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-124084 Some Quick Thoughts about the HuffPo Scandal - PlagiarismToday Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:23:43 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-124084 [...] regularly know that I have no political axe to grind. During the election, I wrote about the Obama, McCain and Biden plagiarism scandals. Of the three, the only one I found any merit in was the Biden one [...] [...] regularly know that I have no political axe to grind. During the election, I wrote about the Obama, McCain and Biden plagiarism scandals. Of the three, the only one I found any merit in was the Biden one [...]

]]> By: kathleen bellhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-129188 kathleen bell Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:12:46 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-129188 Interesting to hear McCain plagiarise what is, in Britain, a very famous speech from Winston Churchill in last night's debates. In 1942 Churchill spoke of the turning of the tide in World War II after the Battle of El Alamein: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." The speech was given on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet at the Mansion House.<br><br>see <br><a href="http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/EndoBegn.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Endo...</a><br>and<br><a href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=222" rel="nofollow">http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index...</a> Interesting to hear McCain plagiarise what is, in Britain, a very famous speech from Winston Churchill in last night's debates. In 1942 Churchill spoke of the turning of the tide in World War II after the Battle of El Alamein: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The speech was given on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet at the Mansion House.

see
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Endo...
and
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index...

]]> By: kathleen bellhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-127971 kathleen bell Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:12:46 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-127971 Interesting to hear McCain plagiarise what is, in Britain, a very famous speech from Winston Churchill in last night's debates. In 1942 Churchill spoke of the turning of the tide in World War II after the Battle of El Alamein: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." The speech was given on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet at the Mansion House.<br><br>see <br><a href="http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/EndoBegn.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Endo...</a><br>and<br><a href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=222" rel="nofollow">http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index...</a> Interesting to hear McCain plagiarise what is, in Britain, a very famous speech from Winston Churchill in last night's debates. In 1942 Churchill spoke of the turning of the tide in World War II after the Battle of El Alamein: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The speech was given on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet at the Mansion House.

see
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Endo...
and
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index...

]]> By: kathleen bellhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123326 kathleen bell Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:12:46 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123326 Interesting to hear McCain plagiarise what is, in Britain, a very famous speech from Winston Churchill in last night's debates. In 1942 Churchill spoke of the turning of the tide in World War II after the Battle of El Alamein: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." The speech was given on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet at the Mansion House.<br><br>see <br><a href="http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/EndoBegn.html">http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Endo...</a><br>and<br><a href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=222">http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index...</a> Interesting to hear McCain plagiarise what is, in Britain, a very famous speech from Winston Churchill in last night's debates. In 1942 Churchill spoke of the turning of the tide in World War II after the Battle of El Alamein: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The speech was given on 10 November 1942 at the Lord Mayor of London's banquet at the Mansion House.

see
http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Endo...
and
http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index...

]]> By: The Politics of Plagiarism - PlagiarismTodayhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123246 The Politics of Plagiarism - PlagiarismToday Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:07:31 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123246 [...] the opportunity to report on a series of plagiarism scandals. The first involved Obama, the second McCain and, finally a rehashing of the Biden Scandal from the [...] [...] the opportunity to report on a series of plagiarism scandals. The first involved Obama, the second McCain and, finally a rehashing of the Biden Scandal from the [...]

]]> By: zzazzeefrazzeehttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123207 zzazzeefrazzee Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:19:16 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123207 What McCain did was to paraphrase these sources. Since he never credited them, that counts as plagiarism. What McCain did was to paraphrase these sources. Since he never credited them, that counts as plagiarism.

]]> By: Jonathan Baileyhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123165 Jonathan Bailey Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:42:34 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123165 Comedy potential, yes. Unfortunately, not much else. <br><br>Of course, one could disprove the plagiarism by simply realizing that Wikipedia on the Web. McCain's never been there... Comedy potential, yes. Unfortunately, not much else.

Of course, one could disprove the plagiarism by simply realizing that Wikipedia on the Web. McCain's never been there…

]]> By: Conrad Dunkersonhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123166 Conrad Dunkerson Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:50:41 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123166 I still find it difficult to believe there is not some connection.<br><br>Consider the following sentence from McCain's speech;<br><br>"After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922."<br><br>Eighteen of the twenty-two words in that sentence (all but "following", "forced", and "to join") appear, with the same meaning, in the corresponding passage from the Wikipedia entry. To me that looks like minor condensing and copy-editing of the sort one would expect from a good speechwriter. Could it be a coincidence? It seems a stretch, but within the realm of possibility . Add in "one of the ... first ... to adopt Christianity as an official religion" appearing in both, and even 'Comparison 3' having the same facts in essentially the same order and it becomes difficult to believe that this was entirely an original work.<br><br>BTW, if you wanted to try those automated comparison tools;<br><br>McCain's speech is at:<br><a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/612817d8-e377-44df-9ebe-aca0ea95e945.htm">http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressR...</a><br><br>The state of the Wikipedia article on the day prior to his speech is at:<br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Georgia_%28country%29&oldid=231118705">http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Georg...</a><br><br>Of course, since the passages quoted above contain most of the Georgian history references in McCain's speech, there may still not be enough material on the subject for an automated analysis. I still find it difficult to believe there is not some connection.

Consider the following sentence from McCain's speech;

“After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922.”

Eighteen of the twenty-two words in that sentence (all but “following”, “forced”, and “to join”) appear, with the same meaning, in the corresponding passage from the Wikipedia entry. To me that looks like minor condensing and copy-editing of the sort one would expect from a good speechwriter. Could it be a coincidence? It seems a stretch, but within the realm of possibility . Add in “one of the … first … to adopt Christianity as an official religion” appearing in both, and even 'Comparison 3' having the same facts in essentially the same order and it becomes difficult to believe that this was entirely an original work.

BTW, if you wanted to try those automated comparison tools;

McCain's speech is at:
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressR...

The state of the Wikipedia article on the day prior to his speech is at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Georg...

Of course, since the passages quoted above contain most of the Georgian history references in McCain's speech, there may still not be enough material on the subject for an automated analysis.

]]> By: The Biden Plagiarism Scandal - PlagiarismTodayhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123152 The Biden Plagiarism Scandal - PlagiarismToday Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:40:21 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123152 [...] First Barack Obama was accused of plagiarizing from his long-time friend Deval Patrick, then McCain was accused of plagiarizing from Wikipedia and now, just after the first Vice Presidential candidate has been selected, Joe Biden, he finds [...] [...] First Barack Obama was accused of plagiarizing from his long-time friend Deval Patrick, then McCain was accused of plagiarizing from Wikipedia and now, just after the first Vice Presidential candidate has been selected, Joe Biden, he finds [...]

]]> By: David Gerardhttp://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/08/13/the-mccain-plagiarism-scandal/comment-page-1/#comment-123086 David Gerard Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:02:52 +0000 http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/?p=1523#comment-123086 McCain and Wikipedia has vast <a href="http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/20/mccain-accused-of-plagiarising-wikipedia-for-georgia-speech/">comedy potential</a>. (Feel free to propagate the <a href="http://notnews.today.com/2008/08/20/mccain-accused-of-plagiarising-wikipedia-for-georgia-speech/mccain-tan-your-helpful-mccainpedia-mascot/">picture</a>.) McCain and Wikipedia has vast comedy potential. (Feel free to propagate the picture.)

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