Reply #9: I am also an academic, and at my University, [View All]

[LadyVT]

We have a policy about plagiarism. Students fail the course, and are referred to the Provost for further discipline. This was actually only one example of several (Maria Shriver's use of the Hopi Elders 'we are the change we seek' quote, which Obama adopted is one, but there are many, many--and I'm sure they will all be coming out soon). All he has to do is say, "as my friend Deval Patrick has said..." but somehow, he's not willing to do that. And he sure knows what he's doing--he's a lecturer at a University, himself.

The issue is not spurious. People who hear him (young voters who weren't around when the original speakers made their speeches from which he's plagiarizing) believe HE has made this stuff up. Of course that adds to the mystique of brilliance surrounding him. It's fine for him to be brilliant--let him come up with his own words.