Obama Foes: Mad As Hell and They're Not Going to Take It Anymore

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12938

Obama Foes: Mad As Hell and They're Not Going to Take It Anymore
by Steve Young | February 19, 2008



Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Sure, I stole it. But isn't that the point? That's what it's there for.

Barack Obama uses a line or two from someone else and all of a sudden it's a big campaign story. But should it be a story at all? Plagiarism is such a fuzzy area. Just because someone once used it, doesn't mean it can't be used again. Ask Sylvester Stallone. Ask any network executive who ever pitched a sitcom idea. Do you think Garry Marshall said, "I call it Laverne & Shirley and it's an exact ripoff of I Love Lucy." Of course not. Why? Because it's American capitalism at its best. Oh, we may change a word or two, but since when is recycling bad. It's not stealing. It's protecting the environment.

The point is, we don't need less plagiarism. We need more. Certain phrases have said it better than it can be ever said again, so why settle on second best? Certainly we wouldn't want second best from our leaders.

"Fool me once..... shame on... uhh... you can't....er...ummm....ya can't fool me again..."

Imagine if something like that came out of the mouth of our Commander in Chief? It would be an insult to the American people, wouldn't it?

So, as the campaign marches on and one administration replaces another, let us bathe, not in the darkness of staid and weak phrasing, but in the glory of greatness. From the first announcement into the 2008 race to inauguration day 2009, I give you, political plagiarism at it's copy infringement best; how it could have been and can still be the most quoted campaign season ever. And if you don't like it, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

"I see dead people."
-- Candidates describing how they'll win Chicago.

"I'll get you my pretty...and your little wife too."
-- Clinton to Obama

"You had me at hello."
-- Oprah to Obama

"Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into."
-- Hillary to Bill

"Here's Johnny!"
-- McCain's intro at the Republican Convention

"This is for all the lonely people."
-- Mike Gravel rationalizing his continued run

"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."
-- McCain suggesting a cabinet post to Romney if he drops out

"Shaken, not stirred."
-- Dick Morris describing the enthusiasm in the Clinton camp.

"Houston, we have a problem."
-- Clinton during Texas Primary

"What if I say I'm not like the others."
-- Ralph Nader considering another run

"Listen to me, mister. You're my knight in shining armor. Don't you forget it. You're going to get back on that horse, and I'm going to be right behind you, holding on tight, and away we're gonna go, go, go!"
-- Mrs. Nader

"All the world is a stage...Nothing can come of nothing."
-- Fred Thompson explaining why he entered the presidential race and why he quit.

"Say hello to my little friend."
-- Elizabeth Kucinich introducing her husband

"I am big. It's the picture that got small."
-- Dennis Kucinich

"Plastics."
-- Joe Biden describing how he was holding his campaign together.

"Show me the money."
-- Every candidate

"Keep your friends close but your enemies closer."
-- McCain agreeing to be a guest on Sean Hannity's show

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
-- Dick Cheney promoting the benefits of his last 6 years.

"A plague on both your houses."
-- Rush Limbaugh

"Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake."
-- Obama referring to Bill Clinton

"They're heeeeeeeeere."
-- Hillary Clinton introducing her Superdelegates

"You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been something, instead of a bum, which is what I am."
-- Bill O'Reilly, during a moment of clarity, explaining why he thinks electing Clinton or Obama is dangerous for America

"I'll have what she's having."
-- Bill Clinton during Hillary Clinton's swearing-in.

"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
-- George W. Bush at the Wailing Wall

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. Dud Clinton campaign plagiarize Rove?

Ian Williams of the Guardian UK says that Hillary Clinton's plagiarism attack against Obama should give Karl Rove due credit:

Plagiarism forsooth! Feb 19, 2008 Guardian UK Ian Williams

...But the latest attack from the Clinton camp for alleged plagiarism - like the previous attempt to play the race card against him - should have footnoted it as a cover of "Karl Rove and the Swift Boaters: Greatest Hits, volume one". It is difficult not to suspect that the alleged linking of Obama to "terrorism" because an alleged Weatherman sent $200 to the campaign is also a leak from the Clinton campaign.. .

;;;

Indeed, if the Clinton team had academic insight to match their shallow academic spite, they would have noticed what their opponent said in New Hampshire last December:

"But you know in the end, don't vote your fears. I'm stealing this line from my buddy Deval Patrick who stole a whole bunch of lines from me when he ran for the governorship, but it's the right one, don't vote your fears, vote your aspirations. Vote what you believe."

The Clinton tactics highlight the self-destructive absurdity of the primary system, in which a party's potential candidates spend almost two years providing ammunition for the other side in the general election. In the absence of clear macro-policy differences, they go for quibbles and personalities. But the primaries also highlight the self-destructive egotism of Hillary Clinton and her husband. Their speedy disavowal of their longtime friend Lani Guinier when faced with a proto-swiftboating by the Wall St Journal editorialists shows that they lacked attachment to their friends and their principles if they thought it detracted from dynastic power.

[stellanoir]

2. these accusers have absolutely no concept of a simple genuine collaborative effort.

Ughhhhh

[aquart]

3. Recycled campaign="simple genuine collaborative effort"

LOL.

Doesn't take a lot of effort to re-use and slightly re-phrase.

But that's not what's bugging you. It's that WE know those thrilling words and "inspiring" speeches you're all betting our lives on...aren't Obama's. He IS just an empty suit doing whatever he can to get elected. Look, these speeches got the guy in Massachusetts elected...who wouldn't want to use 'em?

[stellanoir]

4. Yeah sure

like you never flushed an idea out with a friend.

That's rather telling.