GOOD speechwriters are normally well educated, well read and able to know their sources and provide them, if asked. You can't punctuate a speech with footnotes and references:
"Four score and seven years ago -- that's 87 years ago for those of you who don't know what a score of years is -- our fathers -- not our actual direct blood line fathers but our "founding fathers" who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution -- ... Hay! Hay! Where's everybody going! Don't leave! ..."
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Ted Sorensen wrote, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." which has antecedents going back to Gibran and earlier and earlier, maybe 2000+ years.
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William Safire (Nixon speechwriter) was very scholarly and knew his sources for memorable phrases.
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Back to Harris ...
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http://www.cnn.com/2024/10/14/politics/kamala-harris-plagiarism-allegation/index.html
"... Rufo, in his post, refers to six specific paragraphs from Harris’ roughly 200-page book. CNN reviewed several of the passages highlighted by Rufo and found that Harris and O’C. Hamilton failed to properly attribute language to sources. ..."
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"In one instance, Harris and O’C. Hamilton appear to have lifted some language from a John Jay College of Criminal Justice press release without proper attribution. The book copies exact language and sections of the press release but fails to use quotation marks in several sentences, according to an analysis of the book and the press release. The authors do, however, cite the press release as a source in a footnote next to the text. They also properly attribute other quotes from parts of the press release. ..."
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The book is otherwise extensively referenced to source material.
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To me, this looks like a case of sloppiness or similar error. It does NOT appear to be a case of trying to steal credit for someone else's work: the same sources are cited in other places in the book. Harris was an experienced trial lawyer (prosecutor) and knows how to write briefs with citations to the law ("CFR ###") or prior court rulings ("US vs Trump") or references to other sources of jurisprudence ("TER Law Review, www.theeroticreview.com, ####") to make a compelling case before a judge.
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Wait for it ... But! But! But Trump claims to have coined the word "caravan" to refer to the movement of migrants to the southern border. He has often said, "No one knew that before ..." and "No one ever thought of that before ..."
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http://www.rawstory.com/trump-genius-us-us/
"Trump calls himself a 'genius' for realizing U.S. and 'us' are the same letters." ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? That's something that 2nd graders know.
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Trump can't ever cite a source because he doesn't read, he isn't educated ("I love the poorly educated" is his declaration of self adoration.), he wouldn't know a source if he was holding an upside-down Bible in his hand. He is a fucking idiot! He can think that "nuking the hurricanes" is a brilliant, new, original idea of HIS because he wouldn't spend 10 seconds googling it to see that it was debunked by scientists and engineers DECADES ago.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_America_Great_Again
"Make America Great Again" was Ronald Reagan's campaign slogan in 1980!!! Clinton used it in 1992!! Etc..
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(Melania, by even the weakest standard, clearly plagiarized Michelle Obama's convention speech.)
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Back to Harris ... the publisher has various options but I don't know what is currently preferred.
- withdraw unsold copies from the marketplace; reprint a new edition with corrections.
- since it is only parts of 6 paragraphs, they can print a "corrections" sheet (4"x6" or 5"x8") that gets inserted into existing (and future) print copies. "Page 89: insert citation to "News Source, ####. Page 123: insert reference to Book, page, publisher," ...
- electronic versions get corrections easily inserted.
Posted By: lester_prairie
Re: Plagiarism is the written form . . . .
Interesting distinctions in regards to using speech writers vs "plagiarism." Biden was accused in 1988 of plagiarism in his speeches for using words from British Labor Party Leader Neil Kinnock. Had Biden just used original words from his own speech writers he would not have been accused of plagiarism.
I'd like to see posters here, especially CDL, learn how to cite a source.