Posted March 22, 2006 3:57 PM
Posted by Frank James at 3:57 p.m CST
A few commenters have accused me of plagiarizing an idea from an Associated Press story in my posting “President Bush fights the strawmen” because my piece, which was posted to the Swamp after the AP piece, has essentially the same theme.
In fact, I independently observed the same thing as the AP reporter, independently drew my own conclusions, then wrote the posting.
I was totally unaware of the AP story until a commenter brought it to my attention. That I posted my piece a few days after the AP story ran is coincidence, no more.
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Comments
Sure.
Posted by: John | March 22, 2006 5:13 PM
That's the peril of slanted or partisan writing. Your "plagiarism" would have been less conspicuous had you not indulged, as another commenter pointed out (Reg Jones), in strawfighting yourself.
The Bush-hating media is not our all-knowing, all-disseminating hero in bringing us the world--you guys are more like a big anvil tied around our necks as we try to tread the onslaught of local, national and world news and information.
Posted by: Wendy Johnson | March 22, 2006 8:51 PM
No harm, no foul. Bush's strawman tactics are hardly a secret or hard to spot. The only people who would consider this plagiarism are the same ones who still can't believe they were lied to about the reason's for the Iraq War. The whole concept of a "strawman argument" is over their heads...thus they seem to think the AP article was so mind-blowing that no one else could have possibly made the same observation.
As for those saying the media is bashing Bush, I direct these folks to the scene in the film "Liar, Liar" where a client calls Jim Carrey, asking for advice after he knocked over another ATM. Jim's response about covers it.
Bas press about Bush will stop when he quits doing blatantly stupid and irresponsible things that any non-partisan would disagree with.
Posted by: frosty | March 23, 2006 8:52 AM
No harm, no foul. Bush's strawman tactics are hardly a secret or hard to spot. The only people who would consider this plagiarism are the same ones who still can't believe they were lied to about the reasons for the Iraq War. The whole concept of a "strawman argument" is over their heads...thus they seem to think the AP article was so mind-blowing that no one else could have possibly made the same observation.
As for those saying the media is bashing Bush, I direct these folks to the scene in the film "Liar, Liar" where a client calls Jim Carrey, asking for advice after he knocked over another ATM. Jim's response about covers it.
Bad press about Bush will stop when he quits doing blatantly stupid and irresponsible things that any non-partisan would disagree with.
Posted by: frosty | March 23, 2006 8:54 AM
Your admission that you were "totally unaware" is quite believable.
Posted by: Bruce | March 23, 2006 10:30 AM
I thought about that strawman theme a long time ago. I am sure many others have had the same idea. This has been the Bush tactic from day one. Take a question and then attack the most absurd deriviation of that question. That is why most Republicans still think Osama bin Laden secretly met with Saddam Hussein.
So there is no need to explain your path to this conclusion. It's not a theory that is exclusive to one journalist.
Posted by: Jorge from Bloomington | March 23, 2006 11:42 AM