Note that Goeglein had served as a good Christian soldier for evangelical Gary Bauer's presidential campaign in 2000, then became a top aide to Karl Rove. NY Times describes Goeglein as a "liaison to the social and religious conservatives" for the Bush Administration. The describes Goeglein as "instrumental in establishing the Bush faith-based community initiative" [Ashley Smith, "Bush Aide Goeglein Resigns," Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, 2008.03.01].
Gogelien's religious background has at least led him to take responsibility for his sins: he has been issuing apologies at a vigorous pace:
“It is true,” Mr. Goeglein wrote in an e-mail message to another Fort Wayne newspaper, The Journal-Gazette. “I am entirely at fault. It was wrong of me. There are no excuses.”
He said he had apologized to the author of The Dartmouth Review article.
[Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Bush Aide Resigns After Admitting Plagiarism," New York Times, 2008.03.01].
Goeglein is right about having no excuses. He double-majored in journalism and political science at Indiana University Bloomington. He wasn't writing under deadline or for pay for the News-Sentinel. He had all the knowledge to avoid plagiarism and none of the pressure that might cause some writers to slip.
Even one plagiarized article is unacceptable. But 20? How'd that many slip by the editors?
News-Sentinel Editorial Page Editor Leo Morris said writers of guest columns are given a certain level of trust to ensure the information they supply is correct and not plagiarized.
“You don't have the time or the manpower to check everything that comes in,” he said.
“If you can't trust the faith-based assistant to the president, who can you trust?” [Smith 2008.03.01]
Thank goodness we have bloggers to help check the media. There's one more positive contribution bloggers make to the general welfare!
So here's your small miracle for Sunday: The Bush Administration and the Madville Times agree. Plagiarism is wrong, and you can expect to lose your job for it.
I just heard yesterday that his omnipotence, Barack, actually plagarized the words regarding time for a change also. Actually came from a movie with a title that included "gentleman" in it; can't remember the actual name and don't have time to look it up right now. But the wording was exactly what he is now using for his campaign. Interesting?! Maybe Hillary was right going after him for "xeroxing" his comments! Would like to see the MSM bring up this tidbit, but alas that will never happen.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the big deal about minor plagiarism? Most of us aren't boy-geniuses and probably don't remember where we heard a phrase or who we can attribute it to, but if it was a great phrase, why not be able to use it in a speech or in an article? I fully understand that we should not take someone else's work and claim it as our own, but if we use catch phrases for emotional impact, do we always have to find out who originated it and give them full credit. At what point does a phrase become public domain? I'm not Mr. English, so minor plagiarism doesn't bother me in the least. After all, there are only so many words and methods to gather them. We're bound to duplicate phrases.
ReplyDeleteReminder: Goeglin didn't commit "minor plagiarism" -- he lifted entire paragraphs, whole sequences of paragraphs, in at least 20 articles, for years. And he and the Bush Administration have responded appropriately.
ReplyDeleteYes siree, this was not minor, this was not a passing quip; rather it was in over twenty published, copyrighted articles (mis)attributed solely to the author. Get a rope.
ReplyDelete