NOREEN:
Stop the general before he steals again
BARRY
NOREEN • Colorado Springs Gazette Updated: December 1, 2009
at 12:00 am • Published: December 1, 2009
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Patterning one’s
work after someone else’s is one thing and plagiarism is another.
• To steal and pass
off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
• To use (another’s
production) without crediting the source
• To commit
literary theft
• To present as new
and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.
Notice the
attribution there? That’s how authors give credit to other sources. If they
don’t provide the attribution they could be accused of plagiarism.
In November,
Rayburn was on a slate of speakers for Newsapalooza, a
collection of conservative pundits put together by KVOR radio. About 300 people
paid $10 apiece to hear, presumably, the speakers’ original thoughts.
Rayburn critiqued
President Obama’s foreign policy performance. Rayburn discussed Iraq,
Afghanistan, American “exceptionalism,” North Korea and Pakistan. The speech
presented a neo-conservative’s view, and considering the audience, that was
appropriate.
Except for the fact
that Rayburn largely stole the speech (including that line about
"exceptionalism"). It was given originally by John Bolton, who served
as United Nations ambassador in the George. W. Bush administration. Bolton’s speech was delivered
in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 11, then adapted for the Hillsdale College web
site.
There are many
remarkable similarities between Bolton’s speech and Rayburn’s. You can
judge for yourself by perusing a line-by-line comparison on my blog today, but here is a
small taste.
From Bolton: “the
Obama administration is pursuing a policy that can accurately be described as
neo-isolationist — a policy characterized by an unwillingness to be assertive
in the world. ... This policy traces back in the Democratic party to George
McGovern.”
From Rayburn: That
leads to an unwillingness perhaps to be assertive in the world...You could draw
parallels to the McGovern time.”
Here's another one.
From Bolton: "More broadly, the Obama administration believes that its
predecessor didn’t negotiate enough on issues like the proliferation of weapons
of mass destruction. The president has said repeatedly—starting with his
Inaugural Address—that the United States must hold out its hand to countries
like North Korea..."
And again, Rayburn:
"In his inaugural address Obama expressed a wiliingness to hold his hand
out to North Korea."
In a dramatic
understatement Monday, Rayburn acknowledged: “I took something from a number of
speeches I had read.” He acknowledged that Bolton “had some good things to say.”
Asked if he ever
credited Bolton, Rayburn replied: “I don’t believe I did.”
In his campaigns
Rayburn has touted his leadership. With such a casual attitude about someone
else’s intellectual property, imagine the leadership Rayburn could have
provided for students as the superintendent in D-49.
General, consider
yourself dismissed.
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