Well, that was interesting.
The Goeglein story passed from the unlikely to the absurd in record time, but who knew there was another step to go, into the surreal? Tim Goeglein plagiarized… the Pope:
On April 6, 2005, Roger Cohen wrote in The New York Times: “It was based in the belief that, as he (the Pope) once put it, ‘a degradation, indeed a pulverization, of the fundamental uniqueness of each human being’ was at the root of the mass movements of the 20th century, Communism and Fascism,”
In a column published Oct. 18, 2005, Goeglein wrote: “A degradation and pulverization of the fundamental uniqueness of each human being was at the root of the 20th century, the twin evils of communism and fascism.” No attribution is given to the Pope or to Cohen in the column.
That’s from my alma mater, The News-Sentinel, to which I take off my hat today. They took what was potentially a grievous embarrassment and made the best of it. The link above takes you to the main story, which has links to the sidebars, but this one — a simple list of the columns and their, er, source material — is the most interesting to me. They’re so strange:
“Foster Park preserves transcendent ideas of beauty that are coming back” – July 5, 2006; “A Wish Came True: An L.A. Museum Displays Klimt Paintings Taken by Nazis and Restored to Family,” by William Booth, Washington Post, April 5, 2006
Foster Park was at the end of my street in Fort Wayne. It’s a beautiful place, with gardens that every year serve as the backdrop for wedding and prom pictures. From the headline, I’d expect a paean to the clematis and tiger lilies. What it has to do with Klimt, Nazis or museums in Los Angeles, I’d like to know. It would be interesting to see the side-by-side on that one. Among others. All the others, actually.
But today I’m trying not to think about the political angle, or the media angle, or whether I’ll ever get to see what he stole from Ben Stein’s Diary, which could hardly be more specific to Ben Stein. Today, I’m trying to understand Tim Goeglein.
If Groucho Marx refused to join any club that would have him as a member, what would he make of a person so desperate to join a club he’d do the one thing that, if discovered, would get him banned from the club for life? Like most journalists, I’ve seen a few cases of plagiarism over the years. They all shared a common thread of desperation. Writers with drinking problems, marital problems, money problems, deadline problems — these were the people who copied and pasted. Some were good people who got in over their heads. Some were lazy. Others were so careless you could only think they wanted to get caught. (One cribbed ad copy from Newsweek magazine. Another, a theater critic leading a trip to/tour of Broadway, sent back reviews lifted from the New York dailies, if I recall correctly.) Anyway, just as in spotting an urban legend you look for the common thread of fear, in a case like this you try to find the desperation. My guess is, Goeglein did what he did to be thought intellectually substantial, a thinker, the sort of guy who can keep up with the Buckleys’ cocktail chatter. But what in the world would lead a young man with so much to lose to risk it all for such a small reward?
As has been noted by the editor of The News-Sentinel, these columns weren’t assignments. They weren’t solicited. There were no deadlines. He wasn’t even paid. Guest columns, in that paper, are offered by readers; basically, they’re somewhat beefier letters to the editor, almost entirely unremarkable. The head of the United Way thanks the community for its generosity, an old woman recalls the good old days, a Chamber of Commerce type encourages support for a worthwhile initiative — that sort of thing. Goeglein was on a pretty leisurely annual schedule of four or five until the last year, when they began appearing more often. I wonder what changed to make him pick up the pace. That’s a subject for his therapist, but I can’t help but note how dangerously close the pilfered pieces were to the originals in the last few years:
“That which has been and that which can never be” – June 6, 2007; “Wilder’s Ode to Mortality,” by Eric Ormsby, The New York Sun, May 16, 2007
“Honoring John Wayne’s centenary” – July 23, 2007; “100 Candles for the Duke,” by Bruce Bennett, The New York Sun, June 20, 2007.
Fort Wayne can sometimes seem like the end of the earth, but it does get internet service, and has lots of people who might read the New York Sun online and wonder why this piece in tonight’s paper sounds like something they’ve read before. A decade-old edition of the Dartmouth Review is one thing, but the New York Times is quite another. We’re either in Stop Me Before I Steal Again territory, or this is a man who simply thought he’d found the perfect place to satisfy his need to be an intellectual — a paper hardly anyone reads. (As an ex-employee, I sometimes suspected it myself.)
I keep thinking of the first of Goeglein’s columns that I really noticed. It was a few years ago, and it ran somewhere around the week between Christmas and New Year’s (and, as far as I can tell, it’s not on the pilfered list). In it, Tim announced that the coming year would be one of self-improvement for him; he would read “the canon,” great books that form the cornerstones of Western civilization. He wouldn’t have time for the entire canon, of course, but a decent survey, and he laid it out month by month, starting with the Greek philosophers, and so on — if it’s July, this must be Jane Austen. I read it and wondered why he was bothering, because he’d obviously made up his mind what to think of each one. I called a friend, an English teacher, and we had a few chuckles over it, but now I see I should have been thinking like a novelist and not looking for an easy laugh; the column seems, in hindsight, to say so much about the guy and his insecurities. Knowledge and erudition was something you could rub on like a salve; a reading list could be a Charles Atlas course so bullies would never kick sand in your face again. A better mind in 365 days, or your money back.
* * * * *
Enough amateur psychoanalysis. Two more things I have to say before this story gets stale:
One, while I appreciate all the compliments on my “reporting,” I cannot emphasize this enough: 75 percent of this story was dumb luck, 22 percent was Sergey and Larry, and I’ll claim the remaining three. Reporting is making phone calls, knocking on doors, conducting interviews and sifting through documents. From the minute I said, “What a strange name to drop; let’s see what Google turns up” to realizing what Goeglein’s column really was, the elapsed time was under 60 seconds. Drafting a post took about an hour. I let it marinate overnight, and to give my friends at the paper a little notice. This story wasn’t low-hanging fruit, it was fruit that smacks you in the forehead when you walk under the tree. The only reason it smacked me and not you was, it was in a part of the orchard people don’t visit very often. (As I said above: As an ex-employee, this is something I always feared.)
Two, I owe an apology to lots of good writers out there. Jonathan Yardley, from whom Tim swiped pieces of his essay on Hoagy Carmichael, which I was tough on, is one of my favorites. All I can say is to echo what a friend of mine said, one who’d looked at both the originals and the ripoffs: he’d developed his own hybrid prose style, what you kids might call a mashup.
With that, I leave any new visitors to discover my own sad truth, sure to reassert itself in the days to come: Most days, this blog is about perverts in the library, bitching about the weather and things you see around Detroit. Daily life, with links and comments — that’s what this blog is. Ah, you’ll figure it out soon enough. Thanks, you 25,000 additional visitors of the last couple days. And in case you were wondering about that new-media business model, Google giveth, but Google doesn’t necessarily giveth. Total Google AdSense revenues for Friday and Saturday, with all those eyeballs? One dollar and 21 cents. Stop by sometime, and I’ll buy you half a latte.
Gena said on March 2, 2008 at 11:11 am
Nancy – count me in the column of fortwayners who are happy to have found you again. Ten minutes after arriving here in 1991 I decided red paper good, blue paper bad. I had a running argument with a like-minded colleague in the fw philharmonic about how she could possibly stand the editorial page of the pm paper. She said 2 reasons. One, it’s good to know what the other side’s up to. Two, Nancy Nall. The first wasn’t worth the gag reflex. The second most certainly was.
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michaelj said on March 2, 2008 at 11:16 am
I thought Mike Barnicle was incompetent, brazen and pretty much an idiot for plagiarizing George Carlin. But looting the Pope is shameless, and reinforces the sense I have that once he’d gotten away with it the first time, proselifting became a self-destructive compulsion like smoking crank.
And damn, I thought you’d at least make some money for the drama and trauma.
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David Mastio said on March 2, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I think you underestimate yourself. Half of being a good journalist is having the knack for asking questions that others don’t. That’s a skill built up by reading too many BS press releases, being lied to at too many press conferences, reading the footnotes of some government report while an expert drones on about the obvious, and all the other daily dreck of being a journalist.
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del said on March 2, 2008 at 12:10 pm
David Mastio, agreed.
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ashley said on March 2, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Fine. I’m clicking through ads for the next week as penance.
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Suzi said on March 2, 2008 at 12:29 pm
molly ivins would have loved this — more rotten fruit under the shrub.
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Timmer said on March 2, 2008 at 12:30 pm
A solid (and classy) follow-up to Friday’s wind shear of a post.
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Suzi said on March 2, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Interesting reading from March ’05
Read and laugh . . . how pathetic.
http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=57
Tim Goeglein: Selling Brand Bush to the Christian Right
Young and relatively unknown, Tim Goeglein is parlaying his street cred with Christian conservatives into support for a vast array of Bush’s policies —
‘Goeglein has won critical acclaim from other Christian Right insiders: “Tim’s just flat-out the best I’ve ever seen at this job, and I’ve seen them all,” Ralph Reed, Bush adviser and former head of the Christian Coalition (website), told Newsweek last September. . .
. . . Goeglein made a point of telling Salon.com’s Jake Tapper that while the campaign would be issue-oriented, “If it is proven that a president of the United States or a man running for president of the United States has used illegal drugs, that will be an issue. If any American has broken the law and that American is running for the highest office in the land, that would certainly be an issue.”
. . . The president wants to make sure that the nominees he sends to the Senate are men and women of impeccable professional integrity . . ‘
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James said on March 2, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I just got through reading all the comments from yesterday. There was a lot of hateful stuff spewed, mostly from the right, but a little from the left. That’s probably what upset me the most.
I did want to punch (right-wing) Jeff in the ‘nads, however for his insane ad hominem attacks on you, John, and anyone who disagreed with his, uh… world-view…
I hope you survived the hailstorm of apologists and haters, and realize that you did a good thing. it’s important to drag corruption and incompetence out into the sunlight where it will wither and die.
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Kafkaz said on March 2, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I’m bound to enjoy any writer who freely cops to having a mind packed with American Idol and Oscars trivia, etc. (Who can escape? And, anyway, who would want to? This is our culture, the trick is both to be in it and think in it.) Bring on the ordinary–that’s where all the poetry is, anyway. (Too bad this Goeglein didn’t have the confidence or the ease to embrace his own voice, and celebrate his own experience.)
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del said on March 2, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Suzi,
That was a great link. Here’s a paragraph that stood out to me:
“Nearly every morning, Tim Goeglein, the deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison meets — along with eight White House aides from the four political offices including public liaison, intergovernmental affairs, political affairs and strategic initiatives — with Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to pound out and hone the message of the day.”
That’s why this particular serial plagiarism is so offensive. It is part of an attempt to cloak the Bushies’ policies with a measure of credibility and respectability that they do not merit as part of the “message of the day.” They’re trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
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MonkeyBoy said on March 2, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Among certain Christians there is an inside theme that lying or other dishonesty is ok as long as it promotes Jesus, their church, or their agenda which only exists to serve Jesus. A prime example is the common insistence that George Washington was a devout practicing Christian, which all real history shows is patently false.
Maybe Goeglein felt that if he was taken more intellectually seriously then he would be more effective in promoting his version of Jesus’ agenda, and thus his lies served a higher cause. [ a rather bent rationalization ]
In the past the theme that religious groups lie to and cheat outsiders has been common. Often applied to Jews and Mormons (Zane Grey in his early 20th century westerns often had Mormons stealing land in the service of their church).
The rest of the world realizes that many far-right Christians regularly lie for their cause. Goeglein’s actions and others like him may wind up tainting a broader segment of Christianity.
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MichaelG said on March 2, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Don’t look at it as a penance, Ashley, look at it as a good deed.
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Ray said on March 2, 2008 at 1:57 pm
And in a year, that spike on your Sitemeter will pass into history. It was still a spectacular ride, I bet.
I went from 50 a day to a few thousand a day after Katrina. When it was all overwith, I had a few more friends, a handful of new regular readers, but only 200 hits a day if I posted real posts every single day. Even when I go through periods of not posting anything but a youtube link every couple of weeks like I have since “The Wire” started, I get 100 hits of background noise from Google.
Fame and fortune is not the lot of the typical blogger.
Clicked on some ads. Buy yourself a Snickers bar.
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LA Mary said on March 2, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Harry Shearer mentioned the Tim story today and credited “a blogger in Indiana,” for discovering it. You might want to email Harry and set him straight.
I don’t have any idea how that interview went. My interviewer answered calls on her personal cell phone during the interview and read from a prepared set of questions. I have no clue what she thought of me.
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Andrew said on March 2, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Well, I’m bookmarking here for future reference. Concur with the plaudits – on the evidence of the last three posts, there’s a lot here to admire and enjoy.
There isn’t, at the end of the day, a great lesson to be learned in the defenestration of Mr Goeglein. To most social conservatives, the world is a place where temptation besets the true and just every day: one can fall into sin, but attain redemption. Not much room for changing worldviews there.
And not much chance of changing worldviews at NRO’s Corner, Powerline, Instapundit or other parts of the right blogosphere from what I can tell. Unaccountably, this matter seems to have passed them by without a mention.
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Oilfieldguy said on March 2, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Led here by the Atrios link. I wonder what moral basis this Bush emissary to the religious right used as an entitlement to the property of others?
I guess I’m a liberal because I feel sad for this young man who lacks a moral compass. All bloggers cut and paste, but honest ones give links and attribution, sort of like Nancy Nall did.
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brian stouder said on March 2, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Mary – here’s hoping that the person who was doing the cell-phone thing during your interview was trying to impress you with how important and indispensible that she truly is, since you’re her best (and therefore most threatening) candidate.
I’ve worked the same place for 22 years, but I still remember the day I interviewed there. An unseen fellow somewhere nearby was having a fairly hostile phone conversation with a new car dealer, about some problem he was having with his car. He never escelated the conversation beyond ‘stentorian’ level, but he was just methodically taking the other person apart, piece by piece (I remember he kept using the phrase “It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when…” as he listed off one offense after the next, that they had committed)
I made a mental note to saty on that fellow’s good side, and we’re both still there!
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Dexter said on March 2, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I tried to fire up discussion on this issue at other blogs I frequent, but those people ignored me and instead argued presidential politics over and over. I suppose it’s because the plagiarist was mostly unknown to the public.
Even though a link to this story was prominent on NYT’s front page, I couldn’t find any mention on any talk shows this Sunday morning.
I thought Schieffer might close with it, instead he closed with a touching tribute to WmFB, about an encounter where Buckley could have “torn me to shreds”, but instead respected the young reporter’s right to be different.
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Harl Delos said on March 2, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I’ve been spending most of the last day trying to figure out why Tim did it.
It wasn’t fame. Even a quarter century ago, when the News-Sentinel was dominant in Fort Wayne, they barely reached the county line; the Journal-Gazette outsold them in something like 17 neighboring counties.
And you don’t get rich. Your $1.12 is about $8 more than what Goeglein earned, after postage is factored in. Or did the White House postage meter carry his columns to Leo?
And then it struck me. Press releases don’t carry bylines.
When I was contributing guest columns in the 1980s, I was writing essays that I thought ought to be shared, but had no conceivable market. If I’d had the financial resources to slog it out, I could have tried to become the midwestern Lewis Grizzard, I suppose, but I had a son, and a wife dying of lupus, so I couldn’t afford to take five years off, building a following.
I don’t know who said it first, but I said it later: I hate writing; it’s the “having written” that I enjoy. I can dash off a piece pretty quickly, but if I go through several cycles of editing and rewriting, I can barely manage 35 words per hour. Aaron Sorkin suggests that folks in the West Wing work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Where could Tim possibly find the time to do carefully crafted writing?
Tim’s a nice guy. Mark Miller was a nice guy, too. He never intended to sink the Oakwood Deposit Bank. If Mark had gotten caught taking a cup of coffee without dropping a quarter into the coffeecan, he probably wouldn’t have graduated to buying casino boats and horse farms with money that wasn’t his. And if Tim had gotten caught embezzling others’ words while at IU, he probably wouldn’t have embarassed himself in international news media.
It’s not like he was trying to produce a best-selling autobiography of Howard Hughes like Clifford Irving did. There was no money involved at all. It was just a little matter of his pride.
Which he, as Karl Rove’s legman, liaison to fundamentalist groups, should know, precedes a fall.
Fraudulent clicks can cost you your AdSense account. I’ll be careful not to do that.
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Kim said on March 2, 2008 at 3:15 pm
How crazy some of those comments were. As a writer, it’s so hard to grasp why some people don’t see that stealing another’s work of words is wrong, unconscionable. I mean, you wouldn’t paint an exact copy of the Mona Lisa and say, “Yeah, I did that. Pretty good, huh?” OK, maybe that’s shooting a little high. You wouldn’t copy a Far Side cartoon or the Charlie Brown/Lucy football gag or the cartoon doodles the 4th-grader who sits next to you fills his notebook with and call it your own. It’s just so clearly wrong. And when you are a person in the public eye who emphasizes the importance of virtue to the public trust who commits this offense serially and publicly — well, come on. What sort of ding-a-ling would expect this to be “handled privately?”
I have to say I was impressed by the NS coverage. Thanks for including it.
Nance, I’d be honored to buy you a whole latte. It would probably be more fun if I bought you something a little stiffer and everybody ended up singing for the videographer. Just a guess.
So, now what?
Well, at least The Wire is on tonight. Maybe art will imitate life.
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Jean said on March 2, 2008 at 3:41 pm
On uncovering little Timmy’s shenanigans, call it the instincts of an experienced reporter/editor…or as a friend of mine once said, “I’m a middle-aged reporter; my bullshit bucket is full.”
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 2, 2008 at 3:57 pm
C’mon, people, say it with me: the magic answer to all this is — Mitch Daniels. Tim Goeglein was setting himself up to run for US House or, even Senate, maybe even Governor if the cards fell right.
To protect my conservative-leaning gonadal area, i think i’d best be “mild-mannered Jeff” for some time to come!
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Harl Delos said on March 2, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I got to wondering what Tim could have stolen from Ben Stein. Ben’s writings are so personal. When I found the original (I never got around to looking at Tim’s 2.0), it was very Ben Steinish, pleasant, enjoyable, and yet economical. Towards the end, he says:
I always considered myself a conservative, although as an editor, I endorsed George McGovern over Richard Nixon; Nixon’s character appalled me. When Newt started gaining power, though, I realized that I wasn’t just registered Republican (register as an Independent, and you don’t get to vote in the spring), but I was a Republican. And Newt was registered as a Republican and wasn’t one. I’ve been angry about the theocrats who hijacked the Republican party for the better part of two decades.
Stein, though, talks about what a Republican should be.
You can attack Tim’s character, but not his taste. He stole from some excellent writers….
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Mark said on March 2, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Kim, you wrote:
“As a writer, it’s so hard to grasp why some people don’t see that stealing another’s work of words is wrong, unconscionable.”
To those people, “writing” is what they did to stretch a term paper to the minimum-word requirement imposed on them by their teachers in high school.
No one who has an appreciation of the work that goes into writing well, would shrug off so many blatant acts of plagiarism.
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Paul said on March 2, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Anyone else see Goeglin behind this “lipstick on the pig” attempt from 2006 ?
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060820/28presidency.htm
A Humbled Presidency
After a series of setbacks, Bush tries a more thoughtful approach
By Kenneth T. Walsh
Posted 8/20/06
Maybe it was the influence of his wife, Laura, a former librarian, or his mother, Barbara, a longtime promoter of literacy. Or perhaps he was just eager to dispel his image as an intellectual lightweight. But President Bush now wants it known that he is a man of letters. In fact, Bush has entered a book-reading competition with Karl Rove, his political adviser. White House aides say the president has read 60 books so far this year (while the brainy Rove, to Bush’s competitive delight, has racked up only 50). The commander in chief delved into three volumes in August alone-two on Abraham Lincoln and, more surprising for a man of unambiguous convictions, The Stranger, Albert Camus’s existential tale of murder and alienation (story, Page 38).
Bush’s critics aren’t buying. A man who so regularly mangles the English language and seems to disdain complexity couldn’t possibly be so cerebral, they argue. But portraying Bush as a voracious reader is part of an ongoing White House campaign to restore what a senior adviser calls “gravitas” to the Bush persona. He certainly needs something. Only about 34 percent of Americans approve of his job performance-and 58 percent say Bush “seems in over his head,” according to Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg. If nothing changes, the president could be a major liability for Republicans in November’s congressional elections.
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MichaelG said on March 2, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Jeez, Mary. That’s so tacky. Looking for work is the worst thing in the world. I feel for you.
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Kathleen Smith said on March 2, 2008 at 4:57 pm
To plagarize a line from Gena: Nancy – count me in the column of fortwayners who are happy to have found you again. I’ll be looking forward to your daily thoughts – we’ve missed you here in the Fort.
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del said on March 2, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Harl, the Republican party’s rightward veer over the last 20 years has put those of you with truer Republican values at a political disadvantage in the near future. One thinks of U.S. Justice John Paul Stevens whom the NYT Magazine recently dubbed “An Unlikely Liberal.” He was appointed by a Republican (Ford) and consistently voted with the conservatives at first. Not anymore. He’s consistently in the liberal bloc nowadays. And I don’t think that he’s changed — the politics of the Justices around him have changed. From what I’ve been reading today’s young people are Democratic party members in percentages unseen for many decades.
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Dexter said on March 2, 2008 at 6:15 pm
…and here’s the back story from “The Swamp” about Bayh’s appearance:
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Matt Mendelsohn said on March 2, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Well, since everyone seems to have moved on over to this “room” now, I’ll follow suit. Besides, 500 posts is a lot to have to scroll through each time!
I have to agree with MonkeyBoy, who wrote: “Maybe Goeglein felt that if he was taken more intellectually seriously then he would be more effective in promoting his version of Jesus’ agenda, and thus his lies served a higher cause. [ a rather bent rationalization ]”
To me, Goeglein seems to have been to been obsessed–painfully so–with attaining a place at the intellectual table. The columns about Hoagy Carmichael, and Athens and Jerusalem (as a Jew married to a Greek woman, a lot of that was covered by my best man during our wedding toast, but luckily he, a classics PhD., didn’t have to rip anyone off), and the opera posts all seem to say, “Look, Ft. Wayne, I’m a renaissance man.” What was next? A column on Noel Coward?
(I can’t believe I’m going to admit this but as an opera lover, Goeglein should be commended for mentioning John Adams, whose “Nixon in China” is one of the great modern operas in circulation. Nixon’s opening aria “News, news, news, news, news — has a…has a…has a kind of mystery” is really quite incredible, right up there with the great baritone parts. I listen to it all the time, though my wife would prefer that I stick to Baron Scarpia in Tosca.)
The other thing I take away from this weekend’s excitement is how few people–here and in the mainstream media–connected the dots to the quick rise and fall of Monica Goodling over at the Justice Department, she of the not-so-impressive resume but the oh-so-impressive power to fire federal prosecutors.
Her trajectory seems to have followed a comparable path to that of Mr. Goeglein. With a BA from Messiah College and a degree in Law from Pat Robertson’s Regent University, Ms. Goodling rose very quickly to be in a position to fire prosecutors with years of experience and backgrounds from the finest law schools in the country.
I can’t remember if it was Jeffery Toobin ( Jonathan Turley maybe?) who I saw commenting on the emerging prosecutor firing scandal last year. He shook his head and said something to the effect that a person in Goodling’s position in year’s past would have almost certainly have graduated from Harvard or Yale law school. That she came from Regent was mind-boggling to him.
So perhaps Mr. Goeglein saw what happened to his evangelical cousin over at Justice and sought to avoid those same mistakes. Perhaps–and we’re all just speculating here, aren’t we?–he felt that these columns could give him an air of intellectualism that would shield him from the slings and arrows (okay, just plain ridicule) Ms. Goodling met up with.
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Kafkaz said on March 2, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Harl–I like the writing. For me, the “having written” is always strange. When I look back at something I’ve written (and sometimes I think it’s best not to do that once the thing is well and truly finished, if you can possibly resist the urge), I always wonder how I did that, and if I’ll ever be able to do it again. Also, there’s a little piece of me (because I don’t always resist the way I think I probably should) that always wonders *who* wrote that thing. Sometimes, I compare it to coming upon the tracks of some exotic animal in the snow. Takes awhile to realize–oh, those are mine, and the feeling is just a little uncomfortable. Doing the writing is a kind of an absorbing disappearing act, for me. Sending it to someone (anyone–even an email list’s subscribers, even a single friend) always feels a bit daring. Being finished is just . . .odd. It’s interesting to hear about how others come at the thing, and sad to learn that some who want to see themselves as writers don’t, ultimately, come at it at all.
The bit about the Ibex head in the daily post that proved extraordinary made me laugh. Around here it’s half empty diet soda bottles lined up on the edge of the old kitchen table that passes for a desk, a mess of papers and books all around, and, often, me promising (though it’s a dastardly lie, every time) that I’ll be done and out of my little office (really I will) in just a second. Nothing impressive looking happening here. Nothing with the merest whiff of romance about it. A good mommy would stop fussing with this, and wouldn’t have a laundry pile the size of Mt. Everest that she studiously ignores in favor of putzing about with words. (Can’t these people take up nudism or something? Laundry is such an oppressive thing.) Can’t help it, though.
It’s funny to think that people want that writerly aura about them–something tweedy and involving coeds trailing you across a leaf strewn quad–when the day to day of it is often something else, entirely. (Here’s a non-romantic writerly story that I remember from college. Deep into a paper that was puzzling me, I stopped to bake blueberry muffins. By the time that essay was as done as it was going to get, all dozen muffins were gone. I don’t recall eating them. I lived alone.)
Used to teach poetry writing. Always asked my students what they thought a poet looked like. Once we’d done with the black turtleneck, beret, wistful, willowy, pasty, goth, otherworldy etc. stereotypes, some smart student would always say, “Poets look like us.” Bingo! Just so with all kinds of writers.
Marge Piercy’s “For the Young Who Want To” captures it well.
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sue said on March 2, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Is it safe to come out? Are they gone?
1. Tell ya what, Nancy: if you’re ever in the Milwaukee area, forget the half latte; I’ll buy you a nice alcoholic beverage as long as you don’t post any video of it the next day. Or send me your address and I’ll buy a “subscription”. Anyone with me on this?
2. Mary: Call the person who interviewed you and ask her if she knows you’re a friend of Nancy Nall. You should have the job in an instant, assuming you want to work in a company filled with such tools.
3. Jeff: We know who you are, but that “mild-mannered” thing has a Superman quality about it that works just right. Go for it, if you don’t mind being relentlessly teased.
4. Everybody: Of course he stole from the Pope! The pope doesn’t count as a real Christian. Plus, he couldn’t find anyone from the Christian conservative corner with sufficient talent to steal from. **snark**
5. Now, let’s get back to pervs in the library, etc.
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Dexter said on March 2, 2008 at 6:04 pm
OK, I am breaking bad for my assessment of Senator Evan Bayh’s FCN appearance this morning.
If any of you saw Senator Evan Bayh this morning on Bob Scieffer’s “Face the Nation” you’ll appreciate him here, impersonating Barry McGuire…Bayh set Schieffer off with this message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8SfiCnwF28
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Julie Robinson said on March 2, 2008 at 6:27 pm
LAMary, my last job interview included laser death rays pointed in my direction by one employee. After I started she introduced me by saying, “and THIS (imagine sneer) is who got hired”. The hostility continued, and later I found out her brother had applied for the job. Sometimes you just can’t win.
But, she left a long time ago and now all is good. I wish for you an “all is good” job.
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del said on March 2, 2008 at 6:47 pm
According to an article linked in the comments to the Copycat post Goeglein’s brother is a Catholic lawyer in Chicago whose politics are Democratic and his sister is a college professor who converted to Judaism whose view may be similar. Maybe the family dynamics, along with sycophantish tendencies, contributed to his decisions to plagiarize.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 2, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Relentlessly teased = the state of being actively engaged with the internet! All comes with the territory . . . i could just go with “Jeff with size 14.5 shoes,” which is good for relentless teasing in some quarters.
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basset said on March 2, 2008 at 7:12 pm
the big question, though, is whether NN got on tv… and where we can see it if she did…
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Tim S. said on March 2, 2008 at 7:16 pm
In our local paper yesterday (SF Chronicle, I think; that and the Merc are sort of interchangeable), there was a small blurb in the “Nation News In Brief” about Goeglein resigning. They credited “a blogger in Fort Wayne, Goeglein’s hometown” for discovering the plagiarism. I excitedly pointed it out to my friend and said, “that should be from Fort Wayne. She’s actually in Detroit.”
Thanks for letting me look smarter than the local paper. 🙂 The thrill of having a connection to something reported in the paper just doesn’t go away.
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Karla Frownfelter said on March 2, 2008 at 7:44 pm
I agree with Nancy that he may have wanted to be an intellectual. I also venture to guess he started plaguerizing in college or high school. I only wish to add that now with dark clouds over his head and an official “past” he may, in a few years, have something of his own to say which might be worth reading.
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brian stouder said on March 2, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Say – if you like Obama (and even if you don’t), you’ll enjoy this
http://www.dipdive.com/dip-politics/ywc/
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Suzi said on March 2, 2008 at 9:10 pm
“That’s why this particular serial plagiarism is so offensive. It is part of an attempt to cloak the Bushies’ policies with a measure of credibility and respectability that they do not merit as part of the “message of the day.” They’re trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”
Del, you are so right! The Bushies also like to wrap themselves in the mantle of righteousness, since they won with the mandate of the “values voter”. gag.
MonkeyBoy is right too, lies for Jesus, halleluja! Fort Wayners are all too familiar with this type. Our own holy roller’s trial will begin this August: http://www.blueindiana.net/tag.do?tag=Matt%20Kelty
And Nancy, I’ll buy you a beer at Henry’s any old time!
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Harl Delos said on March 2, 2008 at 9:12 pm
You know what they say about people who wear size 14.5 shoes, don’t you?
They all know where Doug Pilcher does business….
(I live in Lancaster PA now, and I need to head to Doug’s, a 12-hour drive, because I can’t find anything like that around here.)
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 2, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Actually, they just ask if a free double-bladed kayak paddle comes with those duck shoes (L.L. Bean, all winter, too far into the spring).
—
—
—
The answer is no.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 2, 2008 at 9:47 pm
By the way, i’ve read plenty of Jeffrey Hart — say, what is going on with the plethora of Jeffs these days? I normally go weeks without running into another one, even with a G-e-o spelling included.
Anyhow, i honestly can’t believe (Mr. W, i’m not baiting, truly i’m not) that * Professor * Jeffrey Hart heard the whole story, even of just the one column, and was blase about wholesale text-appropriating — “oh, well, thanks for the affirmation by copying me, old chap.” As a college prof, and just the kind of creative conservative he tends to be, i can’t see him accepting outright plagiarism as homage any more than WFB would have in the pages of “National Review.”
Monday morning, Nancy, are we back to “The Wire,” with asides for Klimt paintings and alignment of screwheads in lighting fixtures? I’m happy for Dr. Hart to fry his own fish, but i will be curious to see the reverb effect as Ben Stein hears what happened.
“Anyone? Bueller? Goeglein? Anyone?”
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Tand in NC said on March 2, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Got it — off to click ads!
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nancy said on March 2, 2008 at 10:47 pm
For the record, I’m telling no one to click ads. It’s a violation of my user agreement to do so. All I’m saying is, the system needs work. I don’t buy vulgar diamonds, but I see them advertised in the NYT, and presumably my eyeballs figure into the ad rate. Why can’t we work this blog advertising thing work yet? Someone needs to get on it.
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Matt M. said on March 2, 2008 at 10:55 pm
Harl Delos amusingly wrote earlier in the day, “You can attack Tim’s character, but not his taste. He stole from some excellent writers….”
On the flip side, he apparently also stole from some seriously heavy writers as well, and I mean heavy like meat loaf and mashed potatoes and gravy. On Friday I pointed out that Mr. Goeglein appears to have pilfered a nice quote from theologian David B. Hart.
Goeglein (as quoted by “Chris” on http://www.brilliantmediocrity.com, as the News-Sentinel column “Remember Puritan Roots of Liberty” is no longer available): “Preponderantly, the forces of freedom favor the devout rather than a bright idyll of rational humanism. Secularism creates a culture of almost mystical triviality.”
David B. Hart, in a review in the New Centurion: “…rather than a bright idyll of rational humanism, secularism creates a culture of almost mystical triviality, and homo secularis turns out to be a creature so devoid of any sense of purpose that he can scarcely be stirred to procreate.” (Source: Thomas Reeves, History News Network)
(Not that anyone’s counting any more–does it really matter?–but I notice that this column wasn’t included in the News-Sentinel’s list of plagiarized stories. Would make an even 21, a number Charles Van Doren would know something about.)
Not being familiar with David B. Hart, and wanting to at least familiarize myself with some of the names we’ve been tossing around here this weekend, I did try and read this piece today: http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/HartChrist.shtml,
but I admit I couldn’t do it. Each paragraph is so dense that I found myself gasping for air. I used to feel that when I was reading Faulkner, particularly ‘Absaolm, Absalom,’ but this was something else entirely.
There’s no punch line here–I’m not so stupid as to take on a noted religious scholar. But after trying to get through that piece I did feel grateful that I have my copy of The New Yorker to read each week instead.
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Suzi said on March 2, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I just found the transcript of an address Mr. Goeglein made to the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics:
“The Seventh Annual Henry Lecture – Delivered by Tim Goeglein
Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Liason”
“Faith and the Public Arena”
Full text of the address is available from the site, maybe you scholarly readers will be able to identify the origins of this one:
http://www.calvin.edu/henry/archives/goeglein_lecture.htm
Searching the content of http://www.truthout.org for Tim Goeglein delivers some truly scary coverage of his wacky wingnut buds. We should be watching the ones who haven’t been busted yet.
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merrimac said on March 3, 2008 at 12:22 am
Nancy — I’d like an answer on this one from you. You’ve obviously, with glee beyond measure, enjoyed the fall of Goeglein. You and your hoard said he’d try to back out of it, make excuses. He didn’t. He said he was wrong. Period. No shifting blame, no chalking it up to bad advice. He was wrong. He resigned that day (yet still not quickly enough for some of you.) And yet the drooling masses are not sated.
What exactly is required for you to call off the hounds? What callousness exists in you and your followers that make you want to pile on, twist the knife one more time?
A lawsuit? Does the thought of a penniless Goeglein make you giggle with delight, family be damned?
Suicide, maybe? If you and your minions ramp the pressure up enough, maybe you think you’ll get to dance on his grave. Will you then be satisfied?
Clearly, admission of guilt without excuses and the resignation of his job are not enough for you and your laughing hyenas. So what is it that you want, Nancy? What vendetta are you trying to fulfill?
Oh, and “Jim,” Goeglein never cheated to win the 1982 state speech tournament. I competed against him, too. You, sadly, are nothing but a sorry loser. At least Goeglein admitted he plagiarized. You are a liar.
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ashley said on March 3, 2008 at 12:55 am
Dateline: Detroit.
Nancy Nall, the Indiana blogger who brought down the honorable Tim Goeglein by fabricating a blog post was today terminated from her Google AdSense account for violating the terms of her contract with Google.
If we can’t trust this woman to be honest with Google, why does anyone think she can be honest with us. She is obviously a hate-filled liar, out to destroy anyone, including Google.
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ashley said on March 3, 2008 at 1:00 am
Note: the above post is not to be construed as true — it is to be construed as somewhat humorous. Think “Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner” humorous.
In any case, I’m clicking the fucking ads. If somebody can explain to me why they got scammed 27 times or how my member can get bigger, I’m there, babes.
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Michael said on March 3, 2008 at 1:10 am
Holy schemoly, get busy with work for just a couple days, and I miss all the fun around here!
It took me a little bit to process the name “Nall” dropped on Eschaton, but then I whipped right on over here. Wow. Good catch!
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nancy said on March 3, 2008 at 1:12 am
It’s late and I’m tired, but as merrimac has demanded — demanded, he says! — an answer short of pistols at noon, here goes:
I don’t feel glee over Tim’s fall. Astonishment, maybe. What others feel, I have no responsibility for. Talk to them.
What exactly is required for you to call off the hounds? What callousness exists in you and your followers that make you want to pile on, twist the knife one more time?
I have no hounds, and no followers. There’s one dog in the room with me now, but he’s sound asleep. If I have any followers I’m not aware of, could I get one to run my car through the wash Monday?
I see you also say I have “minions” and “laughing hyenas.” The same applies to them.
Your jeering questions about suicide and financial ruin are repulsive, however.
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Michael said on March 3, 2008 at 1:29 am
But I’m not gonna read those 500+ comments. Especially if merrimac here is any indication. Yikes, where do these people get that attitude? Threatening you with a lawsuit? That’s just plain insane.
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Michael said on March 3, 2008 at 1:30 am
I’m booked for minionship for the next couple of months, Nancy, but I can pencil you in as your laughing hyena this week if you like.
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Dexter said on March 3, 2008 at 2:09 am
gee, could ANYONE have imagined the fate of Snoop Pearson last night on “The Wire”?
I suppose most journalists think plagiarism is worse than fabricating events, (Reagan kept his high office after saying he actually lived out a movie role, fer chrissakes!) but Templeton actuallly Walter Mitty-ing about winning a Pulitzer for a double-nothing story? Say it ain’t so!
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Dexter said on March 3, 2008 at 2:51 am
…and what IF??
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080302/NEWS07/80302049
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on March 3, 2008 at 7:34 am
Mac —
And, minionesque or not, there were a number of us’ns regulars ’round here who said he’d be toast before the end of the day (you could look it up — Stengle), and who’ve said 48 hours doesn’t even begin to constitute piling on, but ask us again in a week or so.
You can’t reverse cherry-pick the wildest comments into the norm here any more than you can say it wasn’t plagiarism because Mr. Goeglein occasionally rearranged a few words in his “borrowings.” I’d say that tells me he knew exactly what he was doing, and made it worse, and your selective reading tells me you’re seeing what you want to see here. It doesn’t even take a charitable interpretation of the general sense of the comments (and even if you only take the last few days) to see that your characterization of this site as false.
But hey, Nancy’s kind to newbies. Come back, comment more, and you’ll get the hang of it. Do you have opinions about homeless people and perverts in libraries? Here you can test your assumptions and learn about the diversity of human stupidity, and how working folk have to deal with that bold spectrum of weird.
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ashley said on March 3, 2008 at 8:33 am
I love that.
merrimac demands Nancy call off the Jack Russell Terrier(s)!
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Sue said on March 3, 2008 at 8:40 am
I’m too old to be a minion or hyena, sorry. Suicide? Seriously? It won’t be Nancy’s fault, then, it’ll be Hillary’s, if you follow the playbook. And any historians out there, wasn’t the Merrimac a CONFEDERATE ship? How unpatriotic. Now go away. There are any number of blogs that encourage political rants and personal attacks. This isn’t one of them.
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Futz said on March 3, 2008 at 9:09 am
Hey Nance,
democraticunderground.com gave you a shout-out today in their Top 10 Conservative Idiots, and not as “an Indiana blogger”. Here it is:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/top10/327
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Dorothy said on March 3, 2008 at 9:12 am
Nancy I kept Saturday’s first section of the Dispatch, where you are mentioned in the article on page 5. Would you like me to mail it to you? Let me know via email.
merrimac, you seriously need to get a grip.
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WP Denver said on March 3, 2008 at 10:03 am
In Romenesko’s harvest this morning it says somewhere that Goeglein graduated from Harding High School. Can that be true? It’s good enough for Saturday Night Live.
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brian stouder said on March 3, 2008 at 10:19 am
It’s true – but the school is not named for Warren G Harding,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/wh29.html
but instead for someone named Paul Harding (presumeably an able administrator in eastern Allen County, Indiana)
http://www.eacs.k12.in.us/secure/phs/FinishLogin.html
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4dbirds said on March 3, 2008 at 10:55 am
If you’re ever in the DC area, I’d be honored to buy you a latte. PPPFFFFHHHHHTTTT on Ben Stein. I’m a liberal democrat and I LOVE waffles, heavy on the butter and syrup.
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merrimac said on March 3, 2008 at 11:18 am
Nancy — “merrimac has demanded “. No, the phrase I used was “I’d like an answer”. That’s hardly a demand.
“What others feel, I have no responsibility for”. No, but your blog certainly provides them an outlet, and you certainly feel no responsiblity to say enough is enough. You’re content to let this bleed dry. Yes, you continue to pile on. You may not be responsible, but you certainly encourage it.
“Your jeering questions about suicide and financial ruin are repulsive, however.” No more repulsive than many of the comments about Goeglein by your admirers. Posts on this blog have indicated some are not satisified with his resignation. It is in this light I asked what is it that will satisfy you people.
“Threatening you with a lawsuit? That’s just plain insane.” Michael, no Nancy was not threatened with a lawsuit. That is a reference to the bloggers who have demanded that Goeglein be sued. Get it right.
And Jeff, “your selective reading tells me you’re seeing what you want to see here.” I’ve read more than enough. I’ve gone back through blogs well before the recent ones and have read references refering to Goeglein as a Nazi, a cheat (still a liar there on that one Jim), and worse. Don’t tell me I’m being selective.
The vein of hatred that runs throught this blog with anyone or anything associated with the Bush administration, conservative Christians, etc…is palpable. It doesn’t take in-depth reading to see that. It’s also pathetic to see that someone would put up a fake post using Goeglein’s name. That’s the kind of people that visit this blog regularly.
So bash away.
But, Nancy, who will you mock and scorn now that one of your favorite targets will no longer be writing articles for the NS? Enjoy the 15 minutes.
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Betsy said on March 3, 2008 at 11:21 am
Nancy, I hope you don’t write your own headlines as that which was published atop your 2/29 article has a glaring inaccuracy. Or perhaps it was done purposefully as a lame attempt at attention mongering for a liberal, hate-spewing hack. It begs the question whether the author of an article is as intelligent as she would have the readers think since she apparently doesn’t edit her final product before it goes to press.
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Laura said on March 3, 2008 at 11:23 am
She’ll mock and scorn Mitch Albom and Bob Greene, of course:-) Keep on rocking for truth and non-crappy writing, Nancy. I’m proud to be one of your minions. Of course, I prefer to think of myself as more of a lackey.
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Moose said on March 3, 2008 at 11:35 am
Funny that, Betsy!!
“Bush Resigns Because of Plagerism” with Nancy’s URL at the bottom. I guess idiocy runs in all directions.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/29/ap/preswho/main3894893.shtml
But then, CBS isn’t known as the cradle of journalistic oversight.
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merrimac said on March 3, 2008 at 11:37 am
Oh, and Sue–“And any historians out there, wasn’t the Merrimac a CONFEDERATE ship?” The Merrimac was the name of an ironclad that fell into Confederate hands. But any history buff also knows that it was renamed the “CSS Virginia” by the Confederates, and it was under that name the ironclad did battle with the North. However, it is often refered back to its original “USS Merrimac” name.
And for the record, the moniker “merrimac” has nothing to do with the Confederacy, the South, ships, etc. I’m sure the fine residents of Merrimac, WI wouldn’t want to be deemed unpatriotic just because of association with a name.
And finally, “There are any number of blogs that encourage political rants and personal attacks. This isn’t one of them.”
Really, this site doesn’t encourage personal attacks? I’ll be damned. Could have fooled me. Are you trying to say that NONE of the comments posted about Goeglein are personal attacks?!? And yes, there are political rants here. I guess as long as you’re ranting against the right people it’s okay. (ranting against the “left” people seems to upset the apple cart though)
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Sue said on March 3, 2008 at 11:44 am
This site didn’t encourage personal attacks until you folks showed up. I repeat: Go away.
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Sue said on March 3, 2008 at 11:53 am
Oh wait, I stand corrected: I recall that I did threaten to watch while Danny sank into the ocean a few weeks back. But I was willing to save LAMary. But go away anyway, ok?
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ellen said on March 3, 2008 at 11:54 am
Nancy, maybe you need a disclaimer on the comments a la Michele Malkin’s website, since it appears that folks like Merrimac can’t tell the difference between your views and those of the commenters.
Personally, I didn’t read your initial post as political. I took it as an effort by a good writer who has no patience for crappy/lazy writing. You have written far more blog entries about lame writing vs good writing than about politics.
Goeglein isn’t going to live in poverty or commit suicide over this. If he is juiced enough to get a White House job, he’s got enough friends who will give him a (probably better paying) job in the private sector as a lobbyist or consultant. He and his family will not starve.
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del said on March 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Yes, I guess I’m part of the horde too. The regulars to Ms. Nall’s site, which we read for enjoyment, not politics, wish Mr. Goeglein well. The mild-mannered Jeff’s even praying for him and we’re all hoping he gets it together and is stronger and better in the future. And as Laura mentioned, Nancy occasionally critiques the writing of Mitch Albom — the the host of a politically liberal talk show on WJR radio in Detroit.
Jeff, you wondered about why and whether Professor Jeffrey Hart was blase about his work being plagiarized. I think (but aren’t sure) that his piece in question was itself lifted from the writings of Matthew Arnold — or maybe it was just Arnold’s idea of an Athens/Jerusalem dichotomy. Maybe that’s part of the reason that he considers himself flattered??
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Laura said on March 3, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Betsy, I believe you are misusing the phrase “begs the question.” You might want to look that up.
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Peter said on March 3, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Nancy, I can’t be a minion or a hyena, but how about fawning syncophant? Whatever that means.
Seriously, in the arts plagarism happens all the time. Except we call it homage. Many years ago, I came up with a pretty snappy design for a firm that someone pretty much duplicated. Was I pissed? Honored? More like stunned – I mean, copying my stuff is the architectural equivalent of copying car dealership ad copy.
And for you angry people out there, don’t leave angry – just leave.
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Connie said on March 3, 2008 at 12:13 pm
vein of hatred? The only vein of hatred I have seen here has been in recent comments.
I feel like I have vicariously been part of some big adventure.
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Kirk said on March 3, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I hate plagiarists, and I’m glad that this episode caused one to lose his job. It has nothing to do with politics.
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LAMary said on March 3, 2008 at 12:56 pm
The in-house Brit tells me you were mentioned in the Guardian. On a side note, we always call that paper the Gruniad around my house. It’s an old thing that Private Eye magazine started, mocking the many typos in the old Guardian. For the same reason Private Eye always referred to prime minister Wilson as Wislon.
So you’re in the Gruniad. Good on ya.
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Suzi said on March 3, 2008 at 1:17 pm
“Do you have opinions about homeless people and perverts in libraries? ”
This librarian does have opinions about perverts in libraries. Goeglein doesn’t really qualify as a pervert in the virtual library of the visible and invisible web, but he certainly is a lowlife in that library; and now he’s joined the long parade of fallen blundering Bushie sycophants. On Brownie, on Goodling, on Scooter, on Tim . . .
Sorry if any celebratory comments offend neocon sensibilities, I’m sure you once thought he seemed like such a nice young man. He’ll probably bounce back and maybe return to FW to meddle in Indiana politics and social reform. Great.
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Paul T. McCain said on March 3, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Frankly, I hope that when I read the end of my life that I can look back on it and find something of a more redeeming nature in it than that I took such evident pleasure in taking advantage of another person’s failings and regarding it as some kind of spectacular accomplishment.
Very sad.
By the way, Ms Nall, were you at one time employed by the Fort Wayne newspaper? Were you let go from that position?
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nancy said on March 3, 2008 at 2:04 pm
By the way, Ms Nall, were you at one time employed by the Fort Wayne newspaper?
Yes.
Were you let go from that position?
No.
By the way, I never claimed to have any objectivity about Tim Goeglein. Now I have even less.
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del said on March 3, 2008 at 2:15 pm
By the way, Paul T. McCain, are you the Rev. Paul T. McCain of Mr. Goeglein’s Missouri Synod Lutheran faith and an officer of Concordia Publishing?
Given your personal question to Ms. Nall — who graciously obliged — your response to this inquiry would be appropriate.
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Tulse said on March 3, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Who has “taken advantage” here? Has Nancy done so simply by revealing Goeglein’s fraud?
It seems like Goeglein’s defenders here want to argue that the mere act of pointing out his egregious plagiarism is somehow indelicate, if not outright immoral. What a bizarre moral compass such folks must have.
(And I’m sure glad that no one on the Right tried to take pleasure in Bill Clinton’s “failings”…)
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ashley said on March 3, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Mr McCain,
Ms Nall’s vita has many redeeming points, including a Knight-Wallace fellowship. Believe me, this is not something that will even crack the top ten in her list of achievements.
She’s not “taking pleasure” in this, sir, and if you could actually comprehend the little squiggly things on the monitor you might realize that.
Mr Goeglein is a cheat, a liar, and a thief. By defending him, you are tacitly saying that plagiarism is acceptable.
You and your insinuations disgust me.
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deb said on March 3, 2008 at 2:45 pm
what ashley said.
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Harl Delos said on March 3, 2008 at 2:48 pm
4dbirds said:
Head a hundred miles north, darlin’. Waffles are supposed to have chicken and gravy on ’em, and here in Lancaster County, they do.
Interesting blog you have, ma’am. You will be pleased to know that six presidents have served on the basis that they were born to US citizens, rather than being born in one of these united states: James Garfield, William McKinley, William H. Taft, Rutherford B. Hayes, Warren Harding, and Hiram Ulysses Grant.
As far as that goes, Ohio wasn’t a state when I was born, either. Congress passed the legislation granting Ohio statehood in May, 1953.
If you’re going to be in my neighborhood, drop me an email ahead of time, and I’ll buy you a waffle. Even if you insist on having one with syrup on it. I enjoy conversation with people who develop their own opinions, rather than buying them pre-formed in the large economy size. It’d *just* be conversation, though; I’m married. But I do bathe, at least monthly, and sometimes more frequently than that.
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Sue said on March 3, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Yay Ashley!
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Kirk said on March 3, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Yeah, Ashley has it right.
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