Back in 2003, Maureen Dowd was caught altering a quote from then-President Bush to apply a spin that was negative enough for the Gray Lady (the New York Times, not Maureen herself), a practice that James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal named “Dowdification.” (Related: see also, ransom note school of quote editing.)
Today, Maureen’s caught cutting and pasting, without attribution, from Josh Marshall of the leftwing Talking Points Memo blog, as Don Surber notes:
Blogger Josh Marshall accused Pulitzer Prize winner Maureen Dowd of plagiarizing him.
He posted on Thursday: “More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”
She published today: “More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”
Whoa, wait. You are not allowed to do this? D’oh!
This does answer the title to her book, “Are Men Necessary?” Yes. Someone has to write her columns…
At Hot Air, Allahpundit quotes Dowd’s excuse, which, as he paraphrases, boils down to, “I didn’t mean to rip off Josh Marshall, I meant to rip off my friend”, adding:
When she says she was “talking” to a friend, she might mean IMing. The friend could have copy/pasted it without attribution and she thought it was an original idea. Even so, though, when I want to use something someone’s said to me in casual conversation, I always frame it as “As a friend said to me the other day” or some similar formulation. The alternative is to ask their permission to treat the idea as your own, but presumably she didn’t do that in this case or else the friend would have said where he got it from.
Or as Aaron Gardner at Red State sums up the kerfuffle, “Maureen Dowd confirms Talking Point Memo is more than just a name…”
Heh, indeed™, to borrow a popular phrase coined elsewhere.
Update: Simon Owens writes, “Talking Points Memo bloggers won’t comment on Maureen Dowd controversy.”
Update: As Matt Drudge writes, “FLASHBACK: Maureen Dowd nailed Joe Biden for plagiarism in '87..."
More: Stacy McCain adds, “Amazing that she couldn’t accurately quote the President of the United States, but she got Josh Marshall word-for-word.” Priorities…priorities…
Update: “Sublime.”
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35 Comments
1. I’d Call it a Journalistic Scandal, but It Involves Maureen Dowd : The Sundries Shack:[...] though, Dowd’s well ran dry and she had to snag a whole paragraph from fellow lefty Josh Marshall and his appropriately-named [...]
May 17, 2009 - 7:41 pm 2. The Blogger Ethics Panel Will Meet At 1:30 PM, Monday « Around The Sphere:[...] UPDATE #2: Aaron Gardner at Redstate via Ed Driscoll [...]
May 17, 2009 - 8:50 pm 3. Ken Hahn:I am shocked to learn that MoDo has friends.
May 17, 2009 - 11:35 pm 4. David Thomson:It is rumored that Maureen Dowd receives $300,000 annually from the New York Times. She has always seemed lazy and a bit dumb. Who actually reads her on a regular basis? Dowd’s very presence in the Times reflects badly on that paper’s readership. These people are obviously very shallow—but it’s also very likely that they attended the “better” universities. Grade inflation must be rampant.
May 18, 2009 - 3:18 am 5. Pajamas Media » Plagiarism at the Times? Maureen Dowd Cuts and Pastes:[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]
May 18, 2009 - 4:40 am 6. RE:Journalists lost my trust long ago. All I can say is “So what’s new?” as I yawn.
May 18, 2009 - 4:58 am 7. Trid:Surprised she didn’t nab the whole thing and accused HIM of plagiarism.
May 18, 2009 - 6:04 am 8. LeighB:I am shocked she did not turn this into a rant against Clinton. Either one.
MoDo is a dodo!
May 18, 2009 - 6:16 am 9. rocketeer:Maureen Dowd has been an empty skirt for a long time. She’s just like most of the other vacuous reporters at the times, another liberal on a mission with no regard for the truth, an intellectual with no intellect. I can’t wait for the NYTimes to flounder.
May 18, 2009 - 7:13 am 10. Войска ПВО:..as a hyper-tangential sidebar comment, the pic used to represent this post when viewed in its entirety reveals, as I recall, Ms Dowd’s feet in what seem like size 13 leopard print high heels. It was an object of some right wing blogging dissection during the ill-fated Kerry campaign on ‘04.
May 18, 2009 - 7:14 am 11. Bulgron:Intellectual honesty is not one of the defining characteristics of American liberalism.
May 18, 2009 - 7:54 am 12. seven:So a feminista has to have a man do her writing?
I laughed at her self justification number 2 or number 3 read like it could be caused by a keyboard malfunction. It looks like she is trying to do a man’s work. They are still necessary.
May 18, 2009 - 8:07 am 13. Sebastian Shaw:Maureen Dowd meet Jayson Blair.
Who is the woman historian who also plagiarized her books? I forgot her name. Doris Goodwin something. She’s a favorite on Meet The Press.
The Left will protect Dowd since she is one of the shock troops. This story will be buried by the MSM.
May 18, 2009 - 8:27 am 14. David Thomson:Maureen Dowd is so lazy that she refuses to take the time to steal properly. She would have gotten away with this particular theft if only she had spent a few minutes to put Josh Marshall’s thoughts into her own words. Oh well, what can you expect from someone is reported paid roughly $6,000 a week? My heart goes out for her.
May 18, 2009 - 9:38 am 15. Delia:10. Войска ПВО:
“..as a hyper-tangential sidebar comment, the pic used to represent this post when viewed in its entirety reveals, as I recall, Ms Dowd’s feet in what seem like size 13 leopard print high heels.”
May 18, 2009 - 10:55 am 16. Bilgeman:~
Wow! Pontoons in high heels!
#10 Войска ПВО:
“Ms Dowd’s feet in what seem like size 13 leopard print high heels. It was an object of some right wing blogging dissection during the ill-fated Kerry campaign on ‘04.”
Why am I getting a Hannibal Lecter-ish vibe from your comment?
“Hell-lo, Maureen…you have very pretty feet.”
May 18, 2009 - 11:39 am 17. Al in Big Bear:I saw Maureen Dowd at a lecture / discussion group a few months ago. Of all the participants she was the least articulate, most prone to use cliches and smarmiest. For all that she was absolutely stuck on herself.
Al in Big Bear
May 18, 2009 - 12:17 pm 18. Blackwell:“This does answer the title to her book, “Are Men Necessary?” Yes. Someone has to write her columns…”
Hilarious! Absolutely hilarious!
May 18, 2009 - 2:37 pm 19. LeighB:I read her book “Are Men Necessary?” and quickly decided she was not necessary. To use a technical term, she is ICKY.
May 18, 2009 - 2:54 pm 20. seven:She is Helen Thomas Junior. Just not in touch with reality.
May 18, 2009 - 3:12 pm 21. TurfMonster:Think she could – um, how do I put this? – write speeches for Joe Biden?
May 18, 2009 - 3:22 pm 22. stuggo:It would appear this gives libs the trifecta of plagiarism.
May 18, 2009 - 4:13 pm 23. stuggo:Politics: Joe Biden
Academia: Ward Churchill
Media : Maureen Dowd
She’s a Pulitzer Prize winner? Please wake me up when a conservative or moderate wins a prize or award for anything in this crazy country. Just call me Rip Van for short.
May 18, 2009 - 4:33 pm 24. David Zukerman:Maybe Ms. Dowd meant to explain that she had been taking from a friend.
Anyone know who is ahead in the plagiarism
May 18, 2009 - 4:45 pm 25. the troll:competition — right or left?
Since plagiarism is most prevalent in the brain-dead left wing media, it would seem to me the obvious answer is….THE LEFT
May 18, 2009 - 5:12 pm 26. Fantom:Look folks, be kind. Consider that the left is monolithic in thought… much like a hive.
You have Klandathu, a planet these aliens come from. For every “Brain” liberal there are literally millions of mouth breathing moron duds.
“Liberals Rico… millions of ‘em”…….
May 18, 2009 - 5:25 pm 27. Prisoner of Zenda:Poor dear, she hasn’t got a man…
May 18, 2009 - 7:11 pm 28. Terry Gain:In my opinion Maureen Dowd is so lazy that she refuses to take the time to steal properly. She would have gotten away with this particular theft if only she had spent a few minutes to put Josh Marshall’s thoughts into her own words. Oh well, what can you expect from someone is reported paid roughly $6,000 a week? My heart goes out for her.
It’s hard to believe that She’s a Pulitzer Prize winner? Please wake me up when a conservative or moderate wins a prize or award for anything in this crazy country. Just call me Rip Van for short.
And It would appear this gives libs the trifecta of plagiarism.
Politics: Joe Biden
Academia: Ward Churchill
Media : Maureen Dowd
Boy all this commenting is hard work. Think I’ll turn in.
Good night David T, rocketeer and especially you, stuggo
May 18, 2009 - 8:05 pm 29. AlanABQ:This does answer the title to her book, “Are Men Necessary?” Yes. Someone has to write her columns…
HA! Was truer wit ever written?
And yet, I feel the need to come to her defense; she has whit is known as ‘Dowd Syndrome’. It’s similar in nature to Down Syndrome, but has the distinction of being self-imposed.
Before anyone gets upset at the reference I just made, let me make it clear that in no way do I imply that people with Down Syndrome are quite as mentally inept as Maureen Dowd. After all, people who do have Down Syndrome can still function outside of their realm of influence & are generally better athletes that progressive “journalists”.
And since Maureen is in the same failboat as Cold Pink, let me suggest that instead of the chivalrous greeting of “Howdy, Ma’am” towards mature women such as herself, we insted say “Dowdy M-a-a-a-m” to her & females like her…the greeting is still congenial, but it conveys all the respect they deserve.
May 19, 2009 - 8:32 am 30. AlanABQ:(Uh-oh; I made several typos in my last post. Perhaps the NYT will hire me as Dowd’s proofreader…)
May 19, 2009 - 8:38 am 31. deguello:No surprises here.This is the paper that proclaimed EMINEM a genius,and promoted Castro as a social reformer.Dowd hasn’t yet mastered the special mixture of dissembling and canting that is the signature of this paper. The whole enterprise can’t go out of business fast enough;it will be a better world when it does.
May 20, 2009 - 5:31 am 32. deguello:Plagiarism at the Times? I’m shocked,shocked,I tell you!Next youll be telling me that there are actually corpses in a funeral home!
May 20, 2009 - 10:35 am 33. ldd:Ho hum, just another NYT ‘urinalist’ (and yep, I stole that from a commenter from a blog).
When is the big OWE going to bail them out?
Some birds of a feather, stink together, pigeons and turkey vultures comes to mind.
May 20, 2009 - 1:38 pm 34. deguello:33.Idd ;Thanks for disseminating the term “urinalist”.I’m glad to see, that unlike Dowd,you don’t claim it as your own!
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