Harper's plagiarized 2003 Iraq speech

[blueblood]

Plagiarism is generally frowned upon. We have seen more than one political leader face a price for it.

Here are the two speeches. Harper obviously plagiarized unless he somehow gave Howard a speech to read in advance of his own address.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/p...o-speeches.aspx

Ah the crux of the matter. If the Liberals are resorted to trying to nail Harper with plagiarism (i don't think harper writes his own speeches), it shows they are in deep trouble, especially with an issue as old as that one.

As an average Canadian do I care if it was plagiarized, not a chance. All I care about is how good of a job Harper is doing and IMO he's doing a good job. One plagiarized speech isn't going to change my vote and probably won't change a lot of others.

This is as big of a non-issue as harper patting his daughter on the shoulders for school, who cares??

If anything this shows how out of touch Dion is with Canadian society, does Canadian society care about plagiarism as much as an ivory tower academic??

[capricorn]

If anything this shows how out of touch Dion is with Canadian society, does Canadian society care about plagiarism as much as an ivory tower academic??

Don't forget that Iggy's too an academic and plagiarism is also probably high on his radar. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a hand in trying to make this the scandal du jour.

[jdobbin]

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix...57-9268b22f3277

Conservative war room strategist apologized and resigned from the election campaign Tuesday after he admitted to plagiarizing parts of a speech delivered by Stephen Harper on the Iraq war in 2003.

"In 2003, I worked in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition," Owen Lippert said in a statement released by the Conservative campaign Tuesday afternoon.

"I was tasked with - and wrote - a speech for the then leader of the Opposition. Pressed for time, I was overzealous in copying segments of another world leader's speech. Neither my superiors in the office of the leader of the Opposition nor the leader of the Opposition was aware that I had done so."

This guy shouldn't have resigned. He should have been fired.

[capricorn]

Don't hold your breath waiting...apparently it took them 5 YEARS to find this nugget!

Now that the staffer has taken credit for plagiarism, I'm hoping that Harper comes forward and confesses that he is the real plagiarist. Then the Liberals could respond by calling him a liar.

[CrazeeEddie]

Dion keeps reminding us that he is a teacher and proud of his profession. There is mounting proof that his mindset is very much stuck in the academic realm. He said Harper should be "expelled" for plagiarism.

http://www.ottawasun.com/canadavotes/news/...30/6931851.html

In other news, CTV Newsnet has reported a Conservative speech writer has come forward and confessed that he is the one who inserted the plagiarized part into the Harper speech without anyone's knowledge. Needless to say he is now unemployed. No link yet from the internet.

Can't wait for the next installment of Liberal "findings".

EDIT: Details now online.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/AL...SbqxtCJ8yxjD9PQ

Of course, in the Conservative mindset, the PM is not responsible for anything, and should not have any idea of what his people are doing. This perogative is one that should only be applied to Liberal leaders.

It's amazing how many double standards you have to hold to vote Right.... truly astounding...

[CrazeeEddie]

Now that the staffer has taken credit for plagiarism, I'm hoping that Harper comes forward and confesses that he is the real plagiarist. Then the Liberals could respond by calling him a liar.

Harper? Talk to the media? Come on now....

They wouldn't be able to ask him about this anyway.... Not unless the question was prescripted and angled to make him a hero

[jdobbin]

Ah the crux of the matter. If the Liberals are resorted to trying to nail Harper with plagiarism (i don't think harper writes his own speeches), it shows they are in deep trouble, especially with an issue as old as that one.

I think if anything, it proves that Harper wanted to copy Australia and go to Iraq to fight. That should be fresh in everyone's mind.

[YEGmann]

As for pure plagiarism, Harper's speech contains only five sentences coinciding word-to-word with John Howard's phrases. One sentence differs with presence of "the"article. This is not a big deal for 97-sentence political speech.

[CrazeeEddie]

As for pure plagiarism, Harper's speech contains only five sentences coinciding word-to-word with John Howard's phrases. One sentence differs with presence of "the"article. This is not a big deal for 97-sentence political speech.

And at what percentage should we be worried?

[YEGmann]

And at what percentage should we be worried?

In technical academics everything that is less than 10% is considered a noice.

[blueblood]

I think if anything, it proves that Harper wanted to copy Australia and go to Iraq to fight. That should be fresh in everyone's mind.

But everybody knows Harper wanted to go to Iraq, and even with that on everyone's minds he still won the election. This is a non-issue. The Libs are looking really desperate trying to beat this dead horse.

[jdobbin]

But everybody knows Harper wanted to go to Iraq, and even with that on everyone's minds he still won the election. This is a non-issue. The Libs are looking really desperate trying to beat this dead horse.

We still have Conservatives here saying that Harper never had any intention of going to Iraq. Think it important tor remind people and if you think it doesn't have an effect, think again.

There is a reason why Harper has had problems in the past and some of that is Iraq. Reminding people of that stand makes people wonder just how committed he is to leaving Afghanistan. Afterall, he also promised fixed elections.

[capricorn]

Reminding people of that stand makes people wonder just how committed he is to leaving Afghanistan. Afterall, he also promised fixed elections.

There's nothing wrong with planting the seed of doubt. It is up to Harper to make his case for re-election.

[blueblood]

We still have Conservatives here saying that Harper never had any intention of going to Iraq. Think it important tor remind people and if you think it doesn't have an effect, think again.

There is a reason why Harper has had problems in the past and some of that is Iraq. Reminding people of that stand makes people wonder just how committed he is to leaving Afghanistan. Afterall, he also promised fixed elections.

So should harper be prancing around quebec and reminding people of all of dion's shortcomings and scary scary moments?

I'm just saying it might be a waste of time telling people what they already know and trying to make such a big deal out of it. There are better things the Liberals can be talking about than that

[jdobbin]

So should harper be prancing around quebec and reminding people of all of dion's shortcomings and scary scary moments?

He does on a regular basis.

I'm just saying it might be a waste of time telling people what they already know and trying to make such a big deal out of it. There are better things the Liberals can be talking about than that

It is never a waste of time to remind someone why not to vote for them. Harper does it all the time.

[jdobbin]

There's nothing wrong with planting the seed of doubt. It is up to Harper to make his case for re-election.

It looks like the seeds of doubt are working in Quebec. The Bloc seem to be quite good at doing that with the Tories.

Edited September 30, 2008 by jdobbin

[Canadian Blue]

I think if anything, it proves that Harper wanted to copy Australia and go to Iraq to fight. That should be fresh in everyone's mind.

Yep, and the current deputy leader of the Liberals supported the Iraq invasion and torture. Not to mention the fact that the guy who opened up the attack today [bob Rae] nearly destroyed Ontario with his pseudo-socialist policies.

If I have to choose between a scandal where Harper's speechwriter plagarized lines from Howard or Bob Rae's obvious record of incompetence in government I'll consider that latter to be of more importance.

[jdobbin]

Yep, and the current deputy leader of the Liberals supported the Iraq invasion and torture. Not to mention the fact that the guy who opened up the attack today [bob Rae] nearly destroyed Ontario with his pseudo-socialist policies.

Think Ignatieff had a mea culpa on the subject. Has Harper?

As far as Rae goes, does he still have the same beliefs on the economy?

If I have to choose between a scandal where Harper's speechwriter plagarized lines from Howard or Bob Rae's obvious record of incompetence in government I'll consider that latter to be of more importance.

Ah, but is it just about copying Australia's speech? It is about Harper making critically wrong choices if he is PM. He would have had Canada in Iraq if he was PM. Will he have us in Afghanistan even longer because he doesn't know what fixed date is?

[Bryan]

Think Ignatieff had a mea culpa on the subject. Has Harper?

As far as Rae goes, does he still have the same beliefs on the economy?

Ah, but is it just about copying Australia's speech? It is about Harper making critically wrong choices if he is PM. He would have had Canada in Iraq if he was PM. Will he have us in Afghanistan even longer because he doesn't know what fixed date is?

No mea culpa required. There were discussing the same events, and going over similar concerns. I'd be shocked if some of the wording did not line up. For a couple of sentences within the framework of a several minute speech to sort of sound slightly similar is no evidence of anything other than the Liberals are getting very desperate.

[jdobbin]

No mea culpa required. There were discussing the same events, and going over similar concerns. I'd be shocked if some of the wording did not line up. For a couple of sentences within the framework of a several minute speech to sort of sound slightly similar is no evidence of anything other than the Liberals are getting very desperate.

I'm not as concerned about the plagiarism as the intent to send troops to Iraq. Can we really trust a PM who says he will withdraw from Afghanistan?

[peter_puck]

It's just another example of how pathetic Harper is. The thing that gets me is that he's so blatant about his lies and deceptions.

It wasn't Harper. Even if he was that sleazy, he would not be that stupid. Politicians have speech writers. Some of them are lazy (and dumb).

Of course when this happened to Biden, the neo-cons went nuts.

[unspoken]

Can we really trust a PM who says he will withdraw from Afghanistan?

I agree. Layton and Dion are not to be trusted.

[Canadian Blue]

Think Ignatieff had a mea culpa on the subject. Has Harper?

I'd assume it was because the Liberals found that it would be too damaging. But I'm pretty certain he hasn't changed his pro-torture viewpoints.

Ah, but is it just about copying Australia's speech?

Yes that's why New Democratic/Liberal MP Bob Rae brought this up.

It is about Harper making critically wrong choices if he is PM.

Meh, I find Harper to be better suited to be PM. His mantra doesn't soley consist of bashing the United States all the time. But I will say this about Harper if had to choose between buying our soldiers flak vests or giving increased funding to Young People Fucking, I have full confidence in him funding our soldiers. The same can't be said of the Liberal Party who openly despise our military and whenever looking for cuts will always look to the Defence budget first.

He would have had Canada in Iraq if he was PM.

I doubt it, more or less because we wouldn't have the resources to be in Iraq. His position was probably closer to the Swedish Liberal Peoples Party which stated open moral support for the coalition, and we might have provided some economic aid to help with the building of Iraq.

Will he have us in Afghanistan even longer because he doesn't know what fixed date is?

Are you talking about the withdrawal date which was set at 2011. All that's happening is that the lionshare of troops will leave the country, however we'll still have a contingent to continue training the Army and Police.

Probably not, more or less because Canada at the time didn't have the military equipment or resources to go to Iraq.

[Bryan]

Can we really trust a PM who says he will withdraw from Afghanistan?

Then we can't trust any of them, because they all are promising this.

[jdobbin]

Then we can't trust any of them, because they all are promising this.

However, it is Harper who has clearly demonstrated how flexible his views on foxed dates are.