Posted on 07/10/2006 9:55:48 AM PDT by bigsky
Liberals are positively orgasmic over the accusations recycled from nut websites in the New York Post that bestselling author Ann Coulter plagiarized others’ writings. Oddly, the Post didn’t think these accusations were important enough to ask her about when interviewing her in early June. Perhaps this is because the accusations of plagiarism aren’t news. Calling Coulter “mean” and other four-letter words wasn’t gelling with Americans who actually know how to read, so liberals had to move on to plan B -- she’s a plagiarist!
In his second article citing “plagiarism expert” and CEO of iParadigms John Barrie, New York Post recycler Philip Recchia gave no examples of passages that were plagiarized by Ann Coulter so the reader could compare them. Barrie, a graduate from the People’s Republic of Berkeley, is the creator of the iThenticate computer program that claims to root out plagiarism. But according to Universal Press Syndicate, the company that distributes Coulter’s widely-read column, a representative for iParadigms suspiciously said that he wasn’t sure the company “could provide the same information about Coulter as was given to the Post.”
Recchia simply offered vague references to old claims, including “10 facts” that were also in a Heritage Foundation paper. These facts were descriptions of projects funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. How many ways can a columnist describe a picture of “Christ submerged in a jar of urine” to its gentle readers? Columnists for at least three publications -- the Manila Times, San Diego’s Daily Transcript and the Southern Illinoisan -- described the work of “art” in those exact same words after Coulter did so in her June 29, 2005, column. Given that it’s more likely that they read Coulter’s column than a 1991 Heritage paper that isn’t available online, does that mean they knowingly plagiarized Coulter? Of course not. There are only so many words one can use to describe the filth funded by the NEA.
Likewise, there are only so many arguments liberals can use against Coulter. Her detractors are as predictable as Pavlov’s dogs. Devoid of critical thinking, they have a conditioned reaction to successful conservatives. By the way, you may find that I am not the first person to describe the Pavlovian theory with the words “critical thinking” and “conditioned reaction.”
Another example that is being recycled by bloggers is a 2002 article that accused Coulter of plagiarizing in her first New York Times bestseller, High Crimes and Misdemeanors. The author of this ridiculous article is longtime Coulter critic Daniel Borchers, a so-called “principled conservative” and owner of the now defunct AnorexicAnnie.com website. Borchers has put himself in the spotlight by claiming to be an expert on Ann Coulter. It is now time for me to speak out about Daniel Borchers.
From 1997 to 1998, Borchers sent 10-page fan letters once a week to Coulter. The letters went unanswered by Coulter and since then he has repeatedly harassed her, her family and her former co-workers. I experienced his erratic behavior firsthand as program director of an organization that sponsored her campus speeches.
However, Borchers may have a few copyright issues himself. At the 2002 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) I witnessed Borchers distributing folders filled with his rants against Coulter and pornographic photos that were meticulously cut-and-pasted so that her face replaced the female faces in the photos. Former CPAC staffers have told me that Borchers has gone to great lengths to sneak into CPAC under false pretenses, including making a phony press pass on his home computer and registering under fake names.
Amazingly, even for the National Enquirer, Borchers’ rants against Coulter were recently quoted in their ludicrous article demanding that “she should be thrown out of the country.” He has also been cited in Mother Jones and by numerous liberal blogs, such as Huffington Post. This is literally like hiring John Hinkley to write about Jodie Foster. The fact that the left is using Borchers as the go-to expert on Ann Coulter proves how little evidence they have against her.
In 2005, the liberal dogs were still salivating over the 2002 release of Coulter’s second New York Times bestseller, Slander. The Daily Howler’s Bob Somerby wrote: “Coulter wanted to say that the liberal [New York] Times had engaged in the nastiest possible conduct. So of course! Unable to make such a claim in good faith, she plagiarized. She simply made the claim up.” Which is it: a made up claim or plagiarism? Here’s a newsflash: Claims of misconduct by the New York Times do not need to be fabricated.
Most telling is the fact that none of the authors or publications that liberals claim Ann Coulter plagiarized have come forward. Liberals are always parroting themselves because they think truth is based on the number of times an accusation is repeated. The latest cry of plagiarism from the left is simply their conditioned response to her continued success. If the New York Post’s famed “pattern recognition” expert John Barrie couldn’t spot this trend, I wouldn’t put much stock in the vague accusations he makes against Coulter. Nor should anyone take obsessive rants seriously just because they are recycled in tabloids and in the liberal blogosphere.
Miss De Pasquale is CPAC director at the American Conservative Union in Alexandria, Va. Write her at lisajanine1111(at)aol.com.
Why...Miss DePasquale sounds a lot like...Ann Coulter in this article (A very good thing, in my opinion!)
Perhaps she "plagarized" Ann Coulter's wit and sarcasm!
THROW THE BOOK AT HER!
As well all know, with the fever swamp left, the charge of wrongdoing against a conservative is itself all the evidence one needs to establish the validity of the allegation.
Or, if she is as cute as Ann, post some pictures!
Coulter had closely worded similar comments as some of the research she cited in a couple of places.
These exact same political hacks would be screaming to high heaven (if they believed in heaven) had Coulter strayed one millimeter from this very same research!!!
These liberal hacks follow Goebbells Big Lie approach: Tell a VERY big lie. Tell it often enough and loud enough, and people will believe you.
Identical comments can be made about Coulter's going after the four leftist World Trade Center widows.
Like she needs any help looking sexy.
This has been a tool of the "progressives" as long as I can remember. No matter how insane and outrageous an accusation is, repeated often enough and ending up on the NY Times makes it fact.
Most adults with an IQ over 70 don't buy that technique now, haven't bought it ever.
Ann Coulter is a Witch !!! </1692>
If you believe Soloman everything written for the past 2500 years is nothing but a rehash.
Love letters maybe, stalking letter is probably the truth
It's become a policy of mine to just about ignore any critcism spewed from the left these days. Mind you, I don't want our side doing things that are wrong, but how many times can the Left cry wolf and still expect anyone to pay attention?
Cry me a river Lefties... can't hear ya!
I could tell that Ann was really concerned by the columnist's claims when she was quoted as saying the New York Post was "the second worst paper in New York!". Waaahhh, she hurt their feelings too as you know that one hurt!! I love it that she calls them as she sees them and they all run for cover and yell at her as they hide behind their Mommies' aprons. I call them "press wussies" when in mixed company, and other things when out with the boys!
This discussion will not be complete until Joe Biden weighs in on this.
NEW YORK (AP) — The syndicator of Ann Coulter’s newspaper column is looking into allegations that the rightwing pundit has lifted material from other sources.
‘‘We are reviewing the material and expect to have a response some time next week,’’ Kathie Kerr, a spokeswoman for U n i v e r s a l Press Syndicate, told The Associated Press on Friday.
The New York Post and the Web sites Raw Story and the Rude Pundit have raised numerous questions about Coulter’s columns, which appear in more than 100 newspapers, and her best-selling ‘‘Godless: The Church of Liberalism.’’
Kerr said that the press syndicate had not discussed the allegations with Coulter, who was not immediately available for comment Friday. The publisher of ‘‘Godless,’’ the Crown Publishing Group, issued a statement saying it had reviewed the ‘‘the allegations of plagiarism’’ and ‘‘found them to be as trivial and meritless as they are irresponsible.’’
‘‘As an experienced author and attorney, Ms. Coulter knows when attribution is appropriate,’’ Crown’s senior vice president and publisher, Steve Ross, said in the statement.
In ‘‘Godless,’’ Coulter writes:
‘‘The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River in Maine, was halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant previously believed to be extinct.’’
An article that ran in 1999 in Maine’s Portland-Press Herald contains this passage:
‘‘The massive Dickey-Lincoln Dam, a $227 million hydroelectric project proposed on upper St. John River, is halted by the discovery of the Furbish lousewort, a plant believed to be extinct.’’
(The Palestinian terrorist regime is the crisis and Israel's fist is the answer.)
I think this whole thing is a scam by the inventor of the Internet program to sell copies of his program to the unsuspecting.. he told Universal that he would not give them a copy of the report unless they bought the service.... hmmmmm.
Read my tag line; now, paraphrase it.
I devised it for its meter, its reference to the mightiness of the written word, the crude nature of the sword, its implication of meticulous dissection and the critic's resolve to remain ever aware while slicing small pieces of dreck to even tinier shreds.
IMO it needs no debunking, she is above this kind of thing. It's just another blah blah blah from wacko libs.
If Ann kept those letters, she should publish them in another book and embarrass Borchers.
How many ways can you describe a ball turett?
If any students were accused of plagerism based on the computer program, they should sue the programer.
"This discussion will not be complete until Joe Biden weighs in on this."
Or Jayson Blair.
I can just hear it now...She will always be introduced by the media as Best-selling author that has been accused in the past of plagerism....etc.
Sickening.
Bingo, Ann wins!
Regarding the Dickey-Dam quotation - I personally may have put it more in to my own words or cited the original, but I still think it is baseless.
I also find it hilarious that they choose an excerpt that proves Ann's criticisms of liberalism as deserved but also that the passage appears on page 5 of "Godless."
How much further do you think they read after that?
If one ever feels like swimming in the sewers of the daily kos or DU, and spend some time there, you'd find more then a few posters who actually are checking in, on just how to respond to articles, facts, figures and other info and if they should be, or how should they act offended.
To me its bizarre, the idea of not knowing or feeling if something is right or wrong, and instead seeking or being addicted to the need for somone to tell them what they need to think/feel about political issues.
I saw this first hand in college when I talked about something involving electrical issues (this is really a non political non partisianship thing, but it was a politics class) and most of the liberals weren't sure how to react, some automatically objected, but had no reason ("I know its wrong, but I got to look it up, I'll explain it tomorrow") to trying to play bizarre and irrelevent cards (race, gender, sexual orientaion, made up on the spot possible conspiracy theories, etc).
Just to note the "electrical issue" I was talking about was simply, if so many fires are due to wiring issues, or old and faulty wiring, or weather or whatever, why not just have politicians, or whatever, mention on their own, that this is something people can have checked out, or should get or might consider getting an electrician to look into, sort of like awareness or whatever.
This confused activists on the left side, and had a variety of answers from the right side (I got misinterpreted, but at least the right side folks debated it).
Wow does that hit home...
plagiarism update:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1672612/posts?page=21#21
from July.
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