The Washington Post has published investigative reporter Neena Satija’s article “Echoes of Biden’s 1987 plagiarism scandal continue to reverberate.” The article is behind the Post paywall. It’s not bad, but you’re not missing much if you remember the controversy.
Satija’s article includes a few exculpatory statements mitigating Biden’s appropriation of the lives and words of others. In one case, speechwriters are blamed. In the most famous case, involving Neil Kinnock, Satija quotes a former campaign aide noting that Biden had attributed the appropriation on other occasions. Maybe he forgot to do so the last time around!
She also notes an inaccuracy or two in Biden’s appropriation of Kinnock’s life. His ancestors weren’t coal miners, for example, they were mining engineers. Maybe it was his memory playing tricks on him again.
Satija’s article also reminds us that plagiarism is a long-standing issue in Biden’s life. He got caught red-handed in law school. Biden is a miscreant with more lives than a cat. It helps to be a Democrat.
Satija’s article is accompanied by the entertaining and accessible (accessible at present) video below. I’m filing this under Laughter Is the Best Medicine, but Biden’s age-related decline — visible by contrast with the Biden in this video — is not funny (see Charles Hurt’s “Doddering Biden unfit to lead in times of crisis”).
Quotable quote (from Biden’s campaign exit in 1987): “I made some mistakes. But now, the exaggerated shadow of those mistakes has begun to obscure the essence of my candidacy and the essence of Joe Biden.”
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